[Publib] Kids' Sex Questions

[Fred Beisser]

Very nicely stated, Mary.

And when I was a 6th grader, several decades ago, Esquire magazine was 
just as interesting to peruse as was Playboy. But at least with only one 
librarian on duty in the small town where I began growing up (still 
working on that), we were able to sit in the stacks and look at the mags 
without anyone looking over our shoulders. Outdoor LIfe and Field & 
Stream were always handy as a "cover story" to appear to be reading.

Fred Beisser
Trustee
www.elbertcountylibrary.org
(Colorado)

Mary K Chelton wrote:

> I was interested in the response to the interview question of what 
> would the prospective employee do if he/she saw a kid looking at the 
> Playboy website on a library computer. Since Playboy has been a 
> favorite of 6th grade boys forever, I think one might assume normal 
> curiosity and ask the kid to think about moving to a more secluded 
> spot or waiting until there are fewer people in the library because 
> many people are uncomfortable when they can see what he's looking at. 
> The judgmental (and dare I say political cover?) of an "inappropriate 
> material" warning just makes all the librarians look like uptight 
> prisses to the kid and will just egg him on to do more to make you 
> crazy. If a parent, even an MLS student parent, thinks the material in 
> inappropriate, she can tell her kid.
>
> This is just another instance that makes me wonder why kids bother 
> with us at all. Who's the real user here, the kid looking at Playboy, 
> or the invisible adult censor who will no doubt make the librarian's 
> life a misery if he or she finds out that the kids is looking at it?
>
> Kids are legitimately interested in sex. I thought we had figured that 
> out by now. Guess not.
>
> Mary K.
>
>
> Mary K Chelton
> Professor
> GSLIS/Queens College
> CUNY
> 65-30 Kissena Blvd.
> Flushing, NY 11367
> (718) 997-3790,3667
>
>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>_______________________________________________
>Publib mailing list
>Publib at webjunction.org
>http://lists.webjunction.org/mailman/listinfo/publib
>  
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.webjunction.org/wjlists/publib/attachments/20080218/bfe5da71/attachment.htm