School Library Book Raises Porn Questions

Fort Worth Star Telegram ^ | October 5, 2005

[tuffydoodle]

School Library Book Raises Porn Questions

POSTED: 3:14 pm CDT October 5, 2005 UPDATED: 4:58 pm CDT October 5, 2005

GRANBURY, Texas -- A book on a Granbury middle school shelf recently ignited a controversy because of what at least one grandparent believes to be pornographic content.

Carol Sanders said she was shocked to find out her 13- and 10-year granddaughters read "Detour for Emmy." The book tells the story of a 15-year-old girl who becomes pregnant.

Sanders said the descriptions of sexual relationships were graphic and crossed the line into pornography.

"It's something that I don't like reading myself. It's just too sexual. It goes into great details of having sex," she said.

Sanders began the process of filing a complaint with the Granbury School District. The district's book committee will decide if the book should be removed from the school library. Copyright 2005

[kublia khan]

God almighty: what a tag line

[rlmorel]

I tried typing "wallah" but nothing showed up...:)

[kublia khan]

Unfortunately; the world this woman grew up in was so radically different from the world her grandchild is growing up in that she could not possibly be prepared to deal with what this 16 year old child is exposed to or aware of.

[megatherium]

This brings a curious memory to mind: Years ago, I lived in Starkville, Mississippi. At the time, word was the local public library was careful to avoid objectionable material; fine enough. So I was amused one day while browing the science fiction section to find a book by J. G. Ballard, The Atrocity Exhibition. This is a rancid early 80s collection of short stories, including his notorious story "Why I want to f*** Ronald Reagan" (explicit title in the original). This consists of a mock, graphic medical-psychological discussion of the sexual appeal of Reagan, written as though it were an academic study by a political scientist. (Ballard was trained as a physician if memory serves.) A bookstore somewhere was prosecuted for obscenity for carrying this. The bookstore nearly lost the case when Ballard himself was asked to testify and answered the question as to whether it was meant to be obscene, and he said yes. But the piece was really meant as a political protest against the packaging of political candidates by marketing experts, so the jury acquitted the bookstore owner. Very liberal, very self-indulgent -- but you know what they say: freedom of speech doesn't mean anything if only inoffensive speech is allowed.

[LauraleeBraswell]

"because of what at least one grandparent believes to be pornographic content."

Does anyone else think that refering to "at least one grandparent" plays up on stereotypes?

[squarebarb]

I would like to know who in the school administration chooses these books. That's the important facts. Who chooses them, and how they get their choices accepted.

These graphic sexual scenes are presented to young kids over and over in so many schools across the country. Get to the source.

What's just as bad, is that kids are not taught the criteria of good literature versus bad literature. They are not taught critical acumen in regards to lit.

So the Decameron or Chaucer appear to be about on the same level with White Oleander or whatever the latest crappy choice is.

[najida]

Hun,
Bastard Out of Carlina,
while it didn't happen to me (exactly)
was the world I grew up in.

[squarebarb]

I was in a small country library one time and found 'Journey to Ixtatlan' in the travel section. (author Carlos Casteneda)

[Politicalmom]

And you know this how?

My children are very innocent, and I will keep them that way as long as possible. A school has NO right to expose children to anything graphic without explicit parental permission. Period.

[Borges]

Ballard is an interesting writer. He wrote a novel called Crash which was about people sexually aroused by car accidents. Every sentence has a reference to either cars or sex.

[najida]

I agree that the pendulum may have swung too far,
but in the dark ages when I was coming up....

We were told NOTHING.
Nada,
Zip...

If a girl started her period, she was lucky if her Mom gave her instructions when she handed her a box of pads...
And I heard you could get pregnant taking a bath after a man or sitting or lying down on the same surface after him.... (Terrifying if you have 4 men in the house with you)

And I can tell you that sex was going on all around me, not just in my house...but from the little girls whose Daddy was doing things to them when I was in 3rd grade, to the older sister of my best friend who got pregnant by her step Dad when I was in 5th grade and on and on and on. By the time I got the 'sex' talk, it was like 3 years after I pretty much knew it all anyhow.

I was literally scared spitless, and not in a good way. The crucial thing I needed (truth and information) was the very thing I didn't have access to.

It wasn't as nice a time as folks want you to believe. As awful as things are 'now'...I would never want to raise a kid in the time frame I grew up in.

[AliVeritas]

Is 16 adult?

