Mum tells school to ban Sleeping Beauty — as Princess doesn’t give consent to be kissed!
A MOTHER wants her son’s school to ban Sleeping Beauty – because she says it sends the wrong message about sexual consent.
Sarah Hall said the fairy tale is ‘inappropriate’ because the prince kisses the princess while she is asleep – without asking for her permission.
The mother-of-two, 40, said this might teach children it is acceptable to kiss sleeping women.
She wrote a comment about this in her six-year- old son’s record book and also contacted his school asking it to stop younger children reading books featuring the story.
Her comments sparked a fierce backlash online, with many saying she was taking political correctness too far.
But she said: ‘I think it’s a specific issue in the Sleeping Beauty story about sexual behaviour and consent.
‘It’s about saying is this still relevant, is it appropriate?’
Mrs Hall said she came across the kissing scene while reading a book with her son Ben, which his school had given to him.
The book was part of the Biff, Chip and Kipper series often used to teach children to read. It featured a prince kissing a princess after being told by Chip: ‘You kiss the princess. Then she wakes up. Everyone knows that!’
She said recent coverage of sexual harassment allegations in Westminster and Hollywood, including the Me Too campaign encouraging victims to speak out, meant the issue was fresh in her mind and made her think of the ‘subtle messages’ helping to create a culture where consent is not seen as important.
Mrs Hall posted a photo of the book’s pages on Twitter with the caption: ‘While we are still seeing narratives like this in school, we are never going to change ingrained attitudes to sexual behaviour # MeToo # Consent.’ The PR executive, from North Shields, would not reveal the school in question or what their response was to her complaint.
She insisted she wouldn’t want Sleeping Beauty books ‘taken out of circulation completely’ because for older children it could be a useful resource for having discussions about consent and ‘how the princess might feel’. But she said she was ‘really concerned about it for younger children’ and whether it is ‘suitable material’.
Mrs Hall added: ‘These [stories] are indicative of how ingrained that kind of behaviour is in society. All these small things build up, and they make a difference.’
However Chris McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, said: ‘The prince gives the kiss of resuscitation and life to Sleeping Beauty and this should send a positive message to children.
‘He saves her from the evil curse of a wicked fairy. The story represents the triumph of good over evil. I would like to see such fairy tales being made compulsory in nursery schools as an antidote to the nasty side of political correctness.’
A local newspaper polled its readers and 93 per cent disagreed with Mrs Hall. Professor Kim Reynolds, an expert in children’s literature at Newcastle University, said that while children pick up important messages from fairy tales, they rarely take things as literally as to believe it’s acceptable to kiss a person in their sleep just because a prince kissed a sleeping princess.
Critics online also disagreed with Mrs Hall. Author Nancy Carson wrote on Twitter: ‘Why make an issue out of a delightful fairy tale beloved of children for many years? It illustrates the love the hero has for the girl.’
Mark Williams said: ‘You turned an innocent love story into a sexual assault? Damn, your mind is twisted.’ Simon James said: ‘Another example of what is wrong with this world! The snowflake who takes sexual connotation from a children’s story!’
‘The nasty side of political correctness’