Do Parents Censor Books less than Other Media Forms?

[Oniw17]

My parents never really monitored anything I did.

[Delta40]

My parents never really monitored anything I did.

and what is your conclusion?

[Oniw17]

That would be that in my case, no, my parents didn't censor books less than anything else. Except maybe whatever vices they themselves might have had.

[Delta40]

yes but do you think you would have benefitted from being censored as a child is what I am asking. Would you do the same as your parents with your children or different?

[zhannochka]

I think most parents censor books less because it's harder to figure out if it has objectionable content. There are plenty of parental websites on video games and movies but you have to be very familiar with literature to know the content of most books. And most people are not literature buffs.

^^This.

And I think there is a trust in books that is unspoken. The average person doesn't expect to read a great deal of gore, sex etc in the average novel.
Books are usually written for their target audience and I find there isn't much overlap in those audiences/genres.
Also, a book is a personal journey. Movies and video games possibly require more censorship since the images are so easily shared? For example, you could have all the horror stories you might like on your bookshelf, but little Jimmy is never going to walk in on the images and catch a glimpse like he might do say if those images are on a TV or computer screen.
On that note.. Reading requires our imagination to run away with us. An innocent child might read about gore, but his version of gore and an adults are going to vary greatly. Movies and games don't instruct our imagination at all and often aim to shock or make an audience feel uncomfortable.

[zhannochka]

yes but do you think you would have benefitted from being censored as a child is what I am asking. Would you do the same as your parents with your children or different?

No. My parents never censored me and my English teachers in highschool had me reading at a grade above the rest of the class which never raised an issue.
I was always allowed to pick whatever I like at a visit to a library and never came across anything that bothered me.
Do you think that literature has changed over the last decade to now cause concern?

[Delta40]

No. My parents never censored me and my English teachers in highschool had me reading at a grade above the rest of the class which never raised an issue.
I was always allowed to pick whatever I like at a visit to a library and never came across anything that bothered me.
Do you think that literature has changed over the last decade to now cause concern?

I don't think it has. I mean would I let a child read Lady Chatterley's Lover compared to Stephen King's Needful Things? If my child had ever expressed an interest in either books, I would have allowed them to read them but they never did so it was a decision I didn't have to make.

Personally, I am more concerned what they access on the internet than literature

[zhannochka]

I think that sums it up Delta. Literature is the least of concern! Other mediums are more likely in the spotlight.