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STOP ME BEFORE I READ AGAIN (2015 EDITION)
It’s Banned Books Week again.
Or, as I like to call it, “Reading Suggestions Week”.
I’ve written before about why this still matters. You can read that here. My opinion hasn’t really changed since then.
I also invite you to read the post that inspired my post, which goes into more detail and provides a more global perspective.
As always, you can visit the American Library Association for a list of the books that are most upsetting the Cultural Guardians these days.
Next year may see a new addition: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, which tells the story of Lacks, a tobacco farmer who was dying in the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1951, when her cancer cells were harvested without her consent, which led to one of the most important medical breakthroughs in modern medicine.
A woman in Tennessee wants it banned from schools because it’s pornography. Really:
I don’t think that word means what she thinks it means. But then a lot of people make that mistake.
True story: I remember browsing in a video store once and overhearing a woman returning a tape (this was in 1990s, children) complaining that it was “pure pornography”.
The offending video: Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven.
Anyway.
The kicker of the Henrietta Lacks story is that the school actually provided Sims’ son with an alternate text according to district policy so he wouldn’t be exposed to cervix porn. As always, that’s not good enough: Sims wants to keep all kids from reading it.
Same as it ever was.
Guess what book I’m going to try and find a copy of now?
Reading what I ain’t supposed to,
This is dF
Or, as I like to call it, “Reading Suggestions Week”.
I’ve written before about why this still matters. You can read that here. My opinion hasn’t really changed since then.
I also invite you to read the post that inspired my post, which goes into more detail and provides a more global perspective.
As always, you can visit the American Library Association for a list of the books that are most upsetting the Cultural Guardians these days.
Next year may see a new addition: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, which tells the story of Lacks, a tobacco farmer who was dying in the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1951, when her cancer cells were harvested without her consent, which led to one of the most important medical breakthroughs in modern medicine.
A woman in Tennessee wants it banned from schools because it’s pornography. Really:
Jackie Sims, mother to a 15-year-old sophomore at L&N STEM Academy in Knoxville, told the local news station WBIR she was “shocked that there was so much graphic information in the book.” She cited one passage describing Lacks’ husband’s infidelity and another concerning Lacks’ discovery of a tumor on her cervix.
“I consider the book pornographic,” Sims said, adding, “There’s so many ways to say things without being that graphic in nature, and that’s the problem I have with this book.”
“I consider the book pornographic,” Sims said, adding, “There’s so many ways to say things without being that graphic in nature, and that’s the problem I have with this book.”
I don’t think that word means what she thinks it means. But then a lot of people make that mistake.
True story: I remember browsing in a video store once and overhearing a woman returning a tape (this was in 1990s, children) complaining that it was “pure pornography”.
The offending video: Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven.
Anyway.
The kicker of the Henrietta Lacks story is that the school actually provided Sims’ son with an alternate text according to district policy so he wouldn’t be exposed to cervix porn. As always, that’s not good enough: Sims wants to keep all kids from reading it.
Same as it ever was.
Guess what book I’m going to try and find a copy of now?
Reading what I ain’t supposed to,
This is dF