Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock (or live outside of America), you’re most likely aware of the book banning frenzy that is sweeping this nation. I figured this would be a great topic to discuss, not so much as an ‘are you supportive of book bans or not’ kind of prompt, but more of a deeper discussion as to how these book bans can harm children in different ways. While I’m not supportive of book bans at all, I can at least understand what the people who support them think that they’re going to accomplish through this misguided measure.
So I guess I’ll start with the easiest part, which is what people think that book bans are going to accomplish. And I specifically say *think* because I’m pretty sure it’s obvious that banning books doesn’t really protect kids, it just keeps them sheltered and cut off. Parents might want to hide some of the more harsh aspects of life from their children and let them be kids for as long as possible, which is understandable. Young children don’t need to be reading books that involve murder, gore, sexual assault, and drug use. I fully agree with that. But I do think that children need to learn about historical events that are presented in an age-appropriate way. But a lot of the book bans seem to focus on stories written by and about Black, Brown, and/or LGBTQIA+ people. And having children not read those books doesn’t prevent racism or LGBTQIA+ people. LGBTQIA+ people have been reading books featuring heterosexual people for centuries, and it hasn’t turned a single person straight, so why would reading books about queer people turn straight people queer? It just normalizes an experience that children are already having.
On the other hand, one of my favorite things about books is when I’m able to identify with characters or situations that they are in. And as a kid, I never found any books that had characters I could identify with, other than books about the Holocaust, and that was just compounding trauma when I wanted to see Jewish joy and present-day concerns. Growing up, all the books featured characters who were white, straight, able-bodied, slim, and Christian. I remember a single book series had one character that was of Asian descent, and that was groundbreaking. But as a chubby, Jewish, asthmatic, bisexual girl, there wasn’t any representation for me to be found.
It wasn’t until I was way into adulthood that I started seeing books that really represented me. Books featuring Jewish women with disabilities (Jean Meltzer). Books featuring bisexual women (Alexandra Bellefleur). Books featuring fat people, and fat Jewish people (Rachel Lynn Solomon). And it was an indescribable feeling to be able to relate to a character on page so deeply, instead of just reading about someone and relating to their generalized human experience. I could finally see a character who agonized over when to tell the person they’re dating about a disability, or that they’re bisexual. Having people treat you differently because of your size, and make assumptions about you. So I think it’s important for kids to have access to books that represent them, as long as the material is presented in an age-appropriate way.
As far as age-appropriate, it isn’t realistic to think that children don’t know their gender identity or sexual preference before adulthood. I’m not saying that erotica should be found in school libraries, but having children’s books identifying that gay people, disabled people, fat people, and minorities exist should be in school libraries. And even more controversial topics can be presented in books. I remember being much younger, and there was no way that my uptight parents were ever going to discuss the birds and the bees with me. Instead, they gave me a book to read, and then gave me the chance to ask my mom any questions that I had. For other children, who have experienced physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, a book where the topic is presented sensitively can help them realize that their experiences aren’t okay or normal, and might just motivate them to speak up about what has been happening.
So there’s some of my thoughts on book bans, but I decided to stop there or I might just rant all day.
What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with bans? Why?
Categories: Sunday Bookish Discussion
Leah's Books 
Regarding your point about sexual abuse in books, and how a sensitive exploration of the topic might encourage victims to speak up – this has actually happened. I can think of at least one case where an abuser was jailed because his young victim read a book that explained sexual abuse to her.
Book bans suck, I’m grateful they aren’t much of a thing in the UK.
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Book bans really do suck, I wish they weren’t much of a thing here in the US. It’s ironic that the groups shouting the loudest about protecting kids are the ones preventing kids from being protected.
Books are an amazing resource, and they have so much to offer. It’s a shame that kids are going to miss out on the empowering nature of books that are getting banned because people don’t like a specific word or topic, and don’t bother to even read the book they deem offensive.
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Book bans- don’t like them (some honestly don’t make sense)
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I wholeheartedly concur.
