I haven’t been 100% faithful with the limited social media. The other day I had no idea half the province had a ton of highways shut down due to zero viz. Thankfully my sister was messaging me so I didn’t head out on shut down highways for cat food, so when I decided it was okay to check and learn about more world news I also got some booktok talking about a book that’s been marketed towards YA but has some very adult material in it.
Nothing new, just again.
More Go Figure on my end.
It’s bizarre how the things that never happen keeps happening but Canada as a society has drifted pretty far from the truth. We ain’t licked yet but we need to be real about what is going on. We can’t be blacking out the windows of Cannabis stores and Casinos because we can’t let anyone under eighteen see but then encourage other adult material because it’s literary.
This is not about banning ideas or saying you can’t have access to certain material. We as a society have rules about what minors can and cannot do, and you can argue with the powers that be and go on school boards and argue why fourteen year olds should be able to have tattoos and be at clubs. Democracy in action is you telling me why I’m wrong and letting society decide. My niece hated Fourth Wing (yes, marketed towards her at 14) my one coworker in her thirties loves the series. Not here to crap on my sister for buying a book anymore than my mom for renting Watership Down because it was an animated film about bunnies.
80s and trauma in kids movies go hand in hand.
I could go on about the developing brain but let’s ignore the scientific reason why I’m right. I just took a course on Autism for part of my con-ed, so let’s also ignore advanced stimuli and go with what most of the population can handle.
I for one have spent more money in bookstores last year buying material for my nieces and nephews than for myself. I was getting a little snippy about it around Christmas time and even my parents were saying how much nicer it is to read physical books as opposed to a tablet, but I digress. (They borrowed several of mine last week). I’m pretty wary of new material because it seems that traditional publishing likes to keep slipping in material my sisters won’t like; that’s not the only reason I read indie/small press but it’s more of a concern when I’m buying stuff for my nieces/nephews/my friend’s kids. I’m not saying everything has to be clean; last year I watched the 1997 Berserk Anime while I was injured then I asked my brother-in-law if his son was good to read it (late fifteen) as I knew about it but I didn’t know how dark it got. He gave the go ahead, and so we’re all reading the manga. I’ll say the manga is definitely darker than the anime, and I’m still in the Golden Age it gets worse.
My brother-in-law said Attack on Titan was okay at twelve, but changed his stance when later seasons came out and has since shifted it to slightly older. I respect that not everyone is ready for the same material I would be, and honestly, it’s important to consider the individual child. Some people get very upset with jump scares. I don’t like hurting people, but I tend to ask people what they’re comfortable with. It can’t always be accommodated because mileage may vary.
I’d rather authors be transparent if there is any questionable material, especially when it comes to material for vulnerable populations. I spoke to a coworker two years ago because I was concerned about offering help line information when books don’t shift to give local/current information, as the books could be sold internationally, giving a Canadian number might not be good for someone living in Australia. I focused on the mental health and mention of a character attempting suicide prior to the story in the foreword, not because I think kids are stupid but because I don’t know what the average person is looking for when they’re reading. Giving them a heads up is fair before we get a couple hundred pages and they realize they’re not quite there yet seems fair.
What I pitched last month when I wanted to do the author co-op was a rating system. This would allow someone to come up and ask me about a book I hadn’t read and be honest (assuming the author was honest) I’d seen this on several reader groups, and the industry standards for spice is actually common in the romance industry. I’m not surprised that many romance writers don’t want the genre to count as strictly smut, but I liked it as its an easy adaptation to take something like gore, or other sensitive subjects.
Consider a simple 1-10 rating for Spice (Not industry standard)
1: Chaste Kisses, “Sweet” romances
5: Heavy Make Out scenes, Fade to Black / Implied
10: Raunchy Mc Spank Me
Yes, I read Wheel of Time I know spanking doesn’t always mean smut but authors are never as clever as they think they are pertaining to hiding their fetishes.
So hypothetically I am working a festival at Ye Old Booke Co-Op. Someone asks and I check the data sheet. The author says it’s a 4. No implied sex other than we get an epilogue where we find the happily married couple has two children, but there is kissing and maybe some heavy making out. No vulgar language, and the violence is around a 6 – equivalent of Star Wars. The person nods, and states they have a fourteen year old who loves this kind of book, but she’s going through some tough things. We find out that in The Other, we see the heroine’s dealing with self-harm. The buyer goes, “Oh, no she doesn’t need that now.” and we move her over to another book that doesn’t deal with the issue but meets the other requirements. Hopefully, everyone’s happy by this transaction, especially the teenager the book is for.
The issue becomes who’s ready for what when. I can’t answer this for other people, as I’ve seen some stuff that’s atypical for the vast majority of the population and, I think I’d be lying to say that it doesn’t shape my brain in some way, but I have a mature adult brain that’s already pretty set. And I wasn’t thrown into the fire but eased into EMS, so what’s normal for me isn’t normal for the population at large. I have some resilience strategies but, now we’re getting off topic.
The other aspect of this is that dealing with creatives is somewhat like herding cats, as maybe if we were to consider XYZ, there may be a good reason why we’re approaching a topic in a certain way. But ultimately, young people shouldn’t be on the battlefield fighting, as a society we should be looking out after them and giving their brains a chance. So instead of someone lying because they’re excited about the event and saying, “Yes, my book is clean!” We be honest. Hey, reader, this is a heavy look at crusades and has a violence rating of 9/10. Everything’s based in history, but we’re gonna recommend 16+. Tone’s kinda grim and it’s got a bittersweet ending.
There’s an audience for that.
So what can we do? Keep the conversations going, and vote with our wallets. I don’t know if I’ll go to Realm Makers later this year, but it’s a convention of Christian Creators, most of what I have seen is science fiction and fantasy books, games, and related material. And that isn’t to say that Christian Content needs to be soft and cutesy.
I just saw the trailer for The Abased. WHEN IS IT OUT I WANT TO PLAY. Imma need a gaming computer, aren’t I?
Anyway, like I said let’s be transparent about our content. There’s a certain amount of subjectivity that some people won’t care for, but let’s not crap on parents because they are concerned. Yes, there always will be the over protective parent who won’t let Junior do stuff their peers do but, let’s not pretend I know what kind of pizza you like, much less what it is you wish to feed your child. We can call evil out in the real world, as well as the stories that shape us.
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