725 N 300 E
Pleasant Grove, UT 84062
November 15, 2014
American Library Association
50 East Huron Street
Chicago, Illinois 60611
To Whom It May
Concern,
I recently read
an article published in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which
highlighted a study that showed a positive association between exposure to
profanity in multiple forms of media and engagement in physical and relational
aggression. Many forms of media
such as movies, video games, and television contain a rating system that gives
consumers an idea of the content contained in these types of media. These rating systems are based on a
number of content items including profanity, sexual content, and violence.
My question to
you is why don’t books have a similar rating system? I read another study that evaluated top selling books aimed
at children under 18 years of age and they found that many of these books
contained a substantial amount of profanity in their content. If movies, video games, and television
are helping consumers be aware of the content included in their types of media,
then books should have the same standard.
It seems that we hold books in higher esteem than we hold other mediums,
however, based on the AAP study, profanity is a risk factor for aggression, and
books should not be the exception when it comes to responsibility for the
content contained in them and how they may affect the reader, especially young
readers in a negative way.
Authors, publishers and distributors should be aware of the content in
the books they write and sell, and be aware of how the content may positively
or negatively affect the readers.
As a mother of
ten media consuming children, and a nine-year-old daughter who is a
particularly avid reader, I am expressing my concern for all of the young
members in our society. Media
plays a highly influential role in their lives, much more than it did in the
years I when I was growing up.
Please consider requiring a rating system on books that are published
and sold. Every part each of us
can play in helping create strong, capable individuals of today’s youth is a
noble step in the right direction.
It would be extremely helpful for me as a mother and a consumer of
literature, to be able to look at the cover of a book and see a rating that
gives me a good glimpse into what my children will be reading.
Thank you for
your time, and I will look forward to a response regarding a rating system for
books and literature.
Sincerely,
Tara Haubner
