should books be age rated?

[pineappleshortbread]

With all this hype about 50 shades I was a shocked to learn that it isn't age rated.

Should books be subject to age ratings like other forms of media?

Just out of interest OP, what age rating would you give 50SoG. And what rating would you give the bible?

think there's a massive difference between having an image portrayed for you and the image you conjure in your own head.

Yes - I've been much more disturbed by the ones in my head actually - for example Hannibal book vs film.

People self-limit themselves with books, if it's too hard to read, or requires too much concentration etc... you don't do that with films as it's a passive activity.

Again not true for everyone!!! Lots of generalisations on this thread!

No. I think books are self censoring, really, as others have said. You have to put a lot of effort in to get to the good (or bad) stuff.

I wouldn't stop my children from reading much tbh, and I am very strict with films and games. I would draw the line at 50 Shades or American psycho though.

TeaCupCrazy

I have to say I much preferred The Rules of Attraction to American Psycho - the books at least, I've watched neither film.

I think libraries are perfectly right to distinguish between 'adult' and 'child' books. They should not be policing whether children are trying to borrow Stephen King (regardless of whether they could even read it, you know the shocked parents would be up in arms blaming libraries for ruining child innocence blah blah)
But if it bothers the parents of the child that they cannot borrow something they would deem suitable, borrow it on your own account.

Of course there are generalisations - because 'generally' it is true. Hard cases make bad law.

I can deal with the images in my own head because I've created them, they may be far more graphic and horrific than the ones on film. This was true for me of Harry Potter where I find the films quite fluffy compared to the books.

Splodge. Take your knickers out of their knot.

Apologies Enb I should have been clearer - I meant lots of generalisations being stated as fact when I don't think they'd apply to lots of people

TeaCup - AP is useless. And horrible. Don't feel you have to read it!!!

I sometimes will move books in a charity shop that have been misplaced in the kids section, if I think they are likely to be unsuitable. A frequent offender is Roald dahl autobiography which looks like a normal one of his books.

I read loads of adult books as a kid, but I only understood them at my level-some of it would have gone over my head. I was disturbed by The Omen though, which I watched far too young, thanks to my brother..

Many authors are vehemently opposed to age rating of books. Philip Pullman in particular spoke out strongly against it a few years ago - one of the key objections is that it limits what children are reading 'from both sides' in that mature, young, able readers don't get access to books they may love and that older children are put off reading books with younger age ratings as they think they are babyish/will be mocked for reading them.

"A frequent offender is Roald dahl autobiography which looks like a normal one of his books."
They are still kids books though - very suitable for 9+. Boy is often used in primary schools as guided reading.

How do you define the age restrictions, what brackets to they fall into, at what age do you become mature enough to read certain books? That's where your idea falls apart, children mature at different ages, I'd rather mine were reading.

Besides if you think anyone follows age ratings on films and kids don't watch/play things they shouldn't and manage to find ways to access porn on their smartphones if they are so inclined then you're mistaken.

A lot of books which are effectively children's books have explicit content of some form, the hunger games are young adult books, melvin burgess is a children's writer, supposedly. What do children read in school, twilight?! Standard English curriculum books aren't for children, doesn't stop them being studied.

"one of the key objections is that it limits what children are reading 'from both sides' in that mature, young, able readers don't get access to books they may love and that older children are put off reading books with younger age ratings as they think they are babyish/will be mocked for reading them."

Was going to say exactly the same thing. I read absolutely anything and everything as an older child and teenager - high quality literature, dubious bonkbusters, loads of science fiction & horror, books for teens, kid's books, classics, collections of comic essays. I'd say more than half of them would have been deemed "adult" and possibly "unsuitable", and I'd have been seriously pissed off if anyone had tried to stop me reading them. My parents weren't particularly "permissive" but were happy with me reading basically anything that was in the house (ok, I may not have mentioned to them that I'd discovered the copy of The Sensuous Woman that was stuck up on a very high shelf...).

They started having a "for sixth years" section in our school library when I was in about third year, and remember having to plead my case to the school librarian that I should be allowed to take out The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter on the basis that I had already read 3/4 of it and wanted to know what happened in the end. (I think she basically gave me free rein after that)

I remember fuss being made about a book I was reading at Junior School, (chosen from junior school library) can't remember the name, was sci-fi and I think while reading the male character met up with a woman and began taking off their clothes. Which I think I was reading to mother, and they stopped me reading it immediately and wrote on my reading card log that it was inappropriate.

Then at Secondary, I dont seek out these books! (again from the school library though just reading myself) There was a supernatural tale where a women was looking into mirror, and then swaps so shes stuck behind it looking at her possessed body look to floor and seeing a bottle, hitch up her skirt, then violently masturbate with it.

This was before internet porn was so readily available and the only porn was discarded porn mags you would come across while innocently playing in wooded areas.

Twin set, pearl clutching librarians made me a pervert!!!!!

Aye, we had to work hard for our porn in those days...

No. When I was 12 (for example) I read a mixture of Judy Blume, world war 2 biographies (eg. Anne Frank) and books meant for older teens & adults.

I think you can learn about life from books.

I remember my parents getting cross because they caught me reading a book about a man with HIV, and a book about policemen and their complex relationships. But they were really good books and I still remember them (but not the titles).

If books were age rated I would never have read half the books I read as a child and would have missed out really.

I would personally ban 50 shades though purely because of the bad writing.

There is some good BDSM literature out there apparently if you are into that stuff, but 50 shades is not good.

I don't think I'd "ban" anything, though I'd definitely tell my offspring if I thought something was a terrible piece of drivel.

in don't know I'm not an expert in was just thinking and seeing what you guys thought

Seems to me that giving a book an 18 certificate would be the surest way to make younger teens want to read it.

Who's going to do the rating? What about books from abroad: are you going to forbid them from being imported?

OP Have you read Areopagitica and if not why not?

On Amazon some books are given a rating, well they state in the blurb, "this book contains ...... and is intended for readers 18 years and over".

I read some unsuitable stuff as a kid, I think any kids who are 'readers' do.

No to age rating books. Like PP have said it can take a bit of effort to get to the good stuff in a book and stuff will go over the heads if children don't understand - I first read IT when I was about 14 and the part where the all have sex with Beverly went right over my head

anyway 50 shades of shite started off as fan fiction which was freely available on the Internet along great with much better written erotica, available for anyone who could tick the Yes I am over 18 box

When I was 11 I was given adult library tickets because it was the easiest way to let me borrow more books at a time. Shortly afterwards they decided to limit the books you could borrow on a child (under 16) ticket.

Agatha Christie, Jane Austen, Dickens, Bronte...... all adult. Utterly bonkers.