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Secondary education

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Original poster

'Wank Fantasy' in Year 7!!!

13 replies

HardyEM · 23/12/2023 19:17

Please check your Secondary School Libraries for 'Loveless'. Our 12yo daughter brought this home after recognising the Author, Alice Oseman from the Heartstopper books (and Netflix series). This book contains obscene language, promotes drinking, casual sex, masturbation, 'getting fingered' and has a whole chapter titled 'wank fantasy'.

Children who are not interested in having sex are then signposted to Asexuality Forums where they can talk to strangers about sexuality!

Even more worrying is that when confronted our Headteacher defended it as "a cultural resource", "preparing children for the world we live in" and said "she is happy this is part of the schools inclusive approach".

It seems LGBTQ+ inclusive books are not subject to any safeguarding.

OP posts:
Robinbuildsbears · 23/12/2023 19:21

It seems LGBTQ+ inclusive books are not subject to any safeguarding.

Of course not, that would be various kinds of phobic apparently.

Needmorelego · 23/12/2023 19:28

I don't think it's aimed at 12 year olds though.
Secondary is for 11-19 year olds so they need to offer a variety of books and authors suitable for different ages.
It's the school you need to talk to about whether there should be restrictions on what the younger children can read.
Edit : sorry it seems you have talked to the headteacher. Maybe go higher - governors, head of academy trust etc.
It can't be hard for schools to simply have a system that some books that the younger students are not allowed to take from the library.

askingneverhurt · 26/12/2023 09:32

Take it further.

You really must go to the governors etc. This is NOT acceptable.

PinkFrogss · 26/12/2023 10:10

Does the school not restrict certain books for older readers? They’ve either missed that this one should be restricted, or they don’t restrict at all which would be a bigger problem.

IamChipmunk · 26/12/2023 10:13

We have these books in our school library. Our librarian only allows them to be lent to older pupils.

Spinet · 26/12/2023 10:16

I would have to read the book myself to comment. Sometimes people on here put descriptions of books that imply that book's approval of things when that's not what the book is about. (E.g 'Lolita' promotes paedophilia).

Additionally you may not want your daughter to read it but others may be fine with their children reading it, particularly because they're happy to have a conversation about the contents afterwards.

ilovebreadsauce · 28/12/2023 21:15

A quick google says the story is about a uni fresher, not promoting a 12 year old drinking and petting!

Thehouseofmarvels · 28/12/2023 21:24

I've read this, and enjoyed it, aged 30. This book is not aimed at children. It features university students as characters and I think it is particularly suitable for sixth formers and adults in their twenties.

Thehouseofmarvels · 28/12/2023 21:27

You could ask the book be kept in the sixth form common room. If the head feels their needs to be a resource on a sexuality, maybe a non fiction book instead?

AGoingConcern · 28/12/2023 21:37

This book is suggested by the author & publisher for ages 14+ and (having read it) is absolutely appropriate for older secondary students. It's a novel about a young person realizing that they don't want to have sex and that's ok. Depicting drinking or "casual" sex is not the same thing as promoting it to children, and trying to make these one and the same is a bad-faith argument.

If you'd like your school to look into ways to restrict access for students below year 9 to certain materials, that's reasonable and the technology to do so exists. In schools with wide age ranges it's ridiculous to expect all materials to be appropriate for all years. It's also fully your right to restrict what materials your own children get to check out.

But your final line trying to make this about LGBTQ and a quick search of your username tells me that you have a clear agenda (no, I won't be donating to your crusade). Did your DS even bring home the book or did you go searching the school catalogue for books you personally disapprove of?

Torchdino · 28/12/2023 21:40

Needmorelego · 23/12/2023 19:28

I don't think it's aimed at 12 year olds though.
Secondary is for 11-19 year olds so they need to offer a variety of books and authors suitable for different ages.
It's the school you need to talk to about whether there should be restrictions on what the younger children can read.
Edit : sorry it seems you have talked to the headteacher. Maybe go higher - governors, head of academy trust etc.
It can't be hard for schools to simply have a system that some books that the younger students are not allowed to take from the library.

Edited

Literally the school librarians job though to ensure the stock is appropriately categorised and to restrict borrowing permissions as necessary. Of course it isn't a perfect system but if the school is going to have books like these they need to manage this. Every school I have worked in has been able to do this!

Needmorelego · 28/12/2023 22:12

@Torchdino exactly. I would be surprised if a secondary school library didn't have age restrictions on certain books.
My secondary back in the 80s had separate Lower School (the 11-14 year olds), Upper School (14 - 16) and 6th Form libraries.
I had to get special permission to use the Lower School library when I was older because I still wanted to read books that were considered "younger" 😂
Having read some of the comments on here I now believe the OP is just a trouble maker.

Smoothbananagram · 29/12/2023 08:35

AGoingConcern · 28/12/2023 21:37

This book is suggested by the author & publisher for ages 14+ and (having read it) is absolutely appropriate for older secondary students. It's a novel about a young person realizing that they don't want to have sex and that's ok. Depicting drinking or "casual" sex is not the same thing as promoting it to children, and trying to make these one and the same is a bad-faith argument.

If you'd like your school to look into ways to restrict access for students below year 9 to certain materials, that's reasonable and the technology to do so exists. In schools with wide age ranges it's ridiculous to expect all materials to be appropriate for all years. It's also fully your right to restrict what materials your own children get to check out.

But your final line trying to make this about LGBTQ and a quick search of your username tells me that you have a clear agenda (no, I won't be donating to your crusade). Did your DS even bring home the book or did you go searching the school catalogue for books you personally disapprove of?

Edited

Great response - thanks for highlighting this.

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