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I’m not in the US so I had no idea this was happening as it’s not a thing here in Europe (as far as I know, anyway). I absolutely disagree with it, though. What a backwards thing to be happening. Do we want to go back to the Nazis burning books? Banning books is not the way to protect children. I’m a parent myself and it is MY job to filter the content my children have access to, in terms of age appropriateness. Why are people expecting books to be banned instead of paying attention to what their children are reading? Besides, I’m sorry for my bluntness but, if you start having gay thoughts from reading a book, you were pretty gay to begin with lol people are so ignorant if they think you can “turn” someone gay. Also, instead of being so worried about your kid’s sexuality, maybe focus on not raising assholes. Those people should focus on protecting their children from actual threats such as TikTok and whatever they allow their kids watch all day long without parental supervision. I worked for TikTok for three years and, let me tell you, it’s very dangerous in many different ways. There’s all sorts of gory, violent, traumatic content and predators everywhere.
Sorry for my rant, I’m clearly passionate about the topic 😂
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Rant away! That’s the whole point of the bookish discussion topic – to introduce topics that are polarizing and divisive to get people to talk and share their ideas. I love the fact that you are giving perspective from Europe, where there has been a history of book bans in the past, and history has shown that they don’t end well. It seems like the American groups pushing for this haven’t read their history books, or parenting books either. I also love that you put the focus for parenting responsibility directly on your shoulders. And there’s no need to apologize for your bluntness – if a book can “turn someone gay,” then how come a book has never turned anyone straight? This was a great topic, and I appreciate you sharing your thoughts.
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Yes. Unfortunately, I have even closer examples. I live in Portugal and we were under dictatorship until 1974, so there were banned books until then. One of my teachers told me they would still read banned books in class (when she was in university) by glueing a different cover on them. The police would often check and people were actually arrested for reading said books. Obviously, they didn’t prevent an uprising and banned books didn’t stop people from fighting for freedom, otherwise we’d still be living under that regime.
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Wow – I had no idea about that, as if you needed another example of how bad the American education system is. Another reason why banning books isn’t effective is because a lot of people think like I do – as soon as someone tells me that I’m not allowed to read a book or do something else, that’s all I want to do. And now that kids have access to the internet, it’s even harder to prevent them from getting their hands on banned books. I even saw that the NYC public library system was offering access to the banned books to students around the country, which was really cool. In lighter news, I’ve been studying a little Portuguese. Tudo bem?
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Oh wow! That’s lovely! Tudo bem e tu? Any special reason or you just decided to learn a new language and Portuguese was a random choice? This reminds me, I should probably head to Duolingo to practice a little German so the dang bird stops stalking me 😂
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Tudo bem! Welche Sprachen spricht du?
I actually love learning languages. I started with Spanish in middle school, kept up with it until high school, and practiced it as often as I could. I took 2 years of Japanese, and heard Yiddish spoken at home. So when I got on Duolingo, I started with Spanish, and then tried a few others. Italian, Portuguese (which has been pretty easy after learning so much Spanish), German (which is easy after hearing so much Yiddish), and a little Hebrew. What’s your name on Duolingo? I’ll add you as a friend if you want!
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https://www.duolingo.com/profile/CheilaMart13?via=share_profile – Here’s me! I love languages too. I’m actually an English and Portuguese teacher, I don’t know if you know that. Here in Portugal, we start learning English very young. And then either Spanish, French or German in 7th grade. I had 5 years of French and can read and understand it but can’t speak at all. And then I took two semesters of Italian and German in college and I would love to continue but I’ve been procrastinating for years 😂
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I agree with your thoughts.
It’s kind of funny to me how some people who support book bans think that children somehow won’t be aware of race, gender, sexual orientation, ect. if children’s books don’t mention them.
My mom is disabled. I grew up in an interracial extended family. I knew about stuff like racism and ableism very early in life. It was totally inescapable.
Reading books about families like mine did nothing but make me feel seen and heard. For kids who might not have those experiences personally, it’s still important and emotionally healthy for them to learn about the struggles other people deal with.
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Exactly. I really try to understand what someone else might be thinking, but for the life of me, I cannot figure out what the people who support book bans are thinking. I find myself wondering if they put the same energy into parenting as they do into working to ban books. And I love that you were able to find books about families like yours!
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I am not a fan of book bans. As a parent, I don’t need anyone else telling me what my kid can and cannot read. Just mind your own business and keep track of your own kids. Most of these people haven’t even read the books themselves.
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Exactly! I think it’s perfectly fine if people want to limit what their own children want to read, but the problem comes when people want to say that *no one* can read these books because they don’t agree with what might be in it. And thank you – I don’t think it’s acknowledged enough that these people haven’t bothered to read the books before deciding they’re inappropriate.
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