Should books have a rating systems like movies do?

MarionRivers · Feb 17, 2009

In the United States of America, with its tradition of some of the western world's most liberal free speech laws and most conservative self-censorship standards (unlike parts of Europe where the government regulates speech far more and television's filled with naked women on commercials), has non-binding rating systems for movies, videogames, and even music.

Though there are many criticisms of these systems, some founded and some not, I generally believe they are good thing. They are completely voluntary and have no legal enforcibility whatsoever, ensuring the rights of the citizenry are protected from tyranny, but at the same time they satisfy those who are interested knowing the extent of a work's violent, sexual, drug-based, or profane content beforehand.

I personally consider a work's rating like an extension of the poster, a badge of honor to signify the "goods" or lack thereof found within the piece of entertainment.

I am also currently writing a novel which contains an absurd level of graphic violence, right down to anatomical descriptions of eyeballs being ripped up and regurgitated. I think if there existed novels worthy of being given the strictest possible rating, mine would be one most certainly, and I would prefer that people who did read the novel knew what they were getting into beforehand.

What are your opinions on a book rating system?

tehuti88 · Feb 17, 2009

I sometimes think I would like one. Not to keep the wrong books from falling into the wrong hands, but from ending up reading something I don't really want to read. I picked up "Water For Elephants" or whatever it is to browse because I'd seen it around so much and found myself smack in the middle of a graphic sex scene, so put it back. I'd rather not read that. I don't need to be told that I'm too young to read something (even if I'm not), but it'd be nice to know what the content is going to be like.

So, instead of just "G," "PG-13," "R," etc., I'd like something more along the lines of the TV rating system--"TV-MA, DSLV" or whatever. I don't mind that something DOES have objectionable content, I'd just like to know what KIND.

It's not an issue that keeps me up at night, though. I'm fine without it.

And sometimes, I think we might be better off without it...a couple of the books I bought when I was definitely too young to be reading such material directly influenced how I write today. I probably wouldn't have been allowed to buy them if they'd been rated!

Travis J. Smith · Feb 17, 2009

My succinct thoughts.

So long as there are no age restrictions placed as a result of the rating system like there is with movies and they don't go the route of music with the explicit lyrics sticker, censoring the material, etc. I wouldn't completely object to such a system.

kuwisdelu · Feb 17, 2009

I wouldn't be automatically against the idea.

But I'd be very, very hesitant, for fear of a child being told "you can't read this; it's too old/mature/inappropriate for you." That happens enough already. It doesn't need to happen more.

Alpha Echo · Feb 17, 2009

kuwisdelu said:
I wouldn't be automatically against the idea.

But I'd be very, very hesitant, for fear of a child being told "you can't read this; it's too old/mature/inappropriate for you." That happens enough already. It doesn't need to happen more.

Hm, you make a good point. At first, I thought yes! What a great idea. But now that you mention it...I had a hard time taking certain books out of the library at school while I was in elementary school b/c the librarian thought I couldn't really read at the higher level. My mom wrote an angry letter...and another angry letter until I was given permission to check out any book I wanted.

Clair Dickson · Feb 17, 2009

I'm not opposed to it. Books are one of the hardest places to find out if they have potentially objectionable content.

I like the above suggestion about including what content-- a movie can be rated R because there are boobies (oh no!) or because there are graphic decapitations. I'd rather watch boobies than decaptitations. Knowing that it's sex, violence, gore, or even language would be a more useful rating system then the basic movie ratings. Though some of the movie ratings are starting to include WHY it's rated PG-13 or R.

But I agree, I wouldn't want it to be enforced. The only problem is with lawsuits-- if a kid buys a CD at Wal-mart and the parents are upset that he, at 12 was allowed to purchase an explicit CD, the parents (sadly) decide to sue Wal-Mart. Which is stupid, IMHO.

As for libraries, I think that perhaps using the rating could work like V-chips. Parents could chose what ratings they would or would not want their kid to check out. If a parent chose, they could let kids read books with sex... or not.

Now... if we can just get a rating system on whether the blurb on the back actually has a damn thing to do with the text...

jgold · Feb 17, 2009

Personally, I don't like the idea.

