Should 8-Year-Olds Be Reading Stories That Glorify Rape?

[harmonicon]

31. There's a lot to be unpacked here.

For starters, I haven't read this story, and I assume most of us have not.

I'm very wary to condemn literature because of this sort of content. There is incredible literature which includes vile characters committing vile acts. Is the problem here the story, how it's being taught, or the conclusions the student is drawing from these things based on a culture at large which would not be influenced one way or another by this particular story?

This article draws suspect, if not spurious, connections between this story and the collection of which it is part and larger parent organizations. I would need to see concrete proof of these connections before drawing such conclusions.

Finally, I'd like to point out that if many of the claims made are true, removing this one story from the curriculum will do nothing. Reference is made to more contemporary kidnap/rape victims and parallels are drawn between them and characters from a fictional tale. All the while, we still praise the likes of Thomas Jefferson who really did keep many people prisoner, and raped at least one of them several times, with whom he bore several children. The asshole's on our money, for fuck's sake. If we can't condemn this remarkably evil man, what difference is changing one little bit of fiction going to make?