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WARNING: This post is about rape. It's not about censorship, which I could go on for days about, because that has been comprehensively covered in other posts. It's not about religion, which I could go on for weeks about, maybe even years. It's not even about Dr. Scroggins and how amazed I am that he has a Dr. in front of his name given the magnitude of his ignorance. Or that he could find a book about rape 'pornographic' in any way. Devastating and tragic, yes. Pornographic, no. There have been many posts addressing the issue how Dr. Scroggins, a self-proclaimed Christian in Missouri, attempted to get the book SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson banned, along with several other books, for being akin to soft core pornography. His actual article can be found here. I will say one more thing about religion. Rape happens to young women (and some young men) of ALL religions, so to imply that a good Christian shouldn't let their kids read a book about this topic is absurd and irresponsible.

My YA hat is off today.  I'm writing this as a Ph.D. licensed clinical psychologist who has worked with hundreds of rape survivors. Rape is an ugly act, and we have a tendency to sweep ugly things under the carpet, where we don't have to look at them. This is an issue that is too important to hide.

I've worked with girls impregnated by their own fathers and step-fathers. I've worked with girls whose mothers kicked them out of the house for trying to "steal their boyfriend" after said boyfriend repeatedly raped them. I've worked with girls who 'accepted' rape from family members, hoping it would spare their younger siblings from the same abuse. I've worked with girls who were date raped and did SPEAK only to be blamed themselves or told it was "her word against his," and then had to see the perpetrator in school every day. My heart has broken over and over again for these girls, but one of the best parts of my job is helping give a voice to those who feel they don't have one. Helping them become stronger than they ever thought they were before. Helping them SPEAK.

RAPE STATISTICS:

• 73% of women are raped by someone they know
• In the United States, someone is sexually assaulted EVERY TWO MINUTES
• Approximately 1 in 6 women (and 1 in 33 men) experience sexual assault in their lifetime. In my state of Colorado, it's almost 1 in 4 women.
• 60% of rapes are NOT REPORTED to the police. That's a lot of women NOT speaking. 

My daughter learns lots of interesting things at school.  While she is loath to respond to direct questioning, occasionally I'll get a glimmer of a glimpse into her daily adventures.   Last year, her best friend taught her the word 'vagina.'  Of course I have no problem with her learning the anatomically correct terms for body parts, but we had never found a need at home to get more specific than 'bottom.'  After all, while the penis has two functions, the vagina has only one, and we were really not ready to have 'the talk' at age four.      

Shortly thereafter, Kate came home and told me that one of her little friends had said the 'Sh word.'  I explained to her that this was not a word that we use in polite conversation.  I graphically described the literal meaning to drive my point home.  Only later did I realize that the offending phrase was "shut up."  While I issued an immediate (if awkward) retraction, my daughter probably still retains a notion that "shut up" has vaguely scatalogical connotations.  And, like the sixth graders my husband teaches, she apparently believes it to be one of the most offensive phrases a person can utter. 

On a very basic level, ordering someone to refrain from talking, from sharing, from doing, from BEING, to is a grievous offense.  On the other hand, there are rules of decorum and tenets of tact.  In the weeks following the great Koran-burning scandal, Banned Books Week seems particularly well-timed.  

If I may exercise my First Amendment rights to pontificate for a moment on the First Amendment... I am a news junkie, and the airwaves have been dominated in recent weeks by the Dr. Laura controversy, the "Ground Zero mosque" debate, and yes, the Florida pastor bent on destroying holy books for the world to see.  With freedom of speech comes, it should go without saying, the tremendous responsibility to use our words wisely.

As a parent, I am learning swiftly that when you release your children into the world, you relinquish all control over their influences.  When I asked my daughter what she learned in kindergarten the first week, she said that Hannah P. and Hannah M. and Kailyn all knew a particular Lady Gaga song.  I suggested that perhaps it was not appropriate for kindergarteners to be talking about Lady Gaga, and Kate apprised me the next day that she had brought up the subject on the playground, but, "It's okay, Mommy, because we whispered." 