I can't help but think of a book like The Kite Runner, which would probably need some kind of warning. I loved the book, but I'm not sure I would have read it if I'd known the content of a few scenes ahead of time. Adding a rating system, to me, seems like a way to stereotype a book based on just a few scenes.

I also dislike the idea of the expense in having something like this implemented with publishers when a few clicks on the Amazon reviews will have all the potentially offensive moments called out for you.

JMHO.

Mr Flibble · Feb 17, 2009

As a parent it would make my life a damn sight easier.

My son is ten, but he reads at a level far above his age. So it's not whether he can read / understand that is the problem. In fact he gets bored with the simplicity of most books for his age. It's that he's not emotionally mature enough to deal with scenes of say, attempted rape. He adores fantasy - but there's a lot I can't / won't let him read because of the adult themes.

And tbh I like to buy books that I know haven't got that content in, rather than have to pre-read everything before I let him read it, just in case. A simple system similar to the movies ratings ( U, 12, PG, 18) would really help, at least as guidlines.

DeleyanLee · Feb 17, 2009

In some ways, I think there's already a rudimentary system that does this in place called "genre marketing".

Thrillers, Westerns and action-oriented genres are going to naturally have a chance for more violence. Romance is naturally going to have more sexual situations. Et cetera.

As for anything more than that, I agree that it's far too easy to check reviews (amazon, various review and discussion sites) that if you really are concerned about it, it doesn't take that much effort to know pretty much anything you want to know about a book (movie, whatever).

Though if there would be some kind of ratings, I'd also prefer something more explanatory than a plain G, PG, R and such ratings. There's a lot of stuff in R, even MA or XXX that I don't find objectionable, but some stuff that I do. It's better to be able to make an informed decision.

Mr Flibble · Feb 17, 2009

In some ways, I think there's already a rudimentary system that does this in place called "genre marketing".

Thrillers, Westerns and action-oriented genres are going to naturally have a chance for more violence. Romance is naturally going to have more sexual situations. Et cetera.

Not really.

Some romance has zero sex. Some thrillers are more graphic than others. Fantasy could have sex, or not, or no violence, mild violence, extreme violence not graphically portrayed or graphic violence. It all depends on the book and of course HOW the sex / violence whatever is handled..

And I can't say I've ever seen an Amazon review that said 'beware the gang rape scene in chapter 3' or similar.

ETA: for instance, this book does have a gang rape in it - it is not mentioned at all in the reviews.

scarletpeaches · Feb 17, 2009

No, no, a thousand times no.

Rarri · Feb 17, 2009

I think the 'guidelines' on books are enough at the moment (IE: preschooler, childrens, young adult etc). What would be better - in my mind - is if some books mentioned somewhere on the back cover if there was sexual assault, or graphic violence; like movies, near the rating there's the tag saying 'moderate violence', for example. I wouldn't like to see actual ratings though, would you have to take ID to buy a book? Plus some themes are hard to interpret, which is important as everyone interprets things differently.

BenPanced · Feb 17, 2009

I had a ratings system until I was 16. My mother monitored everything I read, checking anything she doubted before I could. The only thing that didn't pass was Sybil.

Besides, one person's PG-13 is another's R is another's G. A quick skim at the bookstore or library should suffice.

GirlWithPoisonPen · Feb 17, 2009

Hell no.

Alan Yee · Feb 17, 2009

scarletpeaches said:
No, no, a thousand times no.

Ditto.

ChaosTitan · Feb 17, 2009

The largest issue with the MPAA rating system for movies is that it's not evenly enforced. Graphic sex is more likely to get an R-rating than graphic violence, but how you do define graphic? Is one naked breast graphic? Is groin-on-groin action graphic? How about stabbing someone in the chest vs. ripping out an eyeball? My sense of graphic isn't the same as everyone else.

Even in terms of how television programs rate content, it won't always measure up to my definition. Or yours.

The difference between visual mediums being rated and the written word being rated is you can skip the chapter of the novel that contains the sex scene. If you're in a movie theater, you can't skip it. You can hide your eyes and cover your ears, but you can't skip ahead to the next scene. (Obviously this doesn't count if you're watching TiVo or a DVD.)

