this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2023
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Yeah, I'd like specific examples, this sounds like a strawman.
Gender Queer has over 200 pages, and in it there is this one scene on one page. According to https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2023/gender-queer-book-in-elementary-schools/ it was never recommended for kids. Maybe it was in some school libraries in the 16+ section or whatever, which can be argued how age appropriate that is, but pragmatically, at that age they've probably seen way worse.
It's no wonder that people are called bigots over this if their approach is totally in bad faith; they don't want a constructive discussion, it's just performative outrage and virtue signalling.
Just because some of them have "probably seen worse" does not mean we should allow sexually explicit materials in school that are not strictly textbook in nature. And as a freshman in high school at 14, I had access to all the books, no matter what age grouping they were in.
I'm not sure what bad faith about it. The characters sext each other at one point, where one talks about explicit sex acts they want to do, and there's images of one sucking on a strapon the other is wearing. You can argue that you think this material is okay for all high schoolers (most would disagree), but claiming those who are LGBT members or supporters are just trying to start somthing in bad faith isnt the truth.
I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on the following books:
IT - Stephen King
Memoirs of a Geisha
A clockwork orange
Forever - Judy Blume
The Gossip Girl Series
The Song of Ice and Fire books
That's a small list of some very popular books I'm personally aware of with sexually explicit content, some of it very violent. They're readily available in many school libraries. Clockwork orange is even studied in some high schools. The reason people are saying you're arguing in bad faith is because the nature of the bans are deliberately targeted at LGBT content. There are plenty of other books with much worse content and you're not seeing a national movement to ban that content. Hence the push-back.
I've only ever read ASOIAF and Memoiars of a geisha from that list. I don't remember how explicit scenes were in Memoairs, so I'd have to go back and re-read, but from my memory the scenes were not graphic in detail like the books above. I don't think ASOIAF should be in school libraries at all, and I'd be onboard with removing those too.
The focus on these books being lbgt has some context behind it. When quarantine happened, parents suddenly had an open door into what was being taught in classrooms. To be clear, this wasn't all teachers and all classrooms, but it turns out that there were some classrooms that were teaching things that parents weren't happy about, and it was happening across the country. A lot of this material was centered around "anti racism" which was highly prejudiced and discriminatory in nature, and LGBT teachings that lots of parents found to be inappropriate (which, for the most part, probably came from religious parents).
Whether it's fair or not, this caused parents to zoom in on these specific categories of material. These categories are being examined with a fine-toothed comb, which is why they're in the spotlight.
The problem is the whataboutism you're displaying here. "What about these books?" You're right that there are most likely inappropriate books in schools that aren't categorized as lgbt, and I do think you'd have an avenue or removing them, if they're on the level that these are sexually. But you completely cut off that option by doubling down that the books originally ousted should remain. "These aren't that bad, other books are worse" isn't a reasonable argument when people can see them with their own eyes and see that they are. Also, I'd love for you to discover any other book in a school library that instructs teens on how to make their own pornography, which, besides the obvious tie in to child porn, would label these kids themselves as sexual preditors and put them on the list.
You could easily make these arguments if we replaced these specific books with LGBT ones that are sexually appropriate. Why is that not an option? Why are you arguing to keep a book in these schools that instruct 14-17 year olds how to make their own porn?
It's staggering to me that you'd die on this hill. Rational parents now see two options: either the sexually explicit material remains, or all queer material is banned. They're not seeing a rational pushback against that second option, so they're going to go with that second option. The doubling down is in fear that all queer books will eventually be banned from schools. Well guess what: it's happening because you're doubling down. You started this argument with "its not happening" and now your argument is "its happening, but it's not that bad." You're actively pushing for a queer book ban, you're just going the long way to do it.
There are, I'm assuming, plenty of queer books without these explicit pictures and instructions? Why aren't those being championed instead?
I did in response to another commenter.