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AIBU?

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Original poster

to censor DD's books by ripping inappropriate pages out?!

84 replies

morningpaper · 01/10/2009 19:04

Not the ones with people copulating, like in my biology textbooks of yore.

We have a children's compendium (very new) which contains the story of Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby.

Surely this is just a racist stereotype with possibly worrying racist undertones?

Am I being over-sensitive or should I snip-snip-snip?

OP posts:
GrendelsMum · 01/10/2009 19:55

But surely the point is that it isn't a black child - it's a doll made out of tar, so he gets stuck? It would seem a bit of a leap for children to start calling their friends 'tar babies' after that?

Hassled · 01/10/2009 19:57

Oh FGS. Read it to her with a socio-historical slant. Talk to her about racial stereotypes. Tell her about slavery and the Deep South. Then tell her about Rosa Parks (remind me again - did she stand up or sit down ?). But don't start ripping up books.

pointydoug · 01/10/2009 19:57

I thought brer rabbit also derived from ANansi type stories

Original poster
morningpaper · 01/10/2009 19:57

Hmmm it is illustrations

They should a fat black baby, NOT a tar baby

whoever did the illustrations assumed that tar baby = black child

OP posts:
JackBauer · 01/10/2009 19:58

Oh myu books are all ruined, spines broken (how do people read them without breaking the spine anyway) and food stains, bath water marks, notes and phone numbers written in front or back.
Have had at least 3 authors tell me they appreciate this as it shows I always have the books with me whatever I am doing.

It's more that if yu don't like the story, remove the whole book, but it is part of the collection and ...I don't know what my point is anymore TBH, it just doesn't sit well.

tvaerialmagpiebin · 01/10/2009 20:01

I have just put "tar baby" into the search box on Amazon and the third match was this

Whaddya make of that stereotype then MP?

Original poster
morningpaper · 01/10/2009 20:01

The trouble is that this is one of those phrases that sits with me in the same vein as "nigger in the wood pile"

I don't want it to be PART of DD's volcabularly when the story is illustrated with a black child

I don't want to remove the book until she is 21 and verses in literary deconstruction and I don't want to have to sit down and discuss it with her either because that makes it a BIG ISSUE

I just don't think it's an appropriate phrase, particularly when illustrated with these pictures

OP posts:
Winebeforepearls · 01/10/2009 20:03

I think the recoil at defacing books in any way is leftover from when they really were precious objects and cost a small fortune. But nowadays scribbling in the margins and breaking spines of paperbacks I think is absolutely fine and even a good thing. But it's different to censoring stuff by cutting out pages.

Winebeforepearls · 01/10/2009 20:04

MP, I think you should just quietly remove this book from your house if you're having these misgivings. Plenty other lovely books out there for her to enjoy.

shonaspurtle · 01/10/2009 20:05

Full Wiki entry

So the issue isn't that the tar baby story is racist - it exists in lots of cultures, but that racists misappropriated the term for black children. Which was foul (and stupid).

I don't know tbh. I can see that the pictures are the real issue but I still suspect it will go way over her head.

I also thought it was a doll made of tar. And in fact it is.

Original poster
morningpaper · 01/10/2009 20:05

How is it MORE logical to throw the entire book out?! There are another 62 stories in there that are fine.

OP posts:
diddl · 01/10/2009 20:06

But tar baby refers to a model of a baby made from tar in the story.

Hassled · 01/10/2009 20:06

"I don't want to have to sit down and discuss it with her either because that makes it a BIG ISSUE"

But it IS a big issue, and one you will have to discuss with her sooner or later.

Winebeforepearls · 01/10/2009 20:06

OK OK get your crafty knife you loon

LOgic has nothing to do with it two glasses down.

pointydoug · 01/10/2009 20:08

mo, just put the book in teh loft

tvaerialmagpiebin · 01/10/2009 20:09

If she is already reading it then she is going to want to know why you are taking it out/away. Forbidden fruit tastes nicer, and all that.

Before you know it she WILL be reading Riders and all those Judy Blue ones where the boy has a name for his willy.

I rally think you are over-egging this.

Original poster
morningpaper · 01/10/2009 20:12

I am fine with boys willies

I do think that racism is quite casual around here though - 'nigger' is the only rude word she's come from school with

OP posts:
Ingles2 · 01/10/2009 20:15

oh cut it out MP... I don't like defacing books either but if you think the pics or connotations are inappropriate for a 6 yr old, get rid. (a stanley knife will do the job)

pointydoug · 01/10/2009 20:16

oh. I thought you were telling her to cut it out, as in 'stop it'. I was about to agree

tvaerialmagpiebin · 01/10/2009 20:17

at that word from school
Where do you live?
Think it would be as well to have a word with the school if there is casual racism. They have policies for all that sort of thing surely?

PVish · 01/10/2009 20:18

but sh ewont think about it like that
i said - i read all of them adn never even KNEW it was racist - altho have scant memory of it

you are creating an issue where there neednt be one

Original poster
morningpaper · 01/10/2009 20:20

The trouble is that we are in Somerset and to be frank, there isn't a lot of positive multi-culturalism around the place.

I don't want her main influences to be things like this!

It's not like I'm banning Harry Potter...

OP posts:
PVish · 01/10/2009 20:22

no i see what you mean
but there are far more active ways to do this. In a non cringey right on parenty way

She is too young to be able to A) get it and B) criticise it

tvaerialmagpiebin · 01/10/2009 20:26

Agree with PVish.
We all want our children to grow up respecting others and not to have stereotypical ideas. The best thing we can do for them is expose them to a wide variety of social situations where they experience difference, and encourage them to talk about it, but at their own pace and in appropriate language.

Can you tell I have been looking at school prospectuses tonight? The language just rubs off....

Jux · 01/10/2009 20:51

One of the things we found amongst our old books in the last week or so, was Little Black Sambo. It's lovely. I loved it when I was a child and I don't think it engendered racism in me. My parents made sure that I did understand the time and place in which it was written and the basic problem with it. The same with Epaminondas (I think yearningly of how he stepped in the pies).

I don't think I've ever assumed these were racial stereotypes. I shouldn't think it even occurred to me. They were just characters in books and I'd come across much stranger ones.

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