Sep. 29th, 2004 01:47 pm
Lemon rant
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savvyliterateIn honor of part three of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mishakatt's excellent fic, "We'll Learn Together," I offer to you a rant.
When I was 13 years old, I had no idea what a virgin was. One day in band, there was a girl in the seventh grade who was bragging about losing her virginity at age 11. I gave her a blank stare and asked, "What's a virgin?" When she explained, even the concept of sex was slightly above me. I'd had sex education in school, but the connection between the differences between a boy and a girl and the sex act never clicked. I dismissed it and kept going with my life.
But, as I grew older (and my sister-in-law's sister became pregnant at 13), I started realizing more. As the years passed and I've grown older, my knowledge about sex has increased. What has also increased is the amount of people who are in their early teens who not only have much more knowledge about it than I ever will, but that they write lemons about it.
Tell me that isn't the scariest thing you've ever heard.
Childhood is a time of innocence. There is a magic about being a child that you lose, especially as you grow more knowledgable about the adult world and its complicated dealings - many of them involving sex and paying the bills. It disturbs me to no end that there are babies writing about people making babies.
squeakyinuears mentioned in mishakatt's journal that "I feel ancient saying this, but TV and the internet these days just make it easier and easier for for kids to access and see and read things that are wholly inappropriate. Frightening, really." I tend to agree with her.
When we were at Anime Weekend Atlanta this weekend, we had a debate about the proper age to show certain types of anime. For instance,clarus's sister watched Rurouni Kenshin when she was 8/9. But, Heather didn't hop on the Internet and write a lemon about a couple in it either. It all involves good parenting and monitoring what our kids read, watch and see. Would I show my young child a series like Rurouni Kenshin? Only if I was in the room and available to answer questions and explain stuff. But, for the most part, I don't believe my child at age 7 or 8 would be looking for any deep meanings in the series. They would just watch it because it's entertaining.
I look at shows I loved as a child, like Dangermouse, and realize that most of the jokes were aimed at adults. But, I still found them funny as a child. I didn't know why they were funny, they just were. It's that type of innocence that is taken away when children are allowed to read and write lemons.
There is a reason why those stories are restricted to those over 18, or at the very least, 16-17. If I find a 12-year-old writing a lemon, I have to question the role of the parents in that child's life. Do they even know what they are doing? If not, there's some serious issues going on there.
Let's allow kids to be kids and not force them to grow up any sooner than they have to.
mishakatt's excellent fic, "We'll Learn Together," I offer to you a rant.When I was 13 years old, I had no idea what a virgin was. One day in band, there was a girl in the seventh grade who was bragging about losing her virginity at age 11. I gave her a blank stare and asked, "What's a virgin?" When she explained, even the concept of sex was slightly above me. I'd had sex education in school, but the connection between the differences between a boy and a girl and the sex act never clicked. I dismissed it and kept going with my life.
But, as I grew older (and my sister-in-law's sister became pregnant at 13), I started realizing more. As the years passed and I've grown older, my knowledge about sex has increased. What has also increased is the amount of people who are in their early teens who not only have much more knowledge about it than I ever will, but that they write lemons about it.
Tell me that isn't the scariest thing you've ever heard.
Childhood is a time of innocence. There is a magic about being a child that you lose, especially as you grow more knowledgable about the adult world and its complicated dealings - many of them involving sex and paying the bills. It disturbs me to no end that there are babies writing about people making babies.
squeakyinuears mentioned in mishakatt's journal that "I feel ancient saying this, but TV and the internet these days just make it easier and easier for for kids to access and see and read things that are wholly inappropriate. Frightening, really." I tend to agree with her.When we were at Anime Weekend Atlanta this weekend, we had a debate about the proper age to show certain types of anime. For instance,
clarus's sister watched Rurouni Kenshin when she was 8/9. But, Heather didn't hop on the Internet and write a lemon about a couple in it either. It all involves good parenting and monitoring what our kids read, watch and see. Would I show my young child a series like Rurouni Kenshin? Only if I was in the room and available to answer questions and explain stuff. But, for the most part, I don't believe my child at age 7 or 8 would be looking for any deep meanings in the series. They would just watch it because it's entertaining.I look at shows I loved as a child, like Dangermouse, and realize that most of the jokes were aimed at adults. But, I still found them funny as a child. I didn't know why they were funny, they just were. It's that type of innocence that is taken away when children are allowed to read and write lemons.
There is a reason why those stories are restricted to those over 18, or at the very least, 16-17. If I find a 12-year-old writing a lemon, I have to question the role of the parents in that child's life. Do they even know what they are doing? If not, there's some serious issues going on there.
Let's allow kids to be kids and not force them to grow up any sooner than they have to.
