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Originally Posted by analog
So wait a sec... you find it unacceptable that a medical term such as "scrotum" is used once in a children's book, and not for prurient purposes, but letting a child look around on the internet to find out about sex is ok? Also, you not reading "penis" or "vagina" in a book and you not growing up twisted have nothing to do with one another.
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I wasn't for a second suggesting that I would let my kids look around on the internet until they found porn. I was suggesting that they'll learn more there than from the book. It still doesn't mean that putting the word 'scrotum' in a children's book is acceptable. I'd be willing to leave that to sex education lessons, and, yes, to playground chat and the inevitable 'extracurricular information' my children might happen upon. You can't control everything your kids do and pick up, it'd be naive to presume you can. I learned the word 'fuck' when I was 10 from a schoolmate. Yes, it would have happened eventually. My parents couldn't have prevented that, it happened away from their control. But, easygoing and relatively liberal as they were with regards to my upbringing they would have wanted me reading a children's book containing that word.
As for 'twisted and unbalanced'... I shouldn't have used the word 'twisted'. But 'unbalanced' illustrates the point I was highlighting there, which was that some of the above posts are bordering on suggesting that it's actually beneficial to the child's development to read the word 'scrotum', using this flimsy argument as some sort of defence for using it, which is simply a bad, bad argument. And back we come to the statement that nobody here (at least, nobody who didn't encounter inappropriate language in books as a child) grew up unbalanced as a result of that. The argument suggesting that it might benefit my child is totally nonsensical, and about as strong as wet tissues for supporting the use of the word.
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Originally Posted by analog
I think part of the main point is, it's a body part. Body parts are not "adult" in nature. We all have either a penis or vagina. All of us. The commotion over the word scrotum is just silly. And not for nothing, but defending anything, just on the principles of free speech alone, is exactly what people should do. I've defended free speech many times for things with which I don't agree- but you can't say "oh i don't support free speech on this because I don't agree".
If you don't defend ALL free speech, you are only protecting your own interests- and that is not free speech at all.
A body part is not inappropriate. Using it in a prurient, sexual, or lewd manner, would be- but we all have genitals, and there is nothing "adult" about them.
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I agree with and support free speech, contrary to what my previous post may have suggested, but I also endorse common sense. Banning the book would be a bad thing to do, and I actually believe that censorship would also be a bad move - if it were on the part of anyone but the author herself. I'm not against the schools which have decided not to put the book in their libraries. And if I were in charge of a school, that's the decision I would take too. But I think that if a school's willing to let their children read the book, go ahead. I'm not going to go all-out book-burner, because I think that's too far and irresponsible. I would say that the author shouldn't have written that, but if there's going to be a change to the book it should be the author's decision and nobody else's.
If my first post gave you the impression that I was for banning the book or even forcibly censoring it, I apologise, because that's not my stance. My thoughts on everything involved including what I'd do if I were a parent faced with this, which are all I intended to put across, are that if people don't mind their children reading the book, okay. I wouldn't let my kids read it not only because of the use of the word but also because there are thousands of other books out there which they can read which I'm not bothered with at all. You can call it hypocritical because some books I'm fine with might contain themes which are arguably worse... I'd say that's a part of a much larger debate which has no place in this thread. If I were the author, I'd seriously think about why I was including the word 'scrotum' and whether it was really necessary (and I find myself wondering about her reasons for using it), but, creatively, it's her decision to use the word and I can disapprove but it's not my place to force that opinion upon her or anyone else.
I hope I've made my points clear, and I'm sorry if you miscontrued anything I said.
Bear in mind, of course, that having not read any part of the book, what I think about the situation would be heavily based on the actual words. So what I'm saying comes with that caveat. But I'd put money on my opinion being largely the same if and possibly when I do read it.