10-Year-Old Borrows Steamy Gay Sex Manga From Local Library

[Elberik]

It was categorised as "Adult non-fiction"?!

Dafuq?

What else do they class as "non-fiction" I wonder...?

Anything regarding mythology, religion, & space aliens is also found in nonfiction. Comic books are shelved in non-fiction because they fall in the "artbook" category. At my local library there's a copy of Watchmen next to Calvin & Hobbes & a collection of Landscape prints.

 

[Padwolf]

I am on the libraries side in this instance, they gave a good response. It would be good if they did put an age rating sticker on some of their more mature titles, however where were the parents in this? A 10 year old kid taking out books all on her own, the parents not monitoring it at all? not supervising? And why didn't the librarian checking the book out for her say anything? or was it a self checkout, if that's the case shouldn't they have something in the machines that scan a book and check the parental advisory label then say that they cannot continue to checkout until a librarian has given it the ok?

 

[DTWolfwood]

Seems like a legitimate complaint. And to be far to the Library, its most likely a simple issue of mistaken identity.

 

[Mikeyfell]

That almost sounds like a setup for the sequel for that steamy gay sex manga, if you know what I'm saying.

 

[Formica Archonis]

Hey, Wikipedia! When do girls start puberty?

On average, girls begin puberty at ages 10-11

So, she's right on schedule, then?

 

[Denamic]

Seems like a legitimate complaint. And to be far to the Library, its most likely a simple issue of mistaken identity.

No.
Libraries has no restrictions, in regards to age or otherwise. Libraries do not censor and do not restrict access to anyone. That's just how they work, and that's how they should remain.
It's the parent's responsibility to moderate their kids.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

It was categorised as "Adult non-fiction"?!

Dafuq?

What else do they class as "non-fiction" I wonder...?

What? You've never seen anime style characters running around where you live?

---------------------
Now seriously, they should at least take responsibility for categorizing the book as non-fiction. It scares me that they have people that work at that library that don't know the difference between fiction and non-fiction.

But also, they've got to understand there are some things that you don't put within the reach of children. And really, what the hell kind of shelving system do you have where you smash the children and adult sections together. What do they also have cookbooks next to the mystery novels and the old news papers next to the books on CD and tape?

 

[Leethe1Girl]

Okay... why is this posted here and why does anyone care??

Firstly, the librarian who checked the book out (unless it was by machine) should have checked the fro the pretty hard-to-miss parental advisory on the cover.

Secondly, this is a comic published by JUNE. From experience I can tell you there is absolutely no graphic imagery to be concerned with. TRUST me... they're stories are horribly boring that way.

THIRDLY, if you're telling me you're primary concern is with the fact that a child was exposed to the concept of gay love, then FUCK YOU.

 

[Batou667]

Wow, I was expecting the library in this case to give some grovelling response or, worse, pull the "objectionable" material just because some thick guy invoked the "think of teh childrenz" argument. Being something of a manga, comic books and anime fan, and most definitely a fan of videogames, this kind of obtuse navel-gazing attacks get leveled at my hobbies with depressing regularity. You would hope that the last 20+ years of being in the mainstream would have raised the profile of cartoons, comics and games to the point where people realised that they're not just for children.

Walk your kids to the library.

Ban porn from libraries.

Everyone's happy. No?

The first point is valid (or better yet, talk to your kid so they're aware of what material is suitable for them and don't need to be monitored). The second point is moot because libraries don't stock porn. They do, however, stock material which may be mature in content and therefore offensive to some. And that's fine in my opinion - in fact, providing access to a variety of material, some of which is controversial, unorthodox or even "offensive" is a moral responsibility. We couldn't legitimately claim to be a democracy if public libraries only supported one prevailing and inoffensive viewpoint.

So... women fantasizes about guys forcibly and sometimes violently having sex with each other?

Great, eh! So much for the myth of sexuality being a male-centric market, as some feminists would have us believe.

 

[Batou667]

No.
Libraries has no restrictions, in regards to age or otherwise. Libraries do not censor and do not restrict access to anyone. That's just how they work, and that's how they should remain.
It's the parent's responsibility to moderate their kids.

I heartily agree. We don't put age ratings on books (if we did, your average encyclopedia would be rated 18 - all that talk of genocide, war, racism, frank discussion of sex and sexuality, sexually explicit diagrams...)

