Let's Talk Bookish; Should Books Have Content Ratings?

It's Friday and perhaps time for a new Let's Talk Bookish post, courtesy of Eternity Books and Literary Lion. The theme of the week was "Should books have content ratings?".

Perhaps books have existed for so long, that people don't feel the need for content ratings in books. Perhaps some are a bit like the parents in Matilda and dismiss the impact and importance of books. Perhaps it's a combination, thrown into the mix that fewer people are reading than before.

Personally, I struggle with the idea of content ratings on books. I suspect part of the reason is that when I grew up, the YA section was basically non-existing in Norway, so I "graduated" from middle grade books to "regular adult" books rather quickly. I'm basically one of those who ended up reading Stephen King and crime/mystery novels about drunken PI's in their fifties at the age of twelve.

Of course I totally get that each kid is different and some mature more quickly than others, but that is also a reason why I get a foul taste in my mouth in terms of content ratings. Some may be able to read Stephen King at the age of twelve, while others should wait a bit longer. I think it's more important to look at the kid(s) as individuals rather than "just" an age. Fair enough, it's not like I would recommend an eight year old Fifty Shades of Grey, but my point is to use common sense and not be too rigid.

There's also the aspect that not everyone cares that much about the content ratings in regards of movies, video games and so on. It's sometimes almost a bit ironic that some parents allow kids to play extremely violent video games, but go on their hindlegs as soon as it's an age appropriate book about racism.

That said, I have worked as a library assistant at a library, where we colour-coded the children's books by age, so the kids, parents or teachers could easily find something for their age to read without anyone at the library guiding them.

Another pet peeve I have isn't about content ratings, but still is a bit on the more restrictive side, is the dividing of genders in some cases. I've seen "Bedtime Stories For Girls" and "Bedtime Stories For Boys" books (and similar) in bookshops. Just when did books start to have gender? Not all girls wants to read about princesses and unicorns and not all boys want to read about knights and dragons. We're in 2021 for crying out loud, I thought we had progressed more than that, but sometimes I feel we're going a bit backwards.

To sum up, content ratings can in some cases work great as an aid, as long as it's not misused and one also have the individual kid in mind.