Librarians Allow Kids to Borrow BDSM Erotica

Librarians defend allowing kids to borrow "erotic BDSM novels" without parental knowledge/consent after the question arises in the context of an eleven year old girl:

• "From a Small Library: We Don't Have an Age Policy on Books, Since They Aren't Rated Like Movies," by ALA Think Tank, Facebook, 27 July 2016:

From a small library: We don't have an age policy on books, since they aren't rated like movies. We have some common sense, of course, and ask parents if their children can check out questionable books if the parent is there. 

The question right now is: What do we do when an 11 year old wants to read The Sleeping Beauty quartet by Ann Rice (A. N. Roquelaure)? 

They aren't 50 Shades of Grey, but wikipedia describes them as erotic BDSM novels set in a medieval fantasy world. 

Thoughts or policies in your library?

Go in and read the comments.  That will be an eye opener for parents and teachers about public libraries and whether or not librarians care more about community children or about adhering to groupthink from Chicago-based American Library Association that gets cited/linked frequently by the commenters.  Fortunately, notice not all librarians buy into the groupthink.

See also:

• "Question For Librarians," by fantasytimes, Reddit, 29 July 2016, where one commenter reveals kids have the "intellectual freedom" to such material and it would violate librarianship "ethics" to steer them elsewhere, then the groupthink kicks in:

The ethics of the profession are more about not discouraging or preventing someone from getting the materials they want because you have a personal objection to it- this is also known as intellectual freedom. There was just a big discussion on the ALA think tank Facebook group where someone posed the question: would you discourage a 10 year old from checking out an Anne Rice book with graphic sex scenes? Ethically, we cannot act en loco parentis, and we should not prevent a kid from checking out said book- but understandably many adults are wary about this type of situation. Self-censorship is unfortunately rampant amongst librarians, so I think that the first step to becoming more ethically bound to the foundational tenets of the profession is to recognize our own biases, and work to eliminate or reduce these professionally to uphold everyone's freedoms to read and participate fully in society.

Do you think it violates ethics to steer young children clear of BDSM erotica?  Do you think an eleven year old girl has the intellectual freedom to borrow from a public library erotic BDSM novels without somehow passing that by the parents or guardians first?

In a related matter, since ethics supposedly favors allowing children access to BDSM erotica, is it ethical for the American Library Association to censor and blacklist Common Sense Media precisely for advising parents and teachers about the sexual inappropriateness of reading material? (Link to smoking gun evidence of censorship and blacklisting of Common Sense Media by ALA.)  Should librarians allow children to access inappropriate material for children while at the same time ALA censors/blacklists the very means for parents and teachers to make informed decisions on the potential for the sexual inappropriateness of reading material for children?

Full disclosure: Evidencing a lack of any true interest in intellectual freedom, the ALA Think Tank public Facebook group blocks me from commenting or even seeing what is posted.  Ethics only applies when it can be used to ensure children retain access to sexually inappropriate material despite parental wishes.

This is not the first time I have caught ALA Think Tank bragging about sexualizing children against parental wishes: "Kleinman had just caught an elementary school librarian bragging on the ALA Think Tank Facebook page about usurping parental authority and giving books to a student that his mom or dad had specifically asked her not to."  Read more here:

• "Shut Up! The Bizarre War that One Public Library Waged Against the First Amendment," by Megan Fox and Kevin DuJan, Amazon (2016), p.345:

Librarians are welcome to write anonymously for SafeLibraries about allowing kids to borrow BDSM erotica or about any other topic.

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