OT: On book bans and "It's Perfectly Normal."

[Lenona]

https://slate.com/human-interest/2023/09/banned-books-list-its-perfectly-normal-facebook.html?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us

Quote:


" 'It’s Perfectly Normal,' more than any other frequently banned title I have flipped through, challenged my view. The images are not “pornographic,” and it’s obvious that anti-gay sentiment is partly fueling the objection to the book. But the images are graphic, and it’s startling to me to think they’re intended for kids who aren’t even in middle school yet. I realize my kids will be able to see worse on the internet before I know it, but I still wondered: Is it so crazy not to want them to be able to find this in the library?"
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Me:

Be sure to read to the end of the article. You may be surprised.

It's been quite a while since I flipped through the book, but I don't remember being taken aback by it. After all, I grew up with "What's Happening To Me?" (1975) by Peter Mayle and Arthur Robins.

And I strongly suspect that kids who want to look up sex are far more likely to do it via some friend's phone, at a private home. Not in a library full of strangers. (Not to mention that the kids know perfectly well that the librarians are watching them in case they cause trouble - and that those adults know what books are in the section the kids are snooping in! That's potentially very embarrassing for the kids.) My point is that anyone who's old enough and confident enough to seek out sensitive material in a library without adult help in the first place SHOULD have access to sex ed books in a library (as opposed to porn magazines). After all, they could just as easily go looking for "Lady Chatterley's Lover" instead, right? How often does anyone suggest removing that from a library - even a high school library?

Btw, here's a clip from the 1986 video of "What's Happening To Me?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8393fDXMSQE

Most of the images were not in the book, btw. But the book was pretty explicit, though not as much as IPN, of course.

It's also worth noting that there ARE flaws with WHTM - see Amazon and Goodreads. But if it's been banned lately, I haven't heard.