50 Shades Of Grey For Kids: NY Parents Demand Removal Of Book Showing 11-Year-Olds How To Masturbate
Furious parents pressured a NY school to remove a book from its Summer reading list which they compared to a kids version of 50 Shades Of Grey.
The book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, has some sexual content which the parents considered unsuitable for their 11-year-old children. They refer to the fact that it includes lines such as: ‘And if God hadn’t wanted us to masturbate, then God wouldn’t have given us thumbs. So I thank God for my thumbs.’
One angry parent, Kelly-Ann McMullan-Preiss, 39, said she didn’t want the school dictating when she needed to discuss masturbation with her son. She told the New York Daily News,”It’s about… masturbation – which is not appropriate for my child to learn at 11…..It was like ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ for kids.”
Irene Dougherty, PTA co-president, told the Daily News:”Not every child is emotionally mature enough at 11 years of age to handle this content…..it really should be a parent’s decision how much information is given to their children.”
Author Sherman Alexie had to defend the book in 2008 when it was banned by a school in Oregon: “Everything in the book is what every kid in that school is dealing with on a daily basis, whether it’s masturbation or racism or sexism or the complications of being human.” He continued, “To pretend that kids aren’t dealing with this on an hour-by-hour basis is a form of denial.”
He is probably disturbed that his book has been classified as being similar to best selling novel, 50 Shades Of Grey, when there is no real basis for the claim.
