I'm over this rainbow

It has been said that in every gray cloud, there is a silver lining. But when the angry-looking gray clouds squeeze their load of water back down to earth, forget the silver lining. When the rain pours, don’t search for the silver in the cloud; search for the rainbow instead.

Over the past few days it’s been raining a lot. Typhoon Isang has caused a lot of trouble — floods, blackouts, accidents, and even deaths. Stuck inside their homes when storms come to visit, people have a few things to look forward to. One of them is the possible cancellation of classes and work. Another is a bright ribbon of color in the sky.

Why are rainbows such popular symbols of happiness and hope? After all, a rainbow is just light that appears as bands of color when it is refracted by the sun’s rays and reflected by raindrops. It’s actually science!

From science, rainbows have seeped into pop culture. There is now rainbow candy and rainbow clothing. Gays and lesbians have adopted the rainbow as a symbol for their movement. Of course, there are also countless movies, television shows, books, songs and sayings featuring rainbows too.

 Judy Garland pegged the semiotics of rainbows perfectly in The Wizard of Oz: “Somewhere over the rainbow… the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.”

With all the cheer and optimism associated with those giant bands of color in the sky, it’s hard to imagine that they could possibly be linked to anything negative. Rainbows equal dreams, joy, and parties! Rainbow parties sound like good fun.

It was with these impressions in my head that I discovered that rainbow parties mean so much more than just decking a room out with bright-colored streamers and balloons for a kid’s birthday.

Last Friday, the rains gave students a day off. For the first few hours, I was happily rejoicing with my classmates. By noon, I was bored out of my wits.

To pass the time, I decided to search for good books on the Internet. Being the shallow-minded person that I am, I typed in vague yet appealing words (such as “love” and “summer”) in the search box for books for kids and teens. At one point, I typed in “rainbow” just for kicks. I expected a bunch of kiddie books. Sure enough, most of the titles were for kids. Except for one.

Rainbow Party by Paul Ruditis is a novel for young adults aged 14 to 15. Intrigued by the juvenile book title for a high school-aged audience, I checked the synopsis and review. Well, I definitely didn’t have books like that when I was 15!

The title of the novel refers to a kind of party in the United States and possibly other western countries. A rainbow party is a social gathering of teenagers, a venue for group oral sex. The “rainbow” comes from the different shades of lipstick from the girls that are left on the organs of the boys.

I was shocked. And this is a book for high school students! Whatever happened to Nancy Drew? I’ve never even read a curse word in a Hardy Boys book! The couples barely even kiss in both of those classic series! Granted, Nancy, Frank and Joe star in mystery novels, but come on. I read The Princess Diaries, Twilight, the Mates, Dates series, the Georgia Nicholson series, and a lot of other teen books. I don’t think I’ve ever come across sexual content that explicit. I mean, the whole novel revolves around an oral sex party! How much more explicit can it get?

Maybe that’s why it’s been banned by many major bookstores and libraries in the States. Don’t even think about getting a copy here in the Philippines. Unless a foreign tourist or an OFW brings it here, I doubt if that book will ever land on Philippine soil. On the internet, a preview of the book is available (many parts were cut out).

According to an online review of the book, Rainbow Party was published with the aim of raising awareness about the dangers of sexual activity. The party in the book did not push through because of multiple factors, one of them being STD risk.

I admit, the intent of the book is noble and cautionary, but the reverse message practically screamed out at the readers. It seemed as if the book glorified these parties. It would have been better if the idea of the book had been subtly inserted into a better story, rather than exploited and written as a stand-alone novel. The book had good intentions, just poor execution.

It is the whole concept of the rainbow party that came as a shock. What kind of person would use something that children adore, something that sparks inspiration, to refer to something as crass a group sex session? What’s worse is that it’s about people barely out of their childhood years themselves.

What’s happening to the youth? We’re all trying to get older, quicker. We should bring back Nancy Drew. Maybe she can sniff out where folks’ common sense, dignity and childhood have gone. I’m not a prude. I just think this sort of thing was never (and should never) be part of growing up. At 14, 15? As the oldies say, may gatas pa sa labi yun (they’re still kids).

Rainbows belong in the sky and on hair clips, not on body parts below the belt.