Hey guys! While I’m in the process of catching up on my current books, I thought this would be a good time to start participating in Tuesday Talks. Each Tuesday, there will be a topic or question that I will discuss from my point of view. This would be a great time to hear from everyone on their thoughts and opinions on the same topic, whether we agree or disagree. I love having discussions, especially when they are book related, so please feel free to leave me any comments.
This week's topic is: "Should there be viewer discretion on books?"
Just like with movies, there are different maturity levels that exist in the book world. I don’t mean different genres, like Young Adult, Romance, and others. While some Fantasy books could be enjoyed by readers between the ages of 13 and up, there are some that have explicit content that shouldn’t be seen by younger eyes. This brings us to the topic of viewer discretion.
Have you ever watched a movie or a TV show, where right before it starts, there’s a warning that says “Viewer Discretion is advised?” That is the same concept that I will be discussing today. Is there a way to implement the same warning on the cover of a book, or even on the first few pages of a book in order to warn younger readers that this is not a book for them to read? Or should it be up to the parents, or the readers themselves, to find out on their own what lies between the covers?
Personally, I feel like there should be some sort of warning on what the book contains, whether it is explicit language, sexual scenes, or even gory scenes that involve murder or death, something that is not normal for everyone to read about. That way, if a young reader does decide to read something that has such things, they were warned from the get go. This may also give some protection to authors, publishers, and even libraries for having books that are available for everyone above a certain age to obtain, and won’t lead to any controversy or letters from angry parents.
While I don’t think that censoring books is a good idea, this is more of a preventative measure. This doesn’t mean that whoever is not able to read the book now won’t be able to read it in the future (if they are still interested in it by that time). It just means that they won’t be able to read it until they have reached some level of maturity to handle such content. Of course, not everyone will have the same maturity level at the same age, but there should still be some discretion when it comes to adult content in books.
Long story short, I think there should be viewer discretion on books. What do you guys thinks?
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