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Seems like a legitimate complaint. And to be far to the Library, its most likely a simple issue of mistaken identity.

No.
Libraries has no restrictions, in regards to age or otherwise. Libraries do not censor and do not restrict access to anyone. That's just how they work, and that's how they should remain.
It's the parent's responsibility to moderate their kids.

No, I think it is also up to the Library to have a proper shelving/section system. I know if I had a kid and I took said kid to the library I use to go to as a kid, I could just point to the children's section and know that there are only children's books in it. I would know there is a children's fiction and non-fiction section in that area, and safe in knowing the place is run by competent people that won't put porn in with the kiddy books.

That is what a proper library has and does. It doesn't just willy-nilly shove all non-fiction together. Oh and that brings me to the point that that the King County Library System must be one screwed up system if it considers a yaoi manga as non-fiction.

Really, it sounds like whoever is running that library has the shelving rules of, "If there is shelf space, put whatever book on whatever shelf."

 

[Sonic Doctor]

I heartily agree. We don't put age ratings on books (if we did, your average encyclopedia would be rated 18 - all that talk of genocide, war, racism, frank discussion of sex and sexuality, sexually explicit diagrams...)

No, of course we don't have to put ratings on books, but we at least have to categorize the book properly in their right sections.

Yes, the average encyclopedia has those things, but I've never seen an average encyclopedia placed in the children's section of a library. They are in the reference section which is next to the adult section and usually the furthest away from the children's section.

Problem with the KCLS is that it sounds like they don't have proper age sections and even cataloging for that matter.

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

So... women fantasizes about guys forcibly and sometimes violently having sex with each other?

Great, eh! So much for the myth of sexuality being a male-centric market, as some feminists would have us believe.

Nah I knew about women's addictive love of sex early on when I refuse to give myself to every woman that winked at me a certain way. Still... I really didn't know M/M could be so popular with women.

 

[Denamic]

Seems like a legitimate complaint. And to be far to the Library, its most likely a simple issue of mistaken identity.

No.
Libraries has no restrictions, in regards to age or otherwise. Libraries do not censor and do not restrict access to anyone. That's just how they work, and that's how they should remain.
It's the parent's responsibility to moderate their kids.

No, I think it is also up to the Library to have a proper shelving/section system. I know if I had a kid and I took said kid to the library I use to go to as a kid, I could just point to the children's section and know that there are only children's books in it. I would know there is a children's fiction and non-fiction section in that area, and safe in knowing the place is run by competent people that won't put porn in with the kiddy books.

That is what a proper library has and does. It doesn't just willy-nilly shove all non-fiction together. Oh and that brings me to the point that that the King County Library System must be one screwed up system if it considers a yaoi manga as non-fiction.

Really, it sounds like whoever is running that library has the shelving rules of, "If there is shelf space, put whatever book on whatever shelf."

What I said had nothing to do with what you responded with, but I'll play along with a response anyway.
Graphic novels are considered artbooks because they're full of art. Therefore, non-fiction. Again, libraries do not censor and do not restrict access. It isn't their responsibility, nor should it be.

Also, do not care about how some libraries sort their books, so I'll ignore future arguments about that.

 

[Zen Toombs]

So... women fantasizes about guys forcibly and sometimes violently having sex with each other?

Great, eh! So much for the myth of sexuality being a male-centric market, as some feminists would have us believe.

With all due respect, what feminists are you talking to? Girls like sex just as much as guys. Girls like porn just as much as guys, if you take into account the differences in consumption[footnote]Guys TEND TO prefer visual pornography more, gals TEND TO prefer erotica more[/footnote] and social stigma[footnote]Female sexuality is harshly stigmatized, male sexuality is embraced and encouraged[/footnote].

Feminism is just "guys and gals are pretty much the same, so treat them the same". There's some crazies, for sure, but you can't judge a group by their wacky cousins.

 

[LackingSanity]

Presumably the adult fiction section is actually separate from the children's section, which might make it a little less likely for younger kids to pick it up in the first place.

Presumably, so is adult non-fiction, which this was categorised as.

You'd think so, but apparently not.