[tuffydoodle]

First of all, I'd like to say that I'm sorry you grew up in such a dysfunctional situation. I've always enjoyed your posts and find you to be fun and uplifting, I never would have guessed you had all of this in your past. My upbringing was just your normal childhood, dinner with the family, summer vacations, swim lessons, my own horse, etc. I wasn't exposed to any kind of sexual activity at a young age and didn't care anything about it, frankly. I'm just trying, very very hard, to bring my kids up the same way but it seems like someone tries to ruin all my efforts at every opportunity.

[tuffydoodle]

We picked out "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" but the teacher rejected it.

[tuffydoodle]

"My children are very innocent, and I will keep them that way as long as possible. A school has NO right to expose children to anything graphic without explicit parental permission. Period."

I agree.

Our kids have their entire lives to read adult material, if they so choose. Why give it to them now?

[tuffydoodle]

"Is 16 adult?"

No, it isn't. There are alot of people out there that seem to think it is, though. They want it to be adult when it comes to sex, but not to drinking.

[najida]

I admire what you're doing! Any parent who does that is a hero.

I guess all I'm trying to say is kids see and hear more than you give them credit for. No, they shouldn't be saturated with sex but I do believe they need to know certain things for basic health and survival. Early!

It's a balancing act I don't envy any parent having to deal with...enough information for protection, but avoiding hyersaturation...

I don't have the answers.

As for literature, it's funny, when some folks read a book that is written in your reality and you hear them say "nothing like that can be real" .... it's pretty mindblowing. :0

[megatherium]

Ballard is an interesting writer.

You're right, he is an interesting writer. I haven't read it, but he wrote Empire of the Sun, the semi-autobiographical novel that Spielberg based his movie on.

I tried to read Crash; didn't get very far. Likewise, I didn't get very far into the Cronenberg movie based on the novel. (But the scene that shows the re-enactment of the James Dean accident is amazing. What a creepy novel/movie.)

What I have read of his are two early novels. His first novel is The Drowned World, written in the mid-1960s, about a near-future Earth where the sun has started to become hotter, melting the polar caps and turning the planet into a Jurrasic tropical jungle. One evocative scene: a scuba dive into the old planetarium in London. The other novel I've read is The Crystal World, where the characters explore a strange location in Africa where crystals have begun to grow over everything and life is going into some sort of stasis. The crystal zone is growing, and they learn other zones have appeared in Siberia and in the Everglades. In both novels, there isn't much plot and the main character is the environment. Worth looking for if you like good science fiction.

[tuffydoodle]

"I admire what you're doing! Any parent who does that is a hero."

Thanks, I appreciate that.

[AliVeritas]

Tuffy, you know obviously some in here... don't get it. A 12 year old bled to death at an abortion clinic around the corner from me... her mom thought she was in school, until the cops knocked on her door and told her. A 23 year old man who said he was her uncle brought her in (still you could tell she was way underage... not reported as usual).

Some of you may be quick to say... her mom had to know what was going on... blah, blah; That's just the point, we have responsibility for our children.

They can't take an aspirin in school without a signature, can't pray, but can go get an abortion. Now if children have all this power and parents are not needed, get them jobs and make sure that parents are no longer responsible for their kids judicially, educationally, medically, their lodging, clothes, books, needs...

And you wonder why children have no concept of history and have no idea when it comes to true education (we, who have the best of everything in the US). Because we're busy teaching them about PC and sex. Why should a teacher teach students how to put a condom on anything? Is she responsible if it pops... will she take care of the baby? Will she pay for the abortion? If the young man rapes someone is she responsible? Will she go to court with her son?

As far as the person speaking of the past, sure you weren't told... but did you go out there and do it or no?
I see teenagers that have had 6 abortions at 19... is that helpful to a woman's health... what's the plus here?
There even many more illegitimate children, single parent homes, serious side effects of certain types of birth control. If the taxpayers knew how much of their money went to these "sex-ed" classes and abortions (as well as birth control). I suggest you all check your states and see.

In the NEast schools (via Article 8 Alliance), the group GLSEN (Gay Lesbian Education Network) are in thousands of schools; They actually use a little black book for students to teach them how to perform homosexual acts (even fisting... no lie), you're going to tell me that's appropriate? If you walk in and that's happening to your son with another boy is that ok because he learned it in school?

Is it still OK? This is a lot worse than a lot of you think, you need to wake up... this is not innocent at all.