A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on book bans took a racy turn Tuesday, as Republican senators and a witness read scenes of various sexual content into the congressional record to defend the banning of multiple titles from U.S. schools.

The hearing on book bans was called as multiple Republican-led states have made it easier for books to be challenged in classrooms and as school board meetings have been flooded with arguments on what is appropriate for children to read.

The American Library Association said the number of book challenges in the United States doubled between 2021 and 2022.

Republicans and Democrats found common ground in agreeing there are books that are inappropriate for some children, but Democrats said the argument that all the books under discussion are sexually explicit is a scapegoat for the issue.

“No one is advocating for sexually explicit content to be available in an elementary school library or in [the] children’s section of the library,” Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said. “That’s a distraction from the real challenge. I understand and respect that parents may choose to limit what their children read, especially at younger ages. My wife and I did. Others do, too. But no parent should have the right to tell another parent’s child what they can and cannot read in school or at home. Every student deserves access to books that reflect their experiences and help them better understand who they are.”

  • Hot Saucerman
    link
    fedilink
    English
    621 year ago

    They are suspiciously silent about violence and gore.

    Apparently understanding procreation exists is more dangerous than a heaping helping of the ol’ ultraviolence.

    • Norgur
      link
      fedilink
      231 year ago

      That’s something us Europeans find weird all the time. Splatterfest 9000 Ultra Bloody Gore edition is fine, but God forbid there is a literal mm of female areola in screen for a fraction of a second!

      • @FrickAndMortar
        link
        81 year ago

        I like the glib answer that the USA was founded by religious nut jobs so uptight and conservative that they got kicked out of Europe for being so annoying - the puritans.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          31 year ago

          What’s amusing to me is that one of the stated reasons the religious nut jobs were persecuted was for their anti-war beliefs. Somehow that script got flipped.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            31 year ago

            Yeah… Nixon grew up as a Quaker, and Quakers were supposed to be super pacifistic. Just an example to your point.

    • lettruthout
      link
      101 year ago

      Yes, sadly there’s more money to be made from violence. Politicians can rake in political donations from fear, get lobbyist support (bribery) from arms manufacturers and watch your stock portfolio swell from voting for gun ownership and war. How do we stop this madness?

    • @AbidanYre
      link
      English
      3
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      The Walking Dead TV series didn’t show much of the sexual assault/rape from the comic series but all the zombie gore was fine.