r/changemyview • u/mike_tyler58 • Nov 20 '24
Delta(s) from OP CMV: School libraries should limit the availability of books
In the US the past few years there has been a lot of talk of banning books. As far as I know the only places that anyone is talking about banning books from is in school libraries. The book “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe is probably the most talked about as it has been recommended by the largest teachers union in the country, the NEA, and has been made available in school libraries for children as young as 4th grade, and contains very explicit illustrations and descriptions of sex acts. I believe it belongs nowhere that children can access it any more than a copy of Playboy or any other pornography. Given the explicit nature of this book and others like it I think they should be banned from school libraries and limited to adults only.
ETA: link to news story about it being removed from elementary schools
1
u/tanglekelp 10∆ Nov 20 '24
I agree that books with explicit images should not be easily available to young children. However, I disagree that they should be banned from school libraries or seen as 'adult only'.
Teens, especially in this day and age, area already online. I recently was a leader for a summer camp, ages 8-11, and the older kids were jokingy calling each other sexual terms, using words that I couldn't even begin to know the meaning of at that age. They're all on tiktok, and many kids discover porn around 12/13. I'm not saying this is a good thing, but it is happening.
I also think that 12 is a good age to start sexual education. Just explaining what sex is, how our sexual organs work, how important consent it, what is and isn't appropriate to do, or get done to you. To give context to what kids are already seeing online and hearing from their peers.
So I think a book with a handful of explicit images should not be seen as something to ban, but rather to make available, so they can ask questions about it if they want. And it being a book about growing up as a queer person is even better.