sub shows Brokeback Mtn to 8th graders

[southcitymom]

That's right - I'd forgotten about Anne Hathaway. My 4 year old would lose her mind if she happened to glimpse "Ella Enchanted" w/ her shirt off in the back seat of a car. Do Heath and Michelle have scenes too? I think they did.

I confess I haven't read the story - but I think it was a short story.

I am much less in favor of censoring reading, but I would still be concerned about sex scenes in books. We read Philip Roth senior year, and most of the boys could hardly take it. I can't remember the book - it wasn't Tropic of Cancer, but there was a brief scene in the book.

When I was 10-years-old, I found JAWS and read it from cover to cover. The opening scene is a sex scene on the beach before the shark's first unfortunate victim enters the ocean.

When my Mom found out I had read it, she was really ticked off because she didn't want me reading about sex stuff. In my mouthy way, I said to her "If I can read it, I should be able to read it." Neither of my parents were ever able to keep up with all the inappropriate reading material I brought into my life. And I'm glad for it!

 

[sherri79]

I agree. And I hope no one will think I am defending the idiot sub when I say the lawsuit over this is bull. I don't believe anyone's 12-year-old is irreparably impaired by watching Brokeback Mountain. Confused and embarrassed, maybe. And the sub should be fired.

But the lawsuit is just one more example of our being too eager to litigate.

a law suit to change policy is fine. the 400k they want... i think not. if you want to force the school to implement a policy that parent must sign for their child to see R film great. the school probably has that policy already and the sub violated it. 400k for therapy... does every1 in this country have to get money because they are offended ?

 

[Nova]

i got what you meant to imply. i agree with you. when a child is old enough to ask they are usually old enough to make their own choices. my husbands cousin is gay and my child loves him. at 12 her getting a visual of what his sex life is like (or he wishes it was like) is wrong. her getting a visual of what my sex life is like would be wrong as well. i quoted you because i liked what you said about forcing her to watch. when in school kids have to do as told. they should never have put a young child in that position.

Exactly.

 

[southcitymom]

a law suit to change policy is fine. the 400k they want... i think not. if you want to force the school to implement a policy that parent must sign for their child to see R film great. the school probably has that policy already and the sub violated it. 400k for therapy... does every1 in this country have to get money because they are offended ?

How would the lawsuit force them to implement a policy they already have in place? The lawsuit is ridiculous even though what the sub did was wrong.

 

[Nova]

a law suit to change policy is fine. the 400k they want... i think not. if you want to force the school to implement a policy that parent must sign for their child to see R film great. the school probably has that policy already and the sub violated it. 400k for therapy... does every1 in this country have to get money because they are offended ?

Apparently. I was assuming that since the sub closed the door before running the movie, that it was against policy. If that policy is not enforced now that a violation is brought to light, then I understand suing to get it enforced. Otherwise, come on.

 

[Nova]

How would the lawsuit force them to implement a policy they already have in place? The lawsuit is ridiculous even though what the sub did was wrong.

Lots of lawsuits are aimed at enforcing what is already a policy or law. They succeed by making enforcement financially necessary.

 

[Ang50]

I agree. And I hope no one will think I am defending the idiot sub when I say the lawsuit over this is bull. I don't believe anyone's 12-year-old is irreparably impaired by watching Brokeback Mountain. Confused and embarrassed, maybe. And the sub should be fired.

But the lawsuit is just one more example of our being too eager to litigate.

I don't think you're defending the sub. I might take issue w/ eagerness to litigate - depending on the situation. Suing the school district might be the best way to get results when you've tried and failed with other methods. Especially if you think that you're trying to protect your child ...

Just a quick off-topic example - everyone's favorite lawsuit to cite is the McDonald's coffee being too hot and spilling. That lady had serious burns all over her legs, McDonald's essentially told her to screw off, AND that particular restaurant had been cited numerous times by the health dept because they were serving their coffee way above the appropriate temp. Not to mention the "huge" jury award was 1 day's worth of coffee sales for McDonald's - that was how the jury decided on the money award. It was a drop in the bucket for them.

My long point being - sometimes you're suing to make change, not to get money. Suing for money as a primary motivation is wrong. Suing because an agency is pushing you around and doing you wrong is one reason our court system exists.

 

[Ang50]

When I was 10-years-old, I found JAWS and read it from cover to cover. The opening scene is a sex scene on the beach before the shark's first unfortunate victim enters the ocean.

When my Mom found out I had read it, she was really ticked off because she didn't want me reading about sex stuff. In my mouthy way, I said to her "If I can read it, I should be able to read it." Neither of my parents were ever able to keep up with all the inappropriate reading material I brought into my life. And I'm glad for it!

My mom's a high school librarian - and I read V.C. Andrews (from her bookshelf) when I was about 12 I think. Her attitude was the same - if I could read it, I could read it.

NOW - let's talk about the message from Jaws... if you have sex on the beach, then you get eaten by a shark. If I had a 10 year old, that would be an OK message for me.

 

[Paladin]

I think exposure to violence is a difficult issue. My gut feeling is that a constant diet of violence-without-consequence isn't good for anyone. (Whether cartoon "violence" can even be counted is debatable; doing so assumes young viewers can't distinguish between cartoon slapstick and real life violence. And a news program--if at all reputable--IS focusing on consequences.) My concern is with hours upon hours of so-called "action" shows in which nameless human beings are "blown away" casually.

