Mum wants Sleeping Beauty banned over “non-consensual” kiss

A MUM has claimed Sleeping Beauty promotes an “inappropriate sexual message” and wants books of the fairytale removed from circulation at her son’s school.

A MUM has called for the classic fairytale Sleeping Beauty to be banned from her son’s school, as she claims it promotes an “inappropriate sexual message”.

Sarah Hall from North Sheilds, in England, has argued that the story promotes unacceptable behaviour from a young age by normalising women being kissed while they are sleep and unable to give consent.

Ms Hall, 40, said she first realised the fairytale was sending an inappropriate message to children when she was reading the schoolbook to her son, aged six.

In the well-known story a princess falls into a deep sleep after being poisoned by the prick of a spindle and only a kiss from a prince can save her.

The mum expressed her concerns about the book on Twitter along with the MeToo hashtag, which is used by social media users to campaign against sexual assault in the wake of sexual harassment allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

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 Hall (@Hallmeister) 19 November 2017

Ms Hall also left a comment in the book and requested that the school remove all books with this narrative out of circulation for the younger classes, according to The Metro.

“In today’s society, it isn’t appropriate — my son is only six, he absorbs everything he sees, and it isn’t as if I can turn it into a constructive conversation,” she said.

“I think it’s a specific issue in the Sleeping Beauty story about sexual behaviour and consent. These are indicative of how ingrained that kind of behaviour is in society.”

However, she believes that not all the books should be banned as they could be used as a talking point to discuss consent with older students.

“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,” Ms Hall said.

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

Not everyone agreed with Ms Hall’s proposal, with many claiming she was making an issue out of nothing.

Why dont you ban Snow White and sleeping beauty whilst youre at it? Next time i kiss the misses when i leave the house, ill be sure to wake her up and ask if its okay first, what a ridiculous post

— Jonny Molyneux (@jonnymolly) 23 November 2017

Sorry what??? Sarah it is people like you making issues of situations like this that are the problem. Stop!!! You're making an issue out of something that was never an issue before!! Ridiculous! Let's wrap everyone up in cotton wool shall we?

— Iain Stirling (@IainStirling1) 23 November 2017

What about people thinking it’s ok to use someone’s hair as a rope? Surely that’s not right consensual or otherwise #Rapunzelmustgo

— michael smyth (@wheresgrandad) 23 November 2017

Originally published as Mum wants Sleeping Beauty banned over “non-consensual” kiss