Parents - Asimov's Science Fiction Mag

[YankeyMCC]

Hello all,

I just started the June edition of Asimov's and I read Robert Silverbergs "Reflections" article. In it he tells the story of a Michigan woman who got upset that her 13 year old daughter was reading Asimov's.

She ordered it via a subscription service offered through her middle school. And the mother made such a fuss that local school boards scrambled to remove the "offending" periodical from this subscription service. (Never mind that the service also offers much racer periodicals and actually mistakenly listed Asimovs under the "children's" category and the fact that by the time of the furor Asimov was no longer on this lists at all due to a contract dispute between the service and the magazine.)

Anyway, the stories in Asimov's are definitely not aimed at children and once in a while sex is described frankly (seemed like a good word, in honest straight forward language is what I mean). But what I'm curious about is would other parents here familiar with the stories in Asimov's allow their 13 year old read the magazine?

I would and I'm wondering if that makes me "deviant" ;) At 10 or so I would read each issue first (well actually no matter how old they are I'm reading it first unless they pay for their own subscription) but by the time my son is 13 I'm thinking I'm not even going to worry about it. He reads. He asks questions. He learns. Seems like a good thing to me.

http://www.asimovs.com

[qnr]

1. Not a parent, but I read it (and competitors) from five on up n/t

[phantom power]

2. Science fiction is dangerous stuff.

Leads to subversive activities like creative thinking, asking questions and challenging authority.

[redqueen]

3. I read it at 13...

:shrug:

Can't see myself not letting my daughter do the same, after I'd perused them first, of course. I doubt I'd censor the things I found objectionable, though. I think I'll be more likely to discuss them with her and explain why I think it's objectionable.