Schools, Stories, and Sex: How Much Should We Censor?
Schools, Stories, and Sex: How Much Should We Censor?
We all learn about it somewhere. Maybe your parents sat you down and gave you the talk about the birds and the bees. Maybe your friends shared stories about how they “totally did it” with the woman of their dreams. Maybe it’s something you stumbled upon yourself either reading or watching NSFW content. The topic at hand is sex.
You know where you probably didn’t learn about sex? Reading Dav Pilkey’s 1997 novel The Adventures of Captain Underpants. Yet, the American Library Association deemed this book too sexual for children as of 2004.
Across the United States, schools have been forced to make changes to their library collections and “censor” books that are inappropriate for students. PEN America states that between 2021 and 2022, 22% of banned books in schools included sexually explicit content.
Obviously, we don’t want students of any grade reading Fifty Shades of Grey, but sexual censorship in books tends to go a bit far. What is meant to “protect” students could actually make reading less engaging, lead to a lack of sexual education, and even provide an outlet to discriminate.
In his article of Alki, journal of the Washington Library Association, Tom Reynolds states, “Most [censored books] are either written for or are popular with teen readers, or are of such literary value that they regularly appear on high school reading lists.”
The books that are taken off the shelves are, obviously, popular books that are more likely to influence readers. Take the collection of Toni Morrison, for example. Her books Beloved and The Bluest Eye, specifically, are common in many higher-level classrooms. Conveniently, these books also happen to top the charts on the American Library Association’s list of banned books, according to Mary Arbor of the Intellectual Freedom Blog.
I remember reading The Bluest Eye in my junior year AP class, and yea, it was a little fucked up. But the point of the novel isn’t for you to get caught up on the sexual content. Sure, it’s there, but the story is really about the deeper impact of race on a person’s physical and mental wellbeing.
Morrison’s story is beautifully written and removing it from schools isn’t helping anyone. If anything, it shelters students from the artistic approach taken and fails to teach them about the important theme at hand.
In response to her stories being censored, Morrison put it best:
“The thought that leads me to contemplate with dread the erasure of other voices, of unwritten novels, poems whispered or swallowed for fear of being overheard by the wrong people, outlawed languages flourishing underground, essayists questions challenging authority never being posed, unstaged plays, canceled films – that thought is a nightmare.”
When you close your eyes, the topic of sex does not go away. However, many schools believe that completely hiding the content is the best way to make sure students never stumble upon it. Sure, it puts a roadblock in the process of them finding out, but could removing books regarding puberty and sexual development be harmful in the long run?
This question has been around longer than you may think. . In Frank Wedekind's 19th century (yes, sex existed back then too) novel Spring Awakening, which was also adapted into a modern pop-rock Broadway musical, the dangers of demonizing sexuality are put on full display. In his analysis of the book, Edward Journey states, “In Wedekind’s world, the children’s tragedy is that they are doomed, in most cases, to become adults.”
The story follows three adolescents - Wendla, Moritz, and Melchior - as they learn about their bodies and desires through maturity. Wendla is curious but lacks any outlet to learn from. Moritz feels haunted by his sexual thoughts and believes he is broken. Melchior has a rebellious nature and already understands how sex works before his peers. Without spoilers, it's safe to say that the lack of education on sex for Wendla and Moritz ends in disaster.
Surprise, surprise, this book was banned almost instantly after its publication. The topics of consent, self-pleasure, and coming to terms with your own maturity were simply too vile for audiences of any age – let alone school age.
The irony of censoring this book, however, is clear as day. Spring Awakening proves how completely ignoring and censoring sex can lead to young people being uninformed or misinformed. Hiding this piece from the shelves of libraries and the stages of auditoriums only proves that ignorance towards sexual education still exists.
While some books may be censored for obvious sexual scenes, others are censored for “sexual content” when there’s really none in sight. Coincidentally, many of these books also emphasize LGBT characters and themes.
Who would have guessed it? Schools use the excuse of censoring sexual material to eradicate books that don’t align with their beliefs. PEN America states that in the same span of 2021/2022, 41% of banned books involved “LGBTQ+ Themes, Protagonists, or Prominent Secondary Characters.”
With the help of statewide restrictions on LGBT representation, such as Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, it’s easy for schools to erase a group that already faces erasure in everyday life. In an interview with NBC News, high schooler Jack Petocz stated, “We’re already a minority. Why are you trying to suppress this critical information within our libraries, you know? These books are critical in providing a sense of identity.”
Inclusion of LGBT characters is not the equivalent of a hardcore sex scene, yet some school districts see no difference. Removing representation of minorities from the shelves does not stop students from “turning gay,” but it makes it harder for those students to realize that there are others just like them.
To you, I may sound like a crazy woman trying to market sex books to kids. Let me make some points to clear this up.
No, I don’t think students should be exposed to straight-up porn novels – like the ones middled-aged women buy at the supermarket with a shirtless guy on the cover. No, I don’t think early elementary children need to immediately be exposed to sex, because they won’t understand it anyways.
What I do believe, however, is that students have the right to choose what material is suitable for them, and books should be available to everyone. Reading a book of literary merit can be lifechanging. So what if there’s a reference to a character’s penis? The point is for students to recognize how references to sexuality tie into the message of the story or to apply those references to themselves.
Yes, there is a limit to what children should be exposed to, but censoring material that could have a positive impact on a student’s life is just not fair to anyone.
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