Generally speaking, I tend to fall on the "...Well, at least they're reading" side of this debate.
That said, I accidentally convinced my aunt to stop allowing my twelve-year-old cousin (how appropriate to this debate!) to read the books, insofar as she confiscated them and returned them. Accidentally, because I'd been talking to my aunt over lunch about how horrible they are, with emphasis on the OM NOM NOM I DELIVER BABY THIS WAY scene, and hadn't actually expected her to act on it.
Afterwards, I had to rethink the book I was about to give my cousin, since it involved falling into a world of rewritten fairy tales, and had one non-explicit scene where Little Red stalked and seduced the wolf, then lured in more women to lie with wolves -- and they all got eaten. I ended up unable to give it to her in good conscience in case it got confiscated as well.
Basically? If you start censoring reading material, fuck you. My mother refused to let me read Sweet Valley High and disapproved of Sweet Valley Twins, but let me tear through Greek Mythology at the age of six (which is full of incest, rape, bestiality, homosexuality, and other things my mother would not approve of). I read them anyway.
Do I think Twilight sucks? Definitely. Do I think it depicts healthy relationships? Nope. Would I want my twelve-year-old cousin reading it? No, but she's already an avid reader -- like me -- so for her, it's time wasted that could be spent reading something better. Like Discworld.
And ultimately, if I can't convince her to read something better, if I can't offer her alternatives that'll drag her in and make her forget that Twilight exists -- then yeah, let her read it. Because the other option is censoring the book by confiscating it, and speaking as a kid who had that happen to her a lot while growing up, it's as annoying as fuck and doesn't accomplish anything. If anything, forbidden fruit will only make it all the more appealing, and then your kid won't even discuss it with you and give you a chance to check she realizes that Stalking Is Not Cool.
no subject
That said, I accidentally convinced my aunt to stop allowing my twelve-year-old cousin (how appropriate to this debate!) to read the books, insofar as she confiscated them and returned them. Accidentally, because I'd been talking to my aunt over lunch about how horrible they are, with emphasis on the OM NOM NOM I DELIVER BABY THIS WAY scene, and hadn't actually expected her to act on it.
Afterwards, I had to rethink the book I was about to give my cousin, since it involved falling into a world of rewritten fairy tales, and had one non-explicit scene where Little Red stalked and seduced the wolf, then lured in more women to lie with wolves -- and they all got eaten. I ended up unable to give it to her in good conscience in case it got confiscated as well.
Basically? If you start censoring reading material, fuck you. My mother refused to let me read Sweet Valley High and disapproved of Sweet Valley Twins, but let me tear through Greek Mythology at the age of six (which is full of incest, rape, bestiality, homosexuality, and other things my mother would not approve of). I read them anyway.
Do I think Twilight sucks? Definitely. Do I think it depicts healthy relationships? Nope. Would I want my twelve-year-old cousin reading it? No, but she's already an avid reader -- like me -- so for her, it's time wasted that could be spent reading something better. Like Discworld.
And ultimately, if I can't convince her to read something better, if I can't offer her alternatives that'll drag her in and make her forget that Twilight exists -- then yeah, let her read it. Because the other option is censoring the book by confiscating it, and speaking as a kid who had that happen to her a lot while growing up, it's as annoying as fuck and doesn't accomplish anything. If anything, forbidden fruit will only make it all the more appealing, and then your kid won't even discuss it with you and give you a chance to check she realizes that Stalking Is Not Cool.