Specific examples of content in "banned books"
June 30, 2022 2:01 PM Subscribe
I would like to read/see more specific examples of the sexual/gendered/race-based content in school textbooks and library books that are the subject of controversy in some states in the USA right now. I read news articles that reference the subjects/content in the book, but it is very hard to find the specific content that is apparently inappropriate. What are examples of specific pictures/segments/quotes from books that are currently being challenged in school districts?
I just finished reading this article that mentions the "pages of sexual content that aren’t developmentally appropriate" in All Boys Aren't Blue, but the article gives no details of what the content actually is. I read similar articles frequently, but every article I read seems to simply describe the subject of the content (usually in references to specific sexual acts) without describing the extent to which the content is represented (specific photographs? drawings? abstract drawings? detailed erotic content? use of slang? or is it, what I expect, just any reference to sexual acts outside a heteronormative context?)
I assume that the opposition to the books discussed is absurd. For instance, Florida actually did release the content they found objectionable in math textbooks here, and to me, seeing the actual content demonstrates to me how absurd the opposition is. Are there other examples of showing the actual content in books that is being used as reason to ban books in school?
I just finished reading this article that mentions the "pages of sexual content that aren’t developmentally appropriate" in All Boys Aren't Blue, but the article gives no details of what the content actually is. I read similar articles frequently, but every article I read seems to simply describe the subject of the content (usually in references to specific sexual acts) without describing the extent to which the content is represented (specific photographs? drawings? abstract drawings? detailed erotic content? use of slang? or is it, what I expect, just any reference to sexual acts outside a heteronormative context?)
I assume that the opposition to the books discussed is absurd. For instance, Florida actually did release the content they found objectionable in math textbooks here, and to me, seeing the actual content demonstrates to me how absurd the opposition is. Are there other examples of showing the actual content in books that is being used as reason to ban books in school?
is it, what I expect, just any reference to sexual acts outside a heteronormative context?
Public librarian here, it's really mostly this.
If you want to look at some specifics from previous years (this would not include a lot of the current moral panic books which are mostly about BIPOC people and GLBTQ people) you can see this list from 2019 which is the American Library Association's field report on banned and challenged books. It includes in-depth explanations of why the books were challenged. The ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom stopped doing this report in 2020; that year's report is not freely available but is instead for sale.
In almost no cases are there explicit photos or drawings. Historically banned/challenged books were usually banned/challenged for GLBTQ+ content, age "inappropriateness" (this is highly variable which is why librarians go to school to learn to do this sort of thing), BIPOC content (especially if this has anti-white supremacist overtones, teaches kids to question authority etc), and sometimes manners types of things (i.e. Captain Underpants).
In many cases you can find articles that discuss specific books like this one which is mostly about classics but also includes All Boys Aren't Blue and links to the author's specific response. Often you can find those books on Amazon and use the "look inside" feature to get an idea of what is in them.
posted by jessamyn at 2:39 PM on June 30, 2022 [5 favorites]
Public librarian here, it's really mostly this.
If you want to look at some specifics from previous years (this would not include a lot of the current moral panic books which are mostly about BIPOC people and GLBTQ people) you can see this list from 2019 which is the American Library Association's field report on banned and challenged books. It includes in-depth explanations of why the books were challenged. The ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom stopped doing this report in 2020; that year's report is not freely available but is instead for sale.
In almost no cases are there explicit photos or drawings. Historically banned/challenged books were usually banned/challenged for GLBTQ+ content, age "inappropriateness" (this is highly variable which is why librarians go to school to learn to do this sort of thing), BIPOC content (especially if this has anti-white supremacist overtones, teaches kids to question authority etc), and sometimes manners types of things (i.e. Captain Underpants).
In many cases you can find articles that discuss specific books like this one which is mostly about classics but also includes All Boys Aren't Blue and links to the author's specific response. Often you can find those books on Amazon and use the "look inside" feature to get an idea of what is in them.
posted by jessamyn at 2:39 PM on June 30, 2022 [5 favorites]
Sideways response: what's interesting is that some of the rejected Florida math problems had to do with questions in a problem set that used the Implicit Association Test. It was rejected for "woke content," but the reality is that many academics and mathematicians would also reject these problems not because the IAT is "woke," but because it's not an accurate measure of its intended constructs.
In other words, it's very much NOT "woke."
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 3:19 PM on June 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
In other words, it's very much NOT "woke."
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 3:19 PM on June 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
You can kind of get the gist of some of these from Common Sense Media, which provides very specific (and often hilariously square-sounding) summaries of potentially-objectionable content in media that kids might encounter. Here's their entry for All Boys Aren't Blue. In the "Sex, Romance, and Nudity" section they say:
Mentions using condoms and what flavor one was. A few instances of kissing and making out. The first time masturbating is described vaguely, without specifics. See our Violence section for additional content related to sexual assault and molestation.posted by mskyle at 3:33 PM on June 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
I posted a while back on the blue about this issue and named one book that garnered parental complaints - Toni Morrison's Beloved. The student was a high school student at the time.
The day after Election Day, the African American Policy Forum hosted Educators Ungagged: Teaching Truth in the Era of Racial Backlash . The panel featured educators who've been forced out of schools, including principal Dr. James Whitfield, suspended Aug 2021 in "A win for white power at a school board."posted by spamandkimchi at 5:24 PM on June 30, 2022
The event also showed Virginia governor-elect's campaign ad of a parent complaining about her child having to read "some of the most explicit material you could imagine".... She didn't name the offensive text. Readers, it was Toni Morrison's depictions of the violence of slavery in the novel Beloved.
Was just on MeFi: Dave Egger's Anatomy of a book banning went into details about how conservative puritans took over school boards during COVID and turned school libraries into battleground for censorship by essentially making up complaints allegedly from parents (but are probably from themselves).
posted by kschang at 8:40 PM on June 30, 2022
posted by kschang at 8:40 PM on June 30, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
(I'm not trying to be snarky! I can't read the article because it's behind a paywall. I tried to see if we had any of the mentioned titles in the article so I could see for myself.)
posted by lyssabee at 2:08 PM on June 30, 2022 [14 favorites]