But beyond the flaws in the current systems and the fact that what's "graphic" is up for debate, no, I don't think books need a rating system.

Vorteil · Feb 17, 2009

If there was some way of doing this WITHOUT it leading to any kinds of age restrictions whatsoever, it might be helpful. I just think it would end up with stores refusing to sell certain books to younger people, and regardless of their content I don't think that's all right. Also, I don't think it should be something the parents have total control over either, because too many would go over the top and ban their 17-year-olds from reading practically everything.

MaryMumsy · Feb 17, 2009

No. I feel there would be too much room for subjective restrictions by library personnel and bookstore clerks. Like Alpha Echo, I was arbitrarily restricted by librarians. We moved a lot (USAF). It got to the point that when we got library cards at new locations my Dad would tell the librarian to mark my card in some fashion to indicate I could check out any book they had. Looking younger than I was didn't help either.

MM

Kitty Pryde · Feb 17, 2009

I agree. It would just keep books out of the hands of kids. I started reading adult novels when I was 8 (Stephen King, Tom Robbins, Michael Crichton, plenty of sex and violence). It didn't scar me. In fact, though I knew about the birds and the bees, I would skip over any sex scenes in books because they didn't make sense to me. I was shocked (shocked I tell you!) as an adult to learn that in Stephen King's IT the little girl has sex with all of the boys she is friends with.

Around age 9, I had read literally every middle grade novel at our local branch of the library. If adult books were off-limits to me, I probably would have quit reading.

scarletpeaches · Feb 17, 2009

Pfft. You think this would keep books away from kids?

Hell - if anything's banned that just makes it more attractive.

Cranky · Feb 17, 2009

Kitty Pryde said:
I agree. It would just keep books out of the hands of kids. I started reading adult novels when I was 8 (Stephen King, Tom Robbins, Michael Crichton, plenty of sex and violence). It didn't scar me. In fact, though I knew about the birds and the bees, I would skip over any sex scenes in books because they didn't make sense to me. I was shocked (shocked I tell you!) as an adult to learn that in Stephen King's IT the little girl has sex with all of the boys she is friends with.

Around age 9, I had read literally every middle grade novel at our local branch of the library. If adult books were off-limits to me, I probably would have quit reading.

I probably would have, too.

Though sometimes I'm a little sad that I started reading more adult books when I was so young. I think I missed out on some good children's lit because I was so stoked that I could read Stephen King.

Stupid.

CaroGirl · Feb 17, 2009

It looks like there are two sides to this. One side consists of adult readers who'd prefer to know what kind of potentially objectionable material might be in a book before they read it--like child murder or rape, graphic violence, and so on. The other side are parents who either welcome it as a guideline or fear it as censorship for young minds.

I think, given the polarization of opinion, we're better off without it. Adults can continue to stop reading when a scene becomes objectionable to them, children can continue to enjoy unrestricted access to books, and concerned parents can continue to bear the burden of choosing appropriate reading material for their minor children.

If it ain't broke...

Alan Yee · Feb 17, 2009

Personally, I think it would make it easier for kids to find books with lots of violence and/or teh sex it. My parents have never been too worried about what I read, but I would be pissed if the ratings system had legal restrictions that would prevent me from buying a certain book because I'm 17.

Williebee · Feb 17, 2009

I'd have to say no. True, as quoted above, it would make my life as a parent easier. But it would also mean someone other than me telling my kid, and me, what we should and shouldn't read.

seun · Feb 17, 2009

The ratings system on films basically doesn't work. If the idea is to stop someone younger than 18, for example, seeing a film rated 18, that kid will find a way of seeing it. The censors/classifers aren't doing much to change that. Look at at the change to the 12 rating recently. It became a 12A which to me defeats the purpose of rating it at all. How long until the 15 and 18 ratings follow the MPAA logic of R meaning a parent can take their six year old kid to see whatever they want?

And as for the Parental Advisory label on music, I'm afraid that is total bollocks esepcially for the Rap/R&B market. The label means more sales. Nothing more.

So in conclusion, I'd say a big fat no to any ratings systems on books.

Should books have a rating systems like movies do?

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