President Obama

1^st April 2010

Dear President Obama,

My name is Kymee Steenblik, a student at Brigham Young University in Provo Utah. I am a Marriage, Family and Human Development major with a great interest in how the media affects the family.

My biggest concern lies with the policy of media ratings, or the lack thereof for literature. The United States of America has a literacy rate of 99.5%, but reading is commonly displaced by the television. I believe that part of this is due to the lack of regulation we have on literature. The common phrase "You can't judge a book by its cover" is true in more than one way. We really cannot know anything about a book from its cover and synopsis.

Children and Adolescence are the ones who are most at risk when exposed to explicit literature, as it can have lasting effects on their development. Literature is associated with IQ, self-esteem, language development, GPA and aggressive behavior. Literature can be a great source for good in these areas, but there is no way for us to filter the good from the bad. I feel that there needs to be a rating policy instituted for literature, so that we can regulate the types of literature our young people are exposed to. This rating system would also be beneficial for those who seek to stay away from violence, sexual relations and foul language in the pages they read.

This rating system does not need to be complicated. It can simply follow the rating system used for movies or television. The already instituted rating systems are in place to help parents decide what is appropriate for their children. Books can be just as, if not more explicit than movies and in many cases parents have no idea what their children are reading as there is no guide to the content of the book. Tradition holds literature to a higher standard; it is viewed to be a good form of media and is viewed to be more beneficial than the television. Yet statistics show that in one hour of reading adolescents are exposed to over 30 acts of aggression as opposed to an average of 18 when watching one hour of television. Adolescent literature contains great amounts of physical and relational aggression, studies have found that exposure to aggression in the media has long-term effects for teenagers. Commonly these acts of aggression are given no justification and no consequences are shown leaving teens with an unrealistic view of violence and its consequences.

To give a specific example of why we need a rating system on literature is from a book aimed at adolescents called "TWEAK". Within 300 pages this book uses the F* word 182 times. I am certain that if parents knew the content of this book they would NOT allowed their teenagers to read it.

So much of our attention is geared towards more modern forms of media, but I ask you to seriously consider instituting a rating system for literature as to regulate what our young people are reading and being exposed to. These adolescents are the future of this country and we need to do all we can to educate them appropriately.

Sincerely,

Kymee Steenblik