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

[mike_c]

78. I think you misunderstood my comments....

I fully agree that the silky story is an example of rape culture. Hell, it's medieval. Literally. That's it's point, in a very real way. It's an adult story, not a children's story, and it survived largely because it juxtaposes themes like love and rape, objectification and possession, family duty and personal happiness. Those themes resonate with adults-- as they have in this thread. It's the sort of story that adults told until the post-enlightenment, when it joined Grimm's and similar collections of myths and folktales headed to children's literature land, presumably because it's mythology.

Should eight year olds be reading it? I have to admit, my views on that are evolving. Certainly NOT without exploring some of its real meaning, but that has to be done in an age appropriate way, e.g. talking CAREFULLY about kidnapping and sadness, and wanting to return to your home rather than rape and forced child-bearing, for example. At the very least, I think it's important for stories like this to become moral tales rather than just-so stories-- that's what they are, really. Stories about silkies, djinn, talking wolves, whatever, would disappear quickly when belief in their underlying premise disappeared if not for their illustrating serious adult moral and social issues.

Stories like this can expand their context in the minds of developing children, and acquire great power because of that. Having epiphanies about a tale that you thought you understood can be more likely to create lasting learning than tales that hit you over the head later.

I think the current evolution of my thinking on this topic is that the most important thing is that the adults in the room have their heads in the right place and be fully aware of the issues raised in the story, and that they anticipate how to address those if kids have concerns or fears.