Parental Priorities

Okay, now I know I don't have kids of my own and therefore - according to some people I know - should keep my opinions of how to raise kids to myself because I would obviously have no clue as to what I was talking about. So let me preface this post by saying I spent a lot of time in my youth working with young kids and though my brother-in-law and sister-in-law have absolutely no control over my niece and nephew, I have not only a good relationship with both, but they listen to me when I remind them to say "please" and "thank you", use their forks when they eat, and not to swear at their mother no matter what she just said to them (I may not have a great deal of respect for the woman, but she is their mother and by default deserves the kid's respect while they are still children).

So, okay, the latest version of a video game called Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has been frantically yanked from the store shelves across North America beacuse of a hidden sex scene players can access.

Now I'm not an advocate of porn but really people, considering what the game is all about, why should this be the straw that breaks the camel's back? This series of games are violent and gory. Your child gets to maim, steal, kill, mutilate and do drugs in this game, but throw a little sex into the mixture and parents have a freak fit. To quote the article in today's Toronto Star:

"The original Mature (17 and over) rating already warned of "strong sexual content, intense violence, strong language, blood and gore, and use of drugs." The new rating makes it illegal to sell the game to anyone younger than 18 in Canada or the U.S.

The board made the decision after learning that gamers, using downloadable software and cheat codes, could unlock a hidden scene in the ultra-violent title in which a man has sex with a hooker. Rockstar Games says the so-called "Hot Coffee" sex scene, which prompts the gamer to determine the pace and positions of the sex act, was part of an early prototype never intended for inclusion in the final version of the game, the sixth instalment in Rockstar Games' hugely successful Grand Theft Auto series.

"These elements were never intended to be found," says Jim Ankner, director of corporate communications for Take Two Interactive Software, the parent company of Rockstar Games. "It's essentially like the editing room floor, or a painting that's been painted over, then scratched off to reveal something underneath."

I had to laugh when I saw a snipit about this on the news last night. Oh, NOW parents are re-thinking the idea of the game! And the "mature" rating aside, tell me that every 10-year-old out there isn't or hasn't played at least one of the games in this series? It amazes me that parents seem to find animated violence (or really any violence for that matter) totally acceptable, so long as there's no T&A. As Kyle's mom states so eloquently in South Park: The Movie: "Violence is okay, so long as nobody says any naughty words while they're doing it!" (not an exact quote, but you get the idea).

Just look at the movie rating system. Some horrifically violent films out there are rated PG-13 (for the U.S. folks, that means you can't go under the age of 13 without an adult with you) or even just PG. Have some woman show her tit and bang - you've got yourself an R rated film.

Now again, while I am certainly not an advocate of porn, what gives with this? If I did have a kid, I'd rather they saw two adults having sex on the screen than some guy shooting an entire street full of people to death. I wouldn't want my kid to see violent sex or rape, but your typical Hollywood love scene will guarantee an R rating for a movie and I see no reason why kids can't see sex. It's how they wound up on this planet in the first place, right?

Now granted that said, the play I recently directed I told my sister-in-law not to bring my nephew to because there was a lot of swearing and sexual inuendo that at the age of 10, I didn't think he needed to hear or more likely, really understand. And truth be told I was afraid if I didn't warn my sister-in-law and she brought him to see the show, she'd be really pissed I didn't warn her. I did insist on putting a warning on all the publicity posters that the play contained "mature themes and language" just in case, but I felt that it was only fair to warn people who might be offended. Regardless, many people did bring kids to see it and I haven't heard that any have suddenly turned to a life of crime due to hearing the word "shit" in my play.

So you tell me. Am I crazy here or are parent's priorities by and larged mixed up on the issue of sex and/or violence?