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Saturday, February 17, 2007

Book Bans

Earlier this week, my minister told me about a children's book that's being banned called And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell which is about two male penguins who raise an egg together. It's based on a true story (and no not just that there are 3 peguins out there who are a family somewhere. Two males penguins did hatch an egg together in the Central Park Zoo). Fortunately she was able to secure a copy and read it at our UU church this past Sunday (note to self: go onto amazon.com and order this book after finishing this post.) Perhaps the Central Park Zoo itself should be banned, instead of a factual book based on what happened there, for encouraging such scandalous behavior that will clearly encourage other penguins to enter into same sex penguining relationships that may threaten the fabric of penguin society.

Today I learned of another book that's being banned from a lot of libraries. What's up with all the banned books? Clearly we should hire personal body guards when we go to the library because we're living in dangerous times. The book is called The Higher Power of Lucky and is written by Susan Patron. Immediately upon hearing of its ban, images of sex, drugs and crazy parties filled with lots of pot smoking and someone wearing a lampshade filled my mind. "That's it! We're never going to the library again. It's a dangerous place!" If it was joining the ranks of the book Forever by Judy Blume, then it just had to be bad. (Actually, I thought Forever was a good book. I'll admit I only wanted to read it because it was controversial and thus very hard to find, but I thought it addressed the issue of teenage sex pretty well. ) Again, though that book was about sex! Clearly this newly banned book had to be about it or something worse. What could it be?

I held my breath as I prepared to read on and find out...and then I burst out laughing. It's banned in a lot of libraries because it uses a very very serious word: "scrotum. " I wish I were making this up. This book which is a Newberry Medal winner is banned because the main character overhears another character mention that his dog got bitten on his scrotum.

Please don't censor this blog for sharing the following excerpt. (Kids don't read any further).

"Sammy told of the day when he had drunk half a gallon of rum listening to Johnny Cash all morning in his parked '62 Cadillac, then fallen out of the car when he saw a rattlesnake on the passenger seat biting his dog, Roy, on the scrotum." (reference)

Are you kidding me? I think my older son (OS) knew that word when he was about a year old. We starting calling his scrotum a scrotum, well, when he was born. When he was learning his body parts it was just the same as learning the words for his arms and legs. (Note to self: It is apparently not objectionable to tell stories to children about drinking a half gallon of RUM.)

This made me think of a story I heard from a Planned Parenthood speaker a couple of weeks ago. Apparently her teenage nephew was upset because he overheard her tell her daughter "Yes, that's your vagina" when she was changing her daughter's diaper. The nephew was upset because he was worried that the daughter might actually go up to people and say that she had a vagina. The mom's response: "Well, it's true! She does have a vagina!" That's exactly how I feel about the word scrotum in this book.

Sure, there are shows and movies out there that kids watch where it's funny for guys to be nailed in the scrotum. It's okay to laugh about, but please please don't use the "s" word. Let's just call it a more appropriate term like "nuts" or "balls". (Note to self: Ensure that neither of my sons ever hear the word "testicles," which presumably would also be offensive.)

A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Hearing about drinking rum is okay for kids, but reading the word "scrotum" is not.

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posted by Alex Elliot @ 11:02 PM   7 comments
7 Comments:

  • At 2/18/2007 7:51 AM, Blogger soccer mom in denial said…

    Hey fellow UU!! Guess all those folks banning books didn't go through the 1970's AYS or today's OWL programs.

    We were given King and King as well as King and King and Family by my favorite gay man. Amazing how much fear books and words can cause.

     

  • At 2/18/2007 8:32 AM, Blogger super des said…

    Banning books is so stupid. Especially in this country, it just makes people want to read the book more.

    I saw an article about that scrotum book. That's ridiculous. My favorite banned book (that I've never read) is "Heather has 2 Mommies." You're right, that doesn't happen in real life.

    I could continue ranting about this, but you get my drift.

     

  • At 2/18/2007 10:30 PM, Anonymous happy and blue 2 said…

    So it's ok to let our children see graphic images of violence on our tv broadcasts as long as we keep the names for our special private places secret..
    Makes perfect sense to me..

     

  • At 2/18/2007 11:11 PM, Blogger ru said…

    as a librarian, i can attest to the fact that libraries are dangerous places, but it's not because of the subversive literature we have running around! in fact, this post is quite timely: freedom to read week (in canada) begins on february 25 - so everyone go out and read a banned book! you can read more about freedom to read week here. and the american equivalent is banned books week, and you can read about the 2006 edition of that event here.

     

  • At 2/19/2007 11:04 PM, Blogger Nancy said…

    Ever read Fahrenheit 451 ... first it's the banning of books, then the burning ...

    I like Blume's "Forever" as well, mainly because of the subject matter. I remember the novel making the rounds in sixth or seventh grade in the middle school cafeteria ... everyone wanted to read the steamy sex scene. Purely scandalous, it was ;)

    Books cause fear because they are powerful things and we should never forget just how powerful they can be. Books can change the world. Many have certainly changed my life.

     

  • At 2/19/2007 11:10 PM, Blogger Nancy said…

    P.S. Thank you RU for the links ... I found it interesting that most of the books on the 2005 ALA Challenged Books List were banned because of sexual content.

    When are we all going to loosen up? What is the BIG deal? I just don't get it. If it weren't for sex none of us would be here so why are so many people so embarrassed and scared by the topic?

    People should be worrying about much more important things.

     

  • At 2/21/2007 12:41 AM, Blogger Suzanne said…

    How awful it would be for a 10 year old kid to learn what a scrotum is. How awful it is that the kid is already 10 and has no idea.

    Sometimes I can't believe the US is a global leader given our puritan insanity.

     
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Name:Alex Elliot
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About Me:Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 6 year old and a 3 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
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