R.S.V.P. A BIG N.O. TO THIS PARTY

I've never considered myself a prude.

Today I saw a story about a children’s book called Rainbow Party.  The cover of the book spells out the title in crayon-colored writing.  It also shows different colors of lipstick.  It is published by the children’s branch of Simon & Schuster publishing.  It is classified as "juvenile fiction" and the reading level is listed as "young adult".  It’s about a party.  A party where 14 and 15 year old girls perform oral sex on boys.  Each girl wears a different color lipstick so the boys have “rainbow evidence” of the party.

14 and 15 year old girls.

My daughter is only 7 or so years away from being 14.

And here I go with the phrase I swore I’d never say: What is WRONG with people today?  How can THIS actually be seen as a good thing?  Of course, you know what the pro camp is saying:  “kids are doing it anyway, we should talk about it.”

Ugh.

I’m not opposed to talking about anything.  I AM opposed to celebrating it in printed form.  Oral sex.  High school sophomores. My first experience with any thing even remotely close to this was … uh, wait a second, my mom reads this.  Let’s just say if someone in my high school suggested a rainbow party, I would have shown up in multi-colored tube socks.

Where is the balance?  Where is the line?  Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, of course I’m for them.  But why does our society keep pushing and pushing and getting raunchier and raunchier?

Now I should say this, I haven’t read Rainbow Party.  Maybe there is some redeeming value.  From reviews I see that in the end, the plans for the party are abandoned because of fear of STDs.  I guess that’s the educational part.  Of course, I think most of us can remember when only whores and sailors had STDs – no offense to any sailors out there.  Or whores for that matter.

I guess I’m just saddened by it all.  When I was a kid, Kermit sang about the rainbow connection, Dorothy was trying to find her way back over the rainbow and Mork held his pants up with rainbow suspenders.

Today … well, today there’s Rainbow Party.

I’ll never look at ROY G. BIV the same way again.

Comments

[Michelle]

It has been said that what is tolerated by one generation is widely accepted by the next. Scary thought.

[Burie]

Hey, Jenne. Hope all is going well with jenneink.com.

I just finished reading RAINBOW PARTY a few days ago - an ADULT friend told me about it because my daughter is 15 1/2 and will start dating soon.

I was astonished at the thought processes of each character and was astounded at the level of frustration, peer pressure, confusion and pain they put each other through. If this book really represents the minds of our teens, it's no wonder they're so messed up and confused. Someone has got to tell them about life because they deffinately don't have the facts straight.

Over the last two months my daughter has used the word "stressed" many times. I kept wondering how can she possibly be "stressed", she's 15??!!?? After reading this book I now understand it's not "stressed" as we know it as adults, it's "stressed" on a whole different level that we can't even comprehend.

As the parent of a 15 year old, I'm glad I took the time to read this book. However, in no uncertain terms do I want my daughter reading it or taking part in anything like a RAINBOW PARTY!