British Woman Wants 'Sleeping Beauty' Removed From School Curriculum For Non-Consensual Kiss

A mother has made headlines after calling for “Sleeping Beauty” to be removed from her son’s primary school curriculum as it promotes an “inappropriate sexual” message.

Sarah Hall, from Northumberland Park, near Newcastle, in England said Wednesday the fairytale teaches children it is acceptable to kiss a woman while she is asleep. Hall, the mother of two, realized the issue in the book while reading it to her six-year-old son Ben who is taught the story at school.

"I think it's a specific issue in the Sleeping Beauty story about sexual behavior and consent,” she told the Newcastle Chronicle. “It’s about saying is this still relevant, is it appropriate?”

The 40-year-old also contacted Ben’s school asking for books featuring the story to be banned from the younger children’s classes and curriculum and tweeted about the offending book.

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

"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.”

However, not everyone on social media agreed with Hall's proposal, with several claiming she was making an issue out of nothing.

Sarah said she might not have given the story a second thought, however recent coverage of sexual abuse, including the social media "Me Too" campaign, made her think about the subtle messages in the story, which might portray wrong perspectives about consent and help create such a culture.

She said: "These are indicative of how ingrained that kind of behavior is in society. All these small things build up, and they make a difference."

In the original story of "Sleeping Beauty," a princess falls asleep under a spell and is raped by a king, who found her in her palace while he was out hunting. The princess later wakes up, falls in love with the king and marries him.

The fairytale was later adapted into the modern version, which has been part of the school's curriculum. In this adaptation, an evil sorceress curses a princess because she was not invited to her birth celebration. According to the curse, the princess will die after pricking her finger on a spindle when she reaches the age of 16. The good fairies manage to partially reverse the spell so that the princess, instead of dying, falls asleep for 100 years.

The Sleeping Beauty is then woken from her sleep after being kissed by a prince, who discovers her in the castle. The fairy tale was also made into a famous Disney film in 1959.