As parents, as teachers, as writers, as grown-ups, we are the gatekeepers to the ever-widening world in which our children live.  And as I navigate the etiquette of play dates and disciplining others' children (aagh!), I discover that rules and norms are not as readily apparent as one might hope. 

Last year at this time, the fact that our President planned to speak to our nation's schoolchildren was the subject of national brouhaha (despite longstanding precedent).  As my teacher-husband pointed out, his sixth graders were on that same day listening to a presentation from a magazine salesperson for a school fundraiser.  Parents had not been required to give permission for their students to hear from this non-teacher about subject matter barely pertinent to the curriculum.  He made the point that if individual parents with their wide array of beliefs and mores had direct input into what is taught in the schools, mayhem would ensue. 

I support our public schools, I send my child to public school and, for better or worse, I trust the professional gatekeepers, the teachers and the librarians whose job is to ensure that materials presented are age-appropriate and accurately reflect the world around us.

Did you know it’s Banned Book Week? I think this is especially poignant with the recent attempt at challenging Laurie Halse Anderson’sSpeak and Twisted; Ellen Hopkins’ disinvite and the censorship of Burned; and the recent challenge of Jo Knowles’ Lessons from a Dead Girl. Those are all wonderful, powerful, truly *important* YA books that deserve to reach people–that teens and adults should have the chance to discover and read.

I may be extra sensitive to book banning, since my parents literally burned and tore up some of my favorite books, and prevented me from having access to books through removing all my books for weeks at a time as punishment when I (quite desperately) depended on books as survival. And also because they consistently tried to silence me.

Books are so important, and a way for people to find validation, support, and information in a safe way that they wouldn’t otherwise find out about. They offer healing, a widening of the world and of dreams, and for me, they have been soul food. So to hear about people trying to prevent others from reading any book makes me angry. If you don’t want to read a book yourself, that’s fine–walk away from it. But to try to keep a book from everyone, or from a group of people? That’s not okay.

I found one of my favorite picture books, And Tango Makes Three, about a gay penguin couple, through book banning and challenges. So sometimes book banning may help to get the word out…to *some* people. But it prevents others from finding these wonderful books, and it saddens and angers me that this happens at all–and still happens today. To me it seems like an act of oppression, and of power. Something I’m quite familiar with.

I hope you’ll consider buying (or borrowing) and reading some of these banned books–and sharing them with others. I hope, too, that you’ll

So I was out of town this past weekend and the day job has been pretty busy so it wasn’t until late Monday night when I got a chance to read up on the latest censorship battle of one of my favorite books, Speak.

I then went over and read Laurie Halse Anderson’s post on the issue.

See here’s the thing with me:

I don’t have a problem with people voicing their opinions about books. I don’t even have a problem with people saying that certain “subjects” in books are inappropriate for a certain audience (in this case teens). I don’t even have a problem with people forbidding the teens that live in their house to read such books.

What I do have a problem with are people who tell me that these books are bad and should be censored and forbid the teens that live in my home to read such books.

Because you see that’s my job.

As a writer it goes even further because then it becomes that whatever I choose to write about — when it’s deemed controversial or salacious or even my favorite word — gratuitous — that I can’t write it or that it should be banned. That I should write about “safe” things.

I can write whatever I want.

It’s the reader’s choice to decide if they want to read it.

For me, this type of censorship is wrong. And the irony is that 9 times of out 10, most of these challenged/banned books have not even been read cover to cover. Or they’ve been read of context. Or worse not read at all.

Taking a book away from teens that a selected few deem unfit is censorship.

Anyway, this has hit a nerve with me. I plan on buying 10 copies of Speak and donating them to my library this week.

And to all of my fellow writers, not only SPEAK LOUDLY but WRITE LOUDLY.

Ok, so you've probably heard that there's an idiot in Missouri who equates Speak with soft-core porn.* He then really goes off the deep end when he says "They have sex on Saturday night and then are goddesses at church on Sunday morning. The cheer squad also gets their group-rate abortions at prom time." I mean, you can misinterpret a book all you want, but don't go making things up that aren't even there. Where did that even come from?

