I find this kind of amusing, because Alice Cooper is actually a devout Christian. Might not have been true back in those days, but a lot of his more recent work (Brutal Planet, Dragontown, The Last Temptation) is full of strong Christian imagery and messages. I’m not normally a fan of Christian music, but I loves me some Alice. 
My mom always allowed us to make up our own minds regarding what we read and watched, but my dad was just plain strange about it. There was the Truly Tasteless Joke Book on the bookshelf (along with all the sequels; if it was good enough for sequels, the jokes must be pretty funny, right?) that we weren’t allowed to touch. Three’s Company reruns were forbidden, along with Thundercats and He-Man for my younger brother and sisters. They weren’t allowed to watch Thundercats because it was “violent”, yet my dad beat up my mother in front of us on a regular basis and would whip us if he caught us watching the wrong show.
But really, throughout my childhood there were tons of instances where he made up a rule just to make it, and I am now thirty-four it’s never been more clear that he was pulling this stuff out of his butt. I think the “protective” acts were more of the same. He had no clue how to be a father, but he knew they were supposed to say “no” sometimes, so he said it randomly and rarely when appropriate.
In sixth grade I was reading a book about a (fictional) town that tried to ban The Grapes of Wrath and the controversy that followed. My teacher contacted my mother, apparently concerned, and asked if she really thought that was appropriate, and if so, could I read that at home and bring something more appropriate for school. The irony of that was not lost on my parents, who responded by telling my teacher to stuff it, and told me that if I wanted to read Steinbeck’s work itself, there was a copy on the bookshelf downstairs.
I think that, had my parents ever even remotely considered censoring what my sister and I could read/watch/listen to/etc, they would have then seriously questioned their ability to raise children.
These are also the parents who forced me to go to Hebrew school at their synagogue, but when I complained about the way they were teaching the Holocaust, they suggested I get a copy of Mein Kampf to see how wrong the rabbi was about what he was saying. (Note: said rabbi reacted rather predictably and unhappily to a 15-year-old punk waving Mein Kampf in his face.)
I remember those! Though the only jokes I remember from them are some of the Helen Keller jokes. And the running gag with the blank pages titled “Jokes for the Blind”, More Jokes for the Blind", “Still More Jokes for the Blind”, “Still Even More Jokes for the Blind”, “Yet Still Even More Jokes for the Blind”, etc., etc.
I had the whole set of those when I was a kid, along with the “Totally Gross Jokes” series. I’m not proud of this.
I’m also not proud that I had “The Official Polish/Italian Joke Book” (it was Polish on one side, and you flipped the whole book over and turned it upside down for the Italian version.) This was back in the '70s, before the whole Lech Walesa/Solidarity thing put a (merciful) end to the “Polish joke” fad.
I dated a girl whose parents were “bubble-wrap” parents. Culturally she could delve into whatever she wished, but she never played sports and was forbidden to learn to ride a bicycle because “she could crash and die.” They never signed her up for driver’s ed courses or taught her how to drive either (same reason). She still can’t ride a bike and got her driver’s licence at the age of 30 after her mother died and wasn’t around to flip out about it.
She’s also the worst driver I’ve ever known. She tries hard, but it’s hard to explain some stuff to her that you’d take for granted. Like when her driving instructor was teaching her how to safely negotiate a curve in the road, he tried to refer to “leaning into a curve when you’re riding a bike”. That meant nothing to her. She hasn’t been on a real bike.
My parents let us read anything and were pretty lax about TV and movies as long as there was some context for violence and nudity. My fiancee’s parents were the same, except her dad didn’t let her watch a children’s TV show called Polka Dot Door, but only because: “That’s too stupid even for toddlers.” (It realy was pretty stupid.)
My parents were never that way, but my grandmother was. Y’all should’ve seen the look on her face when she grabbed my dog-eared copy of The Book of Lists and had the page fall open to “Top 7 Positions for Sexual Intercourse.” 
I told her that I thought it was a “good” book 'cause it also had the 10 Commandments.
I was visiting her at this time and she held the book, waiting to tell my father about the “trash” to which his son was being exposed. I declined to inform her that it was Dad who bought the thing and gave it to me when he was done reading it.
