There's a thought that's been on my mind for a little while now and it's something that's been bugging me a bit. When it comes to erotic literature, why is it you don't hear as many people complaining about it compared to other lewd media? I can remember countless times when people I know have complained about adult TV shows, sexy characters in games, or explicit songs on the radio, but you don't really hear about raunchy books, aside from stuff like 50 Shades of Grey, and that happened to get ultra popular and get a movie, so that's a special case.
Is it because books aren't a visual kind of media? But if that's the case, then why do so many people criticize songs for their lyrics? Songs aren't visual, either.
The closest thing I've heard to complaints are people making jokes about the covers of romance novels, but that's not really talking about the content of the book, just the art used to advertise it.
Maybe it's just that not very many people read for fun these days, and it's hard to care about the content of a medium you don't experience yourself.
What does everyone else think? If anyone else has a better idea, post a comment.
As a teenager in the 1980's, I can remember seeing news stories about parents and religious groups trying to ban books in school libraries. These attempts were for a variety of reasons, but mainly due to sexually explicit writings. Luckily, many of the bannings did not stick. I think if a young person wants to read a sexually explicit book, they will find a way.
ReplyDeleteI've thought about this too. When I was younger, my parents restricted certain movies, songs, and TV shows but never books. I think it may be that most teenagers didn't read for fun. Also, books have a certain sophistication over other forms of media, so people might not expect the same content in songs and movies.
ReplyDelete