But are there limits? Is there a point at which the not-OKness of one aspect outweighs the enjoyment, especially if you're talking about children's literature?
An obvious analogy might be movies that are rated R, or even PG-13: there's nothing wrong with them, but there's a recognition that some of the things that arise in the movie might not be appropriate for people at a certain age to process—violence, sex, or even issues. Having read, been scarred by, and subsequently recovered from Heinlein, it's my feeling that there's plenty in his writing to enjoy...but that I wouldn't hand it to my son and say "read this" until I was certain he had the mental faculties to critically assess Heinlein's gender roles.
And again, from a different tack: you say that one shouldn't throw out Casablanca just because of some anti-feminist moments. But would you throw out a movie for a single moment of non-consensual nudity? I'm cheating here, because I happen to know from an earlier conversation that that's exactly how you feel about MASH, if I recall it correctly. Why throw out one but not the other?
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An obvious analogy might be movies that are rated R, or even PG-13: there's nothing wrong with them, but there's a recognition that some of the things that arise in the movie might not be appropriate for people at a certain age to process—violence, sex, or even issues. Having read, been scarred by, and subsequently recovered from Heinlein, it's my feeling that there's plenty in his writing to enjoy...but that I wouldn't hand it to my son and say "read this" until I was certain he had the mental faculties to critically assess Heinlein's gender roles.
And again, from a different tack: you say that one shouldn't throw out Casablanca just because of some anti-feminist moments. But would you throw out a movie for a single moment of non-consensual nudity? I'm cheating here, because I happen to know from an earlier conversation that that's exactly how you feel about MASH, if I recall it correctly. Why throw out one but not the other?