When we left her house he flipped the book over to me and said “I hope you learn your lesson”, to which I replied “Don’t bring controversial books to Grammy’s.” (I was about 10, 11)
See? I learned my lesson! 
My mother loved to read, she never even looked at a telelvision until she moved out of her parents home - and my grandparents didn’t hop on the TV bandwagon until about 1968. So all she and her siblings did for fun was read…and play outside. When she was at home and sitting still (which was rare) she had a book in her hand. So naturally growing up around a reader, my sisters and I all became really avid readers. We went to the library every weekend, she never had any objections to what we read. And if I wanted a book in the adult section but was too young, as long as she understood what I wanted it for, she’d check it out for me. She was a teacher, and she figured if a kid wanted to know about something, that was her inherent responsibility, to help them learn it. Within reason - age appropriateness in regards to sex, violence, etc. - of course.
TV was another thing. We got cable two weeks before the first day of broadcast for MTV. The package came with Mtv, HBO and the Star Channel - later to be known as Cinemax - or the aptly named “Skinemax”. I was 9, and didn’t sleep much, so I was introduced to soft-core porn in the wee hours of the night. :eek: Meanwhile, if Mom was watching a movie or one of her mini-series like The Thorn Birds, us kids had to leave the room during any sex or kissing scenes. Um, Mom, I’ve seen LOTS more than that already. :rolleyes: Seriously though, I regret seeing all that at such a young age, it was yucky and scary to me. I could understand, and get behind, a sheilding of that type of influence on the young. A lock on that channel would have come in handy in those days.
Whenever people get up in arms over violent video games or violent dramas on television corrupting our youth, I always like to ask:
“What video game did Hitler play? What was Hitler’s favorite TV show?” If it’s in you, it’s in you. A video game is not going to bring that to a boil, IMHO.
Yep, I had all those too. As well as the ones for blacks, mexicans, “ethnic jokes variegated,” and even the Gerald Ford joke book. My minister collected Mad paperbacks and I borrowed them frequently. I studied up for those long school bus rides, when we’d gather in the back and exchange dirty jokes. Some I didn’t get until years later.
Yeah, my books, TV and movies were pretty closely monitored when possible.
Mostly it was done by my folks enforcing (when they were there) early bedtimes and encouraging my sister and me to either play outside; read stuff they provided or approved library books; or do creative things (drawing, writing, art).
The lady who watched us was actually the most lax: she really didn’t have any objection to what we did when Mom and Dad weren’t around as long as we didn’t get hurt and weren’t breaking stuff.
As far as the effect of all that… I definitely sought out “forbidden” horror movies (and love them to this day). I also bought “Mad” magazine as much as I could. Whenever my mom found it, however, she threw it out. I still love Don Martin though! Other than that I didn’t get too rambunctious.
I’m actually glad my parents worked as hard as they did to protect us. It gave my sister and me time to be innocent little kids for awhile.
My siblings and I were allowed to read whatever we wanted, most likely because it kept us quiet and out of sight. Television wasn’t a problem as there were only 4 channels, and I don’t think we went to movies very often–maybe a Disney flick at a drive-in once in a while in our '64 Chevy station wagon. I doubt anyone ever even noticed what kind of music I listened to. It wasn’t so much that my parents were particularly open-minded or liberal about things. They were simply disinterested in anything we did unless it involved the police or copious bleeding.
There was a big fuss during my junior high school years about an English teacher who planned to show “The Lottery” during class. Some parents apparently thought it was too violent for teenagers. I think they eventually did show the film, but I never actually attended class there, so I can’t say for sure.
My parents were “weird”. My Mom is a strict Catholic (even moreso as she ages) and attempted to monitor what I watched/read/listened to. Ironic, because this is the same woman who let me watch The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and some British women-in-jail soap opera, and Monty Python. Maybe she thought I was too young to understand the content (I was somewhere between 5-10yrs old). She really didnt buckle down until the parent-teacher conference after “career day”… I’ll get back to that one.