That's why I think GI Joe was such a great cartoon! Sure, there was a ton of gun-fire, and missles, and vehicles exploding, but the animators made a conscious effort ALL the time for a person to eject out of the vehicle at the last moment. I don't recall anyone ever dying on that cartoon.

I agree about the constant diet of violence. I'm guilty of watching alot of horror movies, action films, you name it. I click on those videos of girls getting stoned or soldiers/journalists/people getting decapitated over in the Middle East. I'm happy to say that I'm not a violent person as a result of this, but I am sad to say that I am pretty desensitized to violence on television.

I actually take more offense to the crap children are peddled on MTV. Besides being bombarded non-stop by advertisements, the sexual overtones oozing out of every show is horrible. Have you watched the Real World, or any of their other reality shows? Every person on that show is in tip-top shape. They obviously only let the "beautiful people" on that station.

 

[Ang50]

And thanks to everyone who makes my same point in less than two sentences...

 

[southcitymom]

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

....NOW - let's talk about the message from Jaws... if you have sex on the beach, then you get eaten by a shark. If I had a 10 year old, that would be an OK message for me.

 

[Ang50]

I actually take more offense to the crap children are peddled on MTV. Besides being bombarded non-stop by advertisements, the sexual overtones oozing out of every show is horrible. Have you watched the Real World, or any of their other reality shows? Every person on that show is in tip-top shape. They obviously only let the "beautiful people" on that station.

Again - the message is impt. Sex w/o consequences - who ever gets pregnant or an STD on Real World? Who ever gets raped after drinking? I guess that this season some people got drunk and would have preferred not to have sex with the people they did - but we don't see the total heartbreak or self-esteem when the person doesn't call.

 

[southcitymom]

And thanks to everyone who makes my same point in less than two sentences...

This is the story of my life on Websleuths!

 

[IrishMist]

To me, it's the R-rating, regardless of content. You just don't decide to let someone else's kids watch an R-rated without their permission.

We rarely watched much TV at all when my kids were growing up. Heck, we hardly watch it now. (But I let them read whatever they wanted to.) The only two things that were absolutely off limits were MTV and that fake wrestling. I just always felt (and still do) that so much of what was on TV was garbage, and told them so.

Was never much of an issue at our house...

 

[IrishMist]

This is the story of my life on Websleuths!

You and me both! Don't ya just love/hate when you take 10 minutes to write a post, and Nova comes along and reiterates what you say in two sentences?

For Nova: :blowkiss:

 

[southcitymom]

You and me both! Don't ya just love/hate when you take 10 minutes to write a post, and Nova comes along and reiterates what you say in two sentences?

For Nova: :blowkiss:

Positively maddening! :blowkiss: to you and Nova!

 

[Ang50]

You and me both! Don't ya just love/hate when you take 10 minutes to write a post, and Nova comes along and reiterates what you say in two sentences?

For Nova: :blowkiss:

Yeah - and this time I was even replying to Nova when he and 3 other people made the same point in just a few sentences...

 

[sherri79]

Apparently. I was assuming that since the sub closed the door before running the movie, that it was against policy. If that policy is not enforced now that a violation is brought to light, then I understand suing to get it enforced. Otherwise, come on.

for me if i was a juror it would come down to if they have a policy and if they enforce it. the man in the article says he has complained 2 years ago because a book contained profanity. the child would have been 10 then. at the same time the teacher closed the door and said what happens here stays here. to me that implies it was a rouge teacher. the school should not invite her back and that would be the end of it. if i was to find the school knew what she was doing because she had to request a dvd player or something i could see making them pay something. just enough to make sure they follow the policy in the future. but 400k ... nope.

 

[Ang50]

To me, it's the R-rating, regardless of content. You just don't decide to let someone else's kids watch an R-rated without their permission.

We rarely watched much TV at all when my kids were growing up. Heck, we hardly watch it now. (But I let them read whatever they wanted to.) The only two things that were absolutely off limits were MTV and that fake wrestling. I just always felt (and still do) that so much of what was on TV was garbage, and told them so.

Was never much of an issue at our house...

Agreed - we couldn't watch MTV - and it was tamer in the late 80's, because it didn't have all this reality stuff. We couldn't watch Married w/ Children b/c my mom didn't like how the hubby treated his family, and Roseanne b/c of how the whole family talked to each other. I think the Simpsons were off limits...

I remember in 4th grade other kids knew about Saturday Night Live - I didn't even know what it was. However we did watch the evening news with dinner most nights... My parents sent us out of the room during sex scenes in movies - which I was annoyed by as I got older, then appreciated it b/c it was SO uncomfortable to watch that stuff with your parents.... gross...

 

[IrishMist]

Yeah - and this time I was even replying to Nova when he and 3 other people made the same point in just a few sentences...

Long version:
Well, I say that being long winded is a sign of intelligence, and not something that one should seek to avoid, but to enjoy and be proud of. So what if it takes us so many more words to say what it is that we want to say, as long as we're posting and being part of the discussion, right?

The short version:
Eh. So what?



I crack myself up, I really do