The title checked out, "Hero Heel 2" was catalogued as Adult Non-Fiction. All non-fiction titles, including children's non-fiction, are shelved together.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

snip

What I said had nothing to do with what you responded with, but I'll play along with a response anyway.
Graphic novels are considered artbooks because they're full of art. Therefore, non-fiction. Again, libraries do not censor and do not restrict access. It isn't their responsibility, nor should it be.

Also, do not care about how some libraries sort their books, so I'll ignore future arguments about that.

I'll say what I want, you can ignore it or not. It is an argument and I will used whatever relevant ammunition I want to get my point across, even if people stick their fingers in their ears and over their eyes.

What I said had everything to do with what you said.

I'm not saying that you have to restrict what's in the library. I'm only saying that it should properly be cataloged and put in proper sections. Plus, rules are only to be followed to a point; common sense is involved when knowing how rules are to be followed. Every library I've been to wouldn't have let a ten year-old check that book out, adult material should not be in the hands of children, it is common sense prevention and a library knows that the "no restriction of access" does not mean that children are allowed to check out adult material, especially porn.

I knew people when I was in college that their major was in Library Science. They were actually studying to be librarians. I had actually asked one of them one time about how graphic novels are dealt with when cataloging and placing.

I was told that since graphic novels are not just art, they have stories, they are placed in whatever the section the story fits. So the graphic novel in question in the article, should have been in the fiction section since the story is fiction.

Also, I learned from the library science students, that their are sections of classes that teach the ethics of book loaning. Giving a kid adult material was on the lists of do not do it.

Of course the parent has responsibility on what the kid checks out, but also it is up to the library to watch what kids are exposed to.

If I see a kid that is getting into something questionable, I'm not going to just say, "oh well, the parent should be watching the kid, if something happens it isn't my fault."

If a kid is harmed physically or mentally and I was right there to stop it and I did nothing, I would be at fault.

 

[Batou667]

With all due respect, what feminists are you talking to? Girls like sex just as much as guys. Girls like porn just as much as guys, if you take into account the differences in consumption[footnote]Guys TEND TO prefer visual pornography more, gals TEND TO prefer erotica more[/footnote] and social stigma[footnote]Female sexuality is harshly stigmatized, male sexuality is embraced and encouraged[/footnote].

Feminism is just "guys and gals are pretty much the same, so treat them the same". There's some crazies, for sure, but you can't judge a group by their wacky cousins.

I'm mostly referring to the loudmouthed and universally-unpopular fringe feminists (low-hanging fruit and all that).

But, the notion that a great many women may enjoy a) visual erotica which b) explores themes of rough sex or even rape in a non-negative way, would be unwelcome in a lot of even so-called moderate feminist circles.

 

[Gatx]

I don't really think the library is at fault here. The parents responsible should really keep an eye on the books their kids take home with them. After all you wouldn't allow them to watch whatever they wanted on the TV, would you? You'd check to make sure they didn't watch something unsuitable. It's not the TV's job to do that. You wouldn't let your kid search up whatever pictures and videos they felt like online.

It's not the same thing. TV is public access, with only the parent in the way of what kids can and can't watch. In this case the librarian also serves as a barrier. If a bar or store let anyone under drinking age buy alcohol they'd sure as hell be liable, and stores that sell videogames are also supposed to be partly responsible for making sure they don't sell M rated games to anyone under 18, so I think similar standards should apply especially when the book's cover had that explicit content label.

 

[Zen Toombs]

I'm mostly referring to the loudmouthed and universally-unpopular fringe feminists (low-hanging fruit and all that).

But, the notion that a great many women may enjoy a) visual erotica which b) explores themes of rough sex or even rape in a non-negative way, would be unwelcome in a lot of even so-called moderate feminist circles.

Apologies for my misunderstanding.

I can heartily get behind your second... well, I can get behind your third point, but there are definitely women that enjoy visual erotica and in my experience "moderate feminist"/"mild feminists"[footnote]for lack of a better term[/footnote] are accepting of that. The rapey-themes and such might not get a pass, but if they do it would likely be because of some cognitive dissonance relating to the victims being male.

Regardless, I think we can both agree that explorations of dominance/submission[footnote]Be it guy/girl, girl/guy, girl/girl, or guy/guy[/footnote], rough sex, and "rape play [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_fantasy]" are all things that are just fine and dandy with feminism, so long as all parties are safe, sane and consensual [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SafeSaneAndConsensual].