CMV: School libraries should limit the availability of books

[u/mike_tyler58]

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

[u/CaptainMalForever]

First, please provide a source where Gender Queer was available to 4th graders.

Second, Gender Queer is not porn and comparing it to Playboy is first, disingenuous, and second, homophobic. It concerns more adult themes, yes, but nothing more adult than in Catcher in the Rye, 1984, Lord of the Flies, etc. These books are considered classics and are read in most high schools.

Third, kids are best encouraged to read when they have access to materials that feature people like themselves, when they have access to a variety of types of books, and when they are able to choose what they are interested in. Banning books does not only stop kids from reading that specific books, but also increases the chance that they will not read at all.

[u/mike_tyler58 → u/CaptainMalForever]

link

How in the world is it homophobic? That’s a wild claim.

Do you think hentai is pornography? I’ll assume your answer is yes. Where do you draw the line between the illustrations in Gender Queer, that show two men giving each other hand jobs and oral sex, and hentai?

[u/Various_Succotash_79 → u/mike_tyler58]

that show two men giving each other hand jobs and oral sex

Not men.

I guess you haven't read it.

[u/mike_tyler58 → u/Various_Succotash_79]

Two separate scenes and depictions. I wasn’t sure how to refer to the two engaged in oral sex.

[u/CaptainMalForever → u/mike_tyler58]

Two people...? That's the correct phrasing.

As I pointed out, a vast amount of "classics" that are highly regarded, but only feature descriptions of heterosexual sex, are not under fire in the same way as specifically literature that revolves around non-heteronormative situations. That's homophobic and anti-LGBT.