Hung Up On Gentialia
My love of books sometimes shows up in the oddest ways. For example, I’m fascinated by book censorship. It’s hard for me to imagine in this world of violence, misogyny, greed and global domination that people get all screwed up over a single word in a kid’s book.
New York Times’ Book section details the latest controversy between the Sophisticates and the Prudes in the world of children’s literature. This year’s Newberry Award winner, The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron, dared to include a provocative word in a scene where the protagonist, a 10-year-old named Lucky, eavesdrops upon a alcoholic recovery group. Having such a group featured in a children’s book is not the issue, just the utterance of one word - scrotum - lights the fires of book burning in areas most susceptible to literary blazes. As the NY Times quotes:
Ms. Nilsson, reached at Sunnyside Elementary School in Durango, Colo., said she had heard from dozens of librarians who agreed with her stance. “I don’t want to start an issue about censorship,” she said. “But you won’t find men’s genitalia in quality literature.”
“At least not for children,” she added.
I marvel at the contradictions inherent in such thinking. If a caring soul looks after "the best interests" of children whole heartedly, focusing on one small aspect of a society’s influence is futile. Once censorship begins, where does it lead? Where is the line that clearly denotes what is right for a child to learn? That’s rhetorical, of course, there isn’t one.Who besides parents are appropriate to make that call? If a ten-year-old is to learn a word describing a part of the male anatomy that is considered uncouth in conversation, where best to discover it? If not in a book, then where is the child likely to learn if it? From a bad-mouthing teenager?
Perhaps the self-appointed moralists should consider the alternative to exposing prickly subjects within a literary context. The matter-of-fact discovery of words like scrotum in a story educates without the baggage of judgmental connotations usually associated with learning such words on the proverbial street. This is a Good Thing! If teachers, librarians and especially parents are uncomfortable defining the word when little Jennifer asks, then gently suggest a dictionary. And shame on all of you for lacking the balls to answer her question outright.