Barbie vs. The Rock
Probably one of the most challenging aspects of my job is biting my tongue when I see possibly questionable parenting. I'm sure that these sorts of things have been going on since the dawn of time, and we probably are doing better parenting now than ever before in human history, but that doesn't stop me from cringing when I see parents screaming at kids to shut up, telling kids that if they don't stand perfectly still and not touch anything they can't have a book to read, or any one of a number of other responses to problems that wouldn't exist if they just saw their kids as human beings and tried to talk to them.
The other day I had one that ascended to a meta-level of commentary on society. A mom with a very talkative and engaged 6-year-old were standing at the circulation counter trying to decide what movies to get. Since they were taking their time, I continued checking in returns. While I was doing this, the boy saw me check in a copy of Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, a Powerpuffesque Japanimation series about a rock band that happens to feature two female artists. He thought it looked cool and wanted to check it out. The mother says, "Oh, I don't know honey, that looks like a girl's movie." I was about to point out that it was really gender neutral and just happened to feature two girls, when the mother decided to share with me, "He likes a lot of those Barbie movies and it kinda freaks me out!"
Apparently, enjoyment of Barbie by a male is a sign of some form of mental defect that should be cause for parental concern. This is the point where my tongue begins to bleed. I was tempted to point out that I had played with Barbies with my female friends at about the same age, but given the stereotypes associated with my profession I doubt this would have reassured her. So I continued to chomp down hard, smiled, and went about my business.
The boy continued to look at all the movies, and eventually came across Doom. He proceeded to tell me about how it was a scary movie, but apparently scary in a way that makes him very excited. He went into detail about his favorite scenes in the movie at some length, until his mother said something to the effect of "Honey, stop it before they think I'm a bad parent!"
Doom is rated R for strong violence/gore and language.
Now given how engaged the boy was, how talkative he was, and the fact that they were in the library together at all, I have little fear that he will grow up to become an axe-murdering psychopath. I'm sure he will do just fine. I just worry about a society that finds it perfectly acceptable to condone gory monster-slaying while condemning magical castles and fairies.
The other day I had one that ascended to a meta-level of commentary on society. A mom with a very talkative and engaged 6-year-old were standing at the circulation counter trying to decide what movies to get. Since they were taking their time, I continued checking in returns. While I was doing this, the boy saw me check in a copy of Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, a Powerpuffesque Japanimation series about a rock band that happens to feature two female artists. He thought it looked cool and wanted to check it out. The mother says, "Oh, I don't know honey, that looks like a girl's movie." I was about to point out that it was really gender neutral and just happened to feature two girls, when the mother decided to share with me, "He likes a lot of those Barbie movies and it kinda freaks me out!"
Apparently, enjoyment of Barbie by a male is a sign of some form of mental defect that should be cause for parental concern. This is the point where my tongue begins to bleed. I was tempted to point out that I had played with Barbies with my female friends at about the same age, but given the stereotypes associated with my profession I doubt this would have reassured her. So I continued to chomp down hard, smiled, and went about my business.The boy continued to look at all the movies, and eventually came across Doom. He proceeded to tell me about how it was a scary movie, but apparently scary in a way that makes him very excited. He went into detail about his favorite scenes in the movie at some length, until his mother said something to the effect of "Honey, stop it before they think I'm a bad parent!"
Doom is rated R for strong violence/gore and language.
Now given how engaged the boy was, how talkative he was, and the fact that they were in the library together at all, I have little fear that he will grow up to become an axe-murdering psychopath. I'm sure he will do just fine. I just worry about a society that finds it perfectly acceptable to condone gory monster-slaying while condemning magical castles and fairies.
Comments
Lolgaylibrarian! Yep because as we all know nurses, painters, singers, librarians, teachers, cooks, poets, seamstresses, lawyers and priests are all girl jobs. Any man who works in those jobs HAS to be gay.
Meanwhile, working as a part-time painter and part-time drug dealer are MANLY jobs which give you the right to call tall men wearing suit, tie and briefcase a "faggot". Yes, this happened to me the other day as I was entering my local courthouse and they were leaving with paint spatters on their pants. I suppose I should give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they were in court to give moral support to their indigent friends... or something.