Tbf most of the ones “banned” are banned because of language (I found as many of the PDFs as I could one time and searched the documents for “fuck,” which many of them contained, or other words that would be banned in schools), or in one case a graphic novel with a panel depicting a blowjob, and I have been corrected before that it “wasn’t technically a blowjob it was ‘strap on play,’” but, c’mon strap on play is banned in schools too whether it’s between straights or gays. Sure it’s educational, but it’s not the same as an anti racist book that has the N-word in a historical context (TKAM) or something. Most of those are still going to be banned due to that, the rape scenes in a few, “fuck,” “cocksucker,” etc.
This seems more like a feel good measure just to say “See we fixed it! All those same books are still banned, but now we’re claiming the actual reasons instead of homophobia.” I’d be interested to see an itemized breakdown of the ISBNs before/after.
For reference, here’s a PDF to Gender Queer on Archive, one of the most popularized, at the top of every “they banned these books” list:
A) Share it with anyone who needs it! I don’t believe in limiting the free flow of information online or at the public libraries (bans there are eggregious flat out), but
B) Check out page 62 and page 168, this would never fly in my schools whether it was straight or gay, let’s be real.
Tbf most of the ones “banned” are banned because of language (I found as many of the PDFs as I could one time and searched the documents for “fuck,” which many of them contained, or other words that would be banned in schools), or in one case a graphic novel with a panel depicting a blowjob, and I have been corrected before that it “wasn’t technically a blowjob it was ‘strap on play,’” but, c’mon strap on play is banned in schools too whether it’s between straights or gays. Sure it’s educational, but it’s not the same as an anti racist book that has the N-word in a historical context (TKAM) or something. Most of those are still going to be banned due to that, the rape scenes in a few, “fuck,” “cocksucker,” etc.
This seems more like a feel good measure just to say “See we fixed it! All those same books are still banned, but now we’re claiming the actual reasons instead of homophobia.” I’d be interested to see an itemized breakdown of the ISBNs before/after.
For reference, here’s a PDF to Gender Queer on Archive, one of the most popularized, at the top of every “they banned these books” list:
https://archive.org/details/gender-queer-a-memoir-by-maia-kobabe-z-lib.org/page/62/mode/1up
A) Share it with anyone who needs it! I don’t believe in limiting the free flow of information online or at the public libraries (bans there are eggregious flat out), but
B) Check out page 62 and page 168, this would never fly in my schools whether it was straight or gay, let’s be real.