My dad - well, I think he seriously wanted a boy. I was showered with toy cars, comic books (loved Archie and my alltime fav was CarToons - which I could strangle my mom for throwing out!), play tools, etc etc. My only “girly things” that my mom made sure of was clothing and Barbie dolls… although, I never did have a Ken doll, come to think of it…
My dad would often take me to his place of work (he was a mechanic) and it was nothing to hear foul language (and my dad told me not to repeat any of it) and naked females posters/calendars. Matter of fact, my dad had boxes and boxes of Hustler Humour, Hustler, Penthouse, and Playboy mags stored in our garage at home. Of course I was looking at them when I was in the garage with no parental supervision!!! I was a very curious kid 
Of course, that came to an end when we had Career Day at school - think I was in 2nd grade - and every student is asked what they want to be when they grow up. My answer - I wanted to be in all the Playboy, Penthouse, and Hustler magazines. :eek: Instant parent-teacher conference (oops!). Mom made dad find another home for the mag collection.
I would watch horror flicks with my dad (or my friends), and my mom was happy that I was reading (therefor staying out of trouble?) so she didnt monitor that end of it very much… until she found a book that was lent to me that had been banned for many years and was hard to find (I just remember the original print date was really really old), she confiscated it and I dont think she ever gave it back to the owner - or at least to the owner’s mom. Man, my friend was mad at me for a long time after that! I remember the book had some hard core sex scenes in it, and that was in the first chapter or two!
Mom would never buy me any “metal” albums (yes, this is back when vinyl was still made) - I do recall that she bought me a Def Leopard/Pyromania album one year for xmas, and that was only because a good friend of hers convinced her it wasnt the work of evil. Yet, I was allowed to buy just about anything with my own money - Alice Cooper was my favorite and even though he looked like a freak to many, I gladly educated her otherwise. I dont know, maybe it was just because I had a silver tongue when it came to arguing a point because I was even able to convince my mom it was ok to allow me to go see Alice in concert as well as some 80’s metal bands.
Overall, my parents just didnt look for things to keep me away from and didnt make a big deal about anything until someone else did & I was “caught” with such questionable item. (I did keep my interest in D&D hidden from them, though)
Now, my Mom is paranoid about EVERYTHING, and I do mean EVERYTHING and has become a control freak.
Sort of. I went to Christian school, so there were some books that weren’t allowed in the library. They refused to carry the Harry Potter series, which I thought was pretty dumb. Otherwise, my mom didn’t particularly care what I read.
My folks also let me watch whatever I wanted at a young age, and to be honest, I kind of wish they’d drawn some boundaries. I was traumatized by some of the stuff I watched at like 4 years old (Child’s Play, Tales from the Crypt). Then again, I was kind of a pansy.
A friend/classmate of mine had an overprotective mother. She complained constantly about the school’s Halloween activities and any other things that had potential to turn us evil. I honestly didn’t realize, at the time, that our class was missing out on anything. It wasn’t until several years later that my mother informed my that our class always participated in alternative events. I always looked at our “Fall” celebrations as Halloween parties.
His mother also participated in the local PTA. One of their goals was to write letters to try and get CBS to take The Dukes of Hazzard off the air, because it was “too violent” and “lawless.” Funny, because the Duke family never carried guns (due to their probation) and they were the ones catching the bad guys. Nowadays, the reruns are frequently cited as an example of a classic family show.
I wanted to grow up to be a Duke boy. He wanted to grow up to become a politician.
That friend still insists that Halloween is devil worship and doesn’t allow Halloween decorations in his house. He refuses to participate in his church’s “Harvest Festival” because he sees it as an acknowledgement of Halloween. His wife does mild decorating and hands out candy, however. He usually calls me or plays online games on Halloween night.
He is a police officer. I own a General Lee replica. He doesn’t “get” why I have that car, but, for me, it’s a symbol of fighting corruption (and a childhood dream realized).
Right now, he is relentlessly campaigning for Ron Paul. If he ever becomes county commissioner, I’m going to speed through his town, just to be rebellious.
Yes, Elliot calls his brother “penis breath” in the movie. I saw it in the theater. I was 8.
I was one of those children adults were never trying to protect. My parents thought I could handle any adult situation. They were wrong. I would much rather have been shielded from some of that stuff.