Mother wants 'Sleeping Beauty' banned over 'inappropriate sexual message'

She believes the fairytale teaches children that it's okay to kiss a woman without consent

A mother has recently sparked a controversy by claiming that Disney's Sleeping Beauty is inappropriate. She has requested for the book to be removed from her son’s primary school curriculum for its 'inappropriate sexual message', reported Independent.

Sarah Hall, from Northumberland Park, near Newcastle, believes the fairytale teaches children that it is okay to kiss a women while she’s asleep.

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The 40-year-old realised the issue when reading a school book to her six-year old son Ben, based on the traditional story.

"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?” she said.

Tell you what, while we are still seeing narratives like this in school, we are never going to change ingrained attitudes to sexual behaviour #MeToo #consent #mysonissix pic.twitter.com/3g4gyjifi9

— Sarah Waddington CBE 💙 (@Mrs_Wadds) November 19, 2017

The mother-of-two contacted Ben’s school asking for books featuring the story to be removed from the younger children’s classes and Tweeted about the offending book.

"In today's society, it isn't appropriate,” she exclaimed. “My son is only six, he absorbs everything he sees and it isn't as if I can turn it into a constructive conversation."

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She continued, "I don't think taking Sleeping Beauty books out of circulation completely would be right. I actually think it would be a great resource for older children, you could have a conversation around it, you could talk about consent, and how the Princess might feel."

“But I'm really concerned about it for younger children, would really welcome a conversation about whether this is suitable material,” she added.

Hall went on to speak about the current #MeToo campaign against sexual assault, claiming that without such coverage, she may not have noticed the hidden messages contained within the story.

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"These are indicative of how ingrained that kind of behaviour is in society,” she said. “All these small things build up, and they make a difference."

Many people have taken issue with Hall's response to the story, one Tweeter replying to Hall: "Let's just ban all Disney. I feel so sorry for her son, I would be mortified if she was my mum."

Haha! Let's just ban all Disney etc. I feel so sorry for her son, I would be mortified if she was my mum.

— Gemma Marshall (@Gemma_sparkle) November 23, 2017

Another wrote: "You know that bears don't really eat porridge, right?"

https://twitter.com/CopperBitch/status/933668883747262464

Some saw this as a chance to make headlines:

https://twitter.com/MikeJGWright/status/933631449802137601

What do you think?

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