Parents who attended the Bengaluru Comic Con with their young wards were in for a shock when they opened their goody bags. Tucked amidst all other gifts in the parcel was a graphic comic book full of explicit images. According to a report in The News Minute, the award-winning novel Saga, by Brian K Vaughan, included images of aliens engaging in various sexual acts, and positions, a bloody image of childbirth, and frank depictions of male and female genitalia.
Given, most parents wouldn't be happy to find such a book in the vicinity of 8 to 12-year-olds, several parents took to social media to express their anger on this negligence. The Comic Con Communications Team has since issued an apology for this mix up. Reportedly, many parents have contacted local police authorities and brought the incident to their notice.
This was no negligence, but a crime.
It doesn’t matter if this is an award-winning work of art. Saga isn’t a comic book for everyone. It cannot be handed out to unsuspecting pre-teens as gift hampers.
The world of comic books spans over many realms both inside and outside of those inked pages. Consumers of comics have different tastes and seek different content. Saga isn’t a comic book for everyone. And we are talking about little children here. While the context may make all the difference for the adult reader, when it comes to children this material is obscene and pornographic.
SOME TAKEAWAYS
- Organisers of the Bengaluru comic con are under fire for handing out comics with explicit content to kids.
- Saga isn’t a comic book for everyone. It cannot be handed out to unsuspecting pre-teens as gift hampers.
- The organisers have the responsibility to provide fun-filled time to attendees. But they also are liable to protect children from such unnecessary exposure.
- It is about time that this lax attitude towards creating events for children tightens up.
This incident of gross negligence on the part of the organiser is, in fact, an offence. An event as big as the Comic con cannot forget that distributing sexually explicit content to underage kids is a crime under POCSO act. What were they thinking, putting such books in hands of children below ten years of age? Their laxity may have caused trauma to the children. It put numerous parents in the spot and forced them to address issues they were not ready to.
Any parent would freak out on finding such a book in the hands of their underage child.
Just imagine the ensuing conversation! The volley of question whose answers these kids are too young to process. Plus, the effort that would go in normalising the images these kids saw. This is nothing short of a nightmare for any Indian parent. These parents and children are entitled to more than just a damage-control apology. The organisers should face consequences that forces them to think twice about what they are exposing the kids to. It is about time that this lax attitude towards creating events for children tightens up.
Festivals like Comic Con are an amazing opportunity for adults and children alike to live their childhood and comic book craze. Comic books bring out the child in us and takes us on journeys beyond our limited imagination. However, when it comes to young children still in their formative years, exposure to explicit content can scar them for life. Much as the organisers have the responsibility to provide fun-filled time to attendees, they also are liable to protect children from such unnecessary exposure.
For the organisers before curating your gift hampers in the future, we urge you to think about how we can deal with questions on sex and objectification, which are so commonplace in adult comic books.
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Yamini Pustake Bhalerao is a writer with the SheThePeople team, in the Opinions section. The views expressed are the author’s own.
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