[bksvol-discuss] Re: adult ratings Re: Re: Uh oh -- re weird, Adult rating

  • From: "Mary Otten" <maryotten@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2005 15:02:38 -0600

Interesting theory, Mike. But I actually wonder if there is such a service 
regarding "adult" rating" and what it might mean. When I think of stuff rated 
adult, for example, I tend to think of films that might get an X rating or 
more than one x,  thus keeping people under 18 out of the theater. but with a  
library, a kid can go in there and look in any section he or she wants. 
Librarians can't censor what kids look at in the stacks, That's their 
parents job, if they feel so inclined and wish to enforce such rules. But here, 
with the BookShare audience, they somehow feel compeled to do parents' jobs for 
them and restrict access to the stacks, as it were. If a 
library can't restrict which aisle of a library a 14-year-old walks down and 
which books she picks off the shelf, why should BookShare? Why does BookShare 
have more legal exposure in this regard than a library 
would? But I do agree that it would be nice to take the matter of these ratings 
out of the hands of people with vastly different standards or those of the 
equally arbitrary "naughty word" checker.   I wonder if parents of 
young people under 18 or the schools who get accounts for those young people 
understand just how hit and miss this whole system is. You could have an 
extremely conservative person who feels that just one or two 
mild curse words are sufficient that a child shouldn't see the book, so they 
call it adult and restrict access to anybody  under 18. Or you could have 
somebody who does not believe in such ratings and who would 
never assign the rating no matter what the book's content. And there are all 
shades in between. 
Personally, I think the rating is far too broad, treating kindergarteners the 
same as high school seniors, with respect to the material that they can have 
access to. Maybe what they should have done is have a special 
kids rating that could be put on books intended for kids elementary level or 
younger, rather than trying to define what "adult" means.  But that didn't 
happen.
Mary

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