Book Censorship

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Soldato
Joined
13 Oct 2006
Posts
3,067
Location
Newcastle
I'd like to start by saying, I do consider myself a liberal and I am totally against book censorship in the general sense (e.g. fully support Salman Rushdie, Dawkins etc.) but I was thinking the other day about book censorship.

I recently read The Yacoubian Building, a worldwide bestseller (it was ok :p) but I realised it was at times very explicit (including anal penetration by police officers, prostitution etc.), anyway, it seems strange to me that a child can buy this book whereas needs to show ID to rent or buy a film classified as 15 or 18.

I'm not saying there should be a law to classify books, but it does seem strange that there is no system in place. On the other hand, I guess you won't catch many young children buying books on their own.

Just wondering what everyone else thought of this? Whether the system should be changed? Or would it be an infringement on our liberty.
 
Some countries do have age limits for books - I know for example that American Psycho was only allowed to be sold to 18 and above in Australia, requiring ID in the library to be borrowed.

Rich
 
I think reading about an explicit/violent scenario and seeing one probably have completely different impacts. Your minds eye only has your personal experiences to use as fodder for making things you read real, if a young child read that I think it would all be a bit wooly and distant. Watching something makes it much more visceral and real.
 
It's because books are one of the oldest forms of artistic expression, and they are describing something, not physically representing it, I guess.

I know what you mean though - I remember stumbling across a novel when I was about 13 that had some incredibly explicit content. I was amazed that it wasn't censored in any way.
 
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