In addition to Speak, he also objects to Slaughterhouse-Five and Twenty Boy Summer. I read Slaughterhouse-Five too long ago to refute his claims in the same way as Speak and I haven't read Twenty Boy Summer yet.

There have been several posts in the blogosphere that rather eloquently refute this guy (and some, like mine, that are just angry.) Reclusive Bibliofile has a great round-up of the reaction.

But, for a really good laugh, check out the Rejectionist's reaction. It focuses more on his writing skills than content, but it's an excellent and hilarious take-down.

*I try not to resort to school yard name calling, but this is the scene that he thinks is soft-core porn. If this gets you hot, call a mental health professional.

"Do you want to?" he asked.

What did he say? I didn't answer. I didn't know. I didn't speak.

We were on the ground. When did that happen? "No." No I did not want this. I was on the ground and he was on top of me. My lips mumble something about leaving, about a friend who needs me, about my parents worrying. I can hear myself--I'm mumbling like a deranged drunk. His lips lock on mine and I can't say anything. I twist my head away. He is so heavy. There is a boulder on top of me. I open my mouth to breathe, to scream, and his hand covers it. In my head, my voice is as clear as a bell: "NO I DON'T WANT TO!" But I can't spit it out. I'm trying to remember how we got on the ground and where the moon went and wham! shirt up, shorts down, and the ground smells wet and ark and NO!-- I'm not really here, I'm definitely back at Rachel's, crimping my hear and gluing on fake nails, and he smells like beer and mean and he hurts me hurts me hurts me and gets up

and zips his jeans

and smiles. (p135-136)



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The fact that there are people who think teens shouldn’t read a YA novel about rape, who call Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak “soft pornography”, only makes the book that much more important. Rape and sexual assault occur with alarming frequency, yet 60% of these crimes are not reported to the police. Books like Speak can help victims find their voice, and we desperately need them for this reason.

Many, many other bloggers have written eloquently about this, more articulately than I can. And I have so much admiration for the survivors who are sharing their own stories.

Reclusive Bibliophile is compiling posts. Please read them.

The May Y’ALL book was Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. A question that arose during discussion was what is “steampunk”? Below is a starting point to sources more qualified to answer and recommend titles for further reading.

• Solar Flare
• Book Smugglers
• Library Journal article

We also brought our lists for best YA books of all time that we submitted to Persnickety Snark. Here’s my list:

10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (although now I think it should have put Order of the Phoenix).

9. The Skin I’m In by Sharon Flake

8. Sleeping Freshman Never Lie by David Lubar

7. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

6. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

5. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

4. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

2. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

1. Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

June book is Liar by Justine Larbalestier

Do you ever find your conversations with teens veering more toward the personal than the professional?

Are books on sex, drugs, abuse or depression constantly going missing from your shelves?

Have you ever found yourself thinking, “I’m a librarian, not a therapist!” (…or a social worker, or a nurse, or a police officer?)

Would you like to hear how some of the hottest YA authors incorporate tough subject matter into their books–and their interactions with teens?

If you answered yes to any of the above, YALSA’s full-day preconference on June 25 is for you!

It’s Perfectly Normal: Dealing with “Sensitive” Topics in Teen Services will take an in-depth look at topics like sexuality, abuse, privacy and others that can be tough for young adult librarians to tackle with teens (and the adults in their lives). We’ll hear from experts in the field of adolescent development, along with authors and librarians, about how to successfully maneuver these conversations and the services and programs that come with them, along with collection development strategies geared toward “sensitive” topics.

Authors Ben Saenz, Laurie Halse Anderson, Nina LaCour, David Levithan, and Ellen Hopkins will all be participating.

You don’t need to register for ALA Annual to attend the preconference. If you’ve already registered and would like to add a preconference or special event, you have two options: (1) By phone: Call ALA Registration at 1-800-974-3084 and ask to add a workshop to your existing registration, or (2) Online: Add an event to your existing registration by clicking on this link. Use your log in and password to access your existing Annual registration and add events in the “Your Events” section (screen 6). Then simply check out and pay for the events you’ve added.