(December 18, 2020 at 3:20 pm)Spongebob Wrote:Parents still have to give permission for their children to attend sex education...which is basically explaining to them how their bodies work and not really sex education.(December 18, 2020 at 12:05 pm)downbeatplumb Wrote: Am I right in assuming that the worrisome character in the book is actually sympathetic. I think context is key to some things and throwing out a progressive book because sentiments have moved on would be a slippery slope.We are meant to see the injustice blacks face through the innocent eyes of young Scout and have fatherly Atticus explain it to us in a way that children can comprehend, among other themes in the books. Racist characters do behave as we expect and another female character was raped, though in the book it was described as "taken advantage of". Nevertheless some parents apparently have zero appetite for their children being introduced adult concepts in school. It is a shame because it seems that civilization keeps pushing the age of adolescence farther and farther out. Children in their early teens were once of marrying age and would have been working for years, but now are only expected to go to school and play. I think we underestimate what children can do and understand. What I see most often from younger people is sheer boredom with life.
Juliet in Romeo and Juliet was supposed to be 13, should we dump what is one of the best romancs ever because the late middle ages were a bit un pc?
The fact that there has to be class a school to teach basic personal biology tells you that we are still quite puritanical when it come to sex.
It's no surprise to me that at the time of the writing of TKAM the euphemism of "taken advantage of" was used in place of rape. The book most likely would never have been published otherwise.
