Rant - the F-word in PG13 movies

[Laura Corin]

and yet you still talk to me... :D

 

 

I know.... you meat-gobbling, swearing person you.

 

L

[Joanne]

There are some 2 hour time periods in which I wish I had only one "F" bomb.

 

But then I'll go weeks without saying it.

 

I try not to give too much power to one *word*. Especially one so over used that it is essentially meaningless.

 

I'm more aghast at concepts and ideas that relate to behavior and thinking: Patriarchy, abuse, greed, selfishness, ...........

[Scarlett]

There are some 2 hour time periods in which I wish I had only one "F" bomb.

 

But then I'll go weeks without saying it.

 

I try not to give too much power to one *word*. Especially one so over used that it is essentially meaningless.

 

I'm more aghast at concepts and ideas that relate to behavior and thinking: Patriarchy, abuse, greed, selfishness, ...........

 

 

When I hear the F word I swear my hearing stops working.  I hear blah blah blah for several seconds.  I find it vulgar and crass.

 

As far as the concepts and ideas in a movie or book....depends on if the negative ideas are being glorified or not. 

[SKL]

I read PG13 as meaning PG13.  I am not fond of cussing on the screen, but I think a 13yo can take a little of it without being ruined.

 

Unfortunately my kids are only half that age and they have heard the F word more than once - and not from the screen.  My bigger concern is all the sex crap that they seem to think is appropriate for elementary school children.

[BrookValley.]

I'm still back at "My 6 year old uses the f-word." Ummm, wow.

And that helps to illustrate the point I was trying to make (and/or you didn't read my entire post). The word has shock value for many, but why? It's just a word. Just as Joanne said, I'm far more concerned with ideas and attitudes. So, for example, I'd much rather my child exclaim "f---!" if he drops a jar of peanut butter on his toe at home (true story) than call another child an idiot if he feels wronged while playing a game (never happened). I'm more concerned that my child is respectful of others, has compassion, empathy, etc. I don't want him exposed to violent ideas and images at a young age. These are the things that are important in our family. So in the case of the movie, I'd be fine with a character dropping the f-bomb, but I wouldn't be ok with, say, someone being threatened with a gun. I think the shock value of specific words is overshadowing what I feel are the more important issues.

 

For the record, my son rarely cusses and does not do so outside of the home. He knows it is offensive to plenty of people and he respects that. He's a good kid, and a polite one.

[dirty ethel rackham]

When the kids were younger, I was very selective about what the kids watched - pretty squeaky clean stuff.  But as they got older, I felt that, while upholding our family standards was important (we don't swear in our home for the most part (other than some #$%$@ muttered under one's breath when stubbing a toe or when extremely frustrated,) I could not keep it totally at bay and still be a member of society.    I knew that they only way I could keep my children's ears from hearing anything untoward was to never leave the house and ban any books written after a certain date.  Even at a family get-together, they might have heard an f-bomb here or there.  We explained that the language we use expresses something about who we are and that I would prefer that they refrain from swearing.  So far, I have never heard anything worse than "crap" or "sucks" out of my kids' mouths and those are rare.  My kids have learned from dealing with my family that we don't need to judge people based upon the language they use - we can love them even if we choose not to emulate them.  

 

When my oldest was in 7th grade, our boys' book club read "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer.  The mom who selected this book is someone I really respect (she is very conscientious about researching things and has very high standards.)  When I read this with my son, I was shocked at all the f-bombs in the book.  It was our first real exposure to that language in something "Mom-approved."  But, we got over our initial shock and saw that it really fit the situation and had trouble imagining the book having the same impact without that raw language.  At our book club meeting, the boys brought it up in discussion and came to the same conclusion.  None of those boys went on to add that to their vocabulary to my knowledge.  Most of them had heard it before, despite our relatively sheltered environment.

 

I have to say that dd, being the youngest has been exposed to things at a much younger age than her siblings simply because we began to relax our "filter" in order to enjoy things as a family that would appeal to our older boys.  Whenever I express displeasure at any language, she mentions how she hears so much worse at the climbing gym.  She is on our gym's elite climbing team and many of the adults there treat these kids as peers as they often will confer about how to climb difficult routes.  They seem to forget that these kids are kids and don't filter their language. She has not adopted any of that language herself.  She laughed at me when she heard me exclaim "sh!t" when I missed a move on the wall and then apologized to everyone. 

 

I am much more bothered by gratuitous violence, sex and abuse than I am by language.  Ds17 is watching The King's Speech for his World History class.  I am considering having dd watch it even though it has a slew of f-bombs.  They are essential to the story. 

[Stacia]

Maybe slightly OT from the original post, but...

 

Btw, Why the #$%! Do We Swear? For Pain Relief: Dropping the F-bomb or other expletives may not only be an expression of agony, but also a means to alleviate it discusses scientific research about swearing as reported in Scientific American & NeuroReport. Even Mythbusters did a test/report on it too.

 

Just sayin'... ;)

 

Plus, even more evidence: :cursing:

(See? We've even got the 'swearing' smiley on here on a classical board!)

 

:laugh:

 

 

[littlebug42]

In 16 candles, the geek character also doesn't remember what happened in the morning. He is the one that asks if they did anything and then even asks if he enjoyed it. Just saying.