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

[mike_c]

71. agreed....

And I should say that I don't teach kids that age either.

A lot of those old stories were MEANT to illustrate culturally difficult issues in the first place, and you can bet the silky story owes it's longevity to its powerful undercurrents of pathos, conflict between love and objectification, familial duty vs personal happiness, and so on. Ultimately, these sorts of tales were adult stories, not children's fairy stories. They exist today primarily because they historically captivated the interest of adults, not children.

Thinking about it more, in the context of this discussion, I do agree that the real story is WAY too much for most eight year olds to get their heads wrapped around, and the fact that it's about make-believe creatures certainly doesn't make it automatically appropriate for children. But again, these stories enter the human canon because they're instructive, and instruction IS the role of childhood education. I certainly think it would be a mistake to read this story and NOT talk about the issues it raises. Like many "fairy tales," it is scary as shit when you pay attention.