WTFery of the morning, as reported by Dianna Dilworth on GalleyCat: Brevard County Public Libraries in Florida have pulled their 19 copies of 50 Shades of Grey from the shelves.
Why?
HuffPo has a quote from Don Walker, a spokesman for the library, who said, “it's semi-porgnographic.” The HuffPo article indicated that several other libraries in Florida had refused to purchase copies, but Brevard bought 19, then took them out of circulation, sending notices to the 200 or so people on a waiting list.
Library services director Cathy Schweinsberg told Florida Today: Nobody asked us to take it off the shelves. But we bought some copies before we realized what it was. We looked at it, because it’s been called ‘mommy porn’ and ‘soft porn.’ We don’t collect porn.”
Brevard County Public Libraries don't collect porn. But since there's no established definition of what porn is, particularly for a library, I took a closer look at their collection to ascertain the items within their collection that I knew included sexually explicit depictions.
They have over 150 different Longarm novels, and a rather healthy collection of romances, including titles by Lora Leigh, Laurell K. Hamilton, Joey W. Hill, and Emma Holly.
So how does 50 Shades of Grey qualify as porn, while those works do not?
Your guess is as good as mine.
There's a petition online featuring plenty of irritated folks telling the library not to censor what their patrons read, but if you'd like to write a letter to the Brevard County Library Director, Cathy Schweinsberg, her address is:
Cathy Schweinsberg
Library Services Director
Brevard County Public Library
308 Forrest Ave.
Cocoa, FL 32922
Or you can email her at cschweinsberg@brev.org. There's additional contact information for Ms. Schweinsberg and for the library administration at their Contact page.
I don't know if any reasoned argument can sway the decision, but if you do write, please keep the argument reasonable and not attackernating, as tempting as it may be to say, 'OH COME ON NOW.' This is the letter I've sent her:
Dear Ms. Schweinsberg:
I'm writing in regards to your decision to remove 50 Shades of Grey by EL James from your circulating collection on the grounds that it is “porn.”
I am not a resident of Florida, but many, many women I know are, and we are all avid readers of romance. The danger in removing one book on the grounds that it is 'porn' is that you have not defined what it is that constitutes pornography. Is it because this book features scenes that are labeled as BDSM? Your library carries Exit to Eden by Anne Rice, which also features BDSM, as well as several other works by writers of erotic romantic fiction that include bondage and domination scenes.
Is it that 50 Shades of Grey features explicit sexuality? Many other books do as well, and not just romance. For example, I examined your catalog and found over 160 different books in the Longarm series. Are you familiar at all with Longarm? It's a popular western series known for extremely graphic descriptions of sex and violence. Here is a sampling of scenes from Longarm books:
“Longarm was able to enjoy Ramona longer, and wilder, as Carlota cuddled close to kiss Ramona passionately on the mouth and finger Longarm's ass as he long-donged her sister.”
– Longarm and the Deadly Dead Man
Located in your South Mainland Branch, currently checked out
“Longarm paid no attention to her giggling. He concentrated instead on feeling of sliding inside that sweet pussy and out again.”
– Longarm and the One-Armed Bandit
Located in your Titusville Branch, currently on shelfI apologize for the frank and explicit nature of the excerpts included, but if you are going to remove a book based on it being “porn,” I wanted to make sure you were fully cognizant of the sexual content of several hundred other books in the Brevard County collection. If 50 Shades of Grey is porn, I'd posit that the Longarm series qualifies as well, though I remain unsure as to the specifics of your definitions.
Because 50 Shades of Grey is no more or less explicit than many other books in your collection, I conclude that pulling 50 Shades of Grey from circulation in your library is censorship. Worse, it is censorship based on an arbitrary and ill-fitting definition of pornography.
The fact that you carry books in your collection which are equally as sexually explicit means that you've removed 50 Shades of Grey on an inaccurate, ignorant, and ill-defined basis. If you're going to exclude all books with sexual content, you're going to remove many romances, works of literary fiction, and some mysteries and thrillers from your collection as well, to say nothing of Lady Chatterley's Lover and similar classics. If 50 Shades of Grey is pornography, then any book featuring sexual content may qualify. That might be more than half your circulating collection.
It should not matter what is in the books in your library. Neither censoring nor defining pornography are part of the job of a library, nor is it the responsibility of a library director to define what is and is not pornography, and to remove books that patrons have asked for. My understanding is that your job is to carry the books that your patrons are interested in reading, and to do so without judgment. I know there is a petition online regarding this matter already, with over 1500 signatures, my own among them.
Please reconsider your decision to remove 50 Shades of Grey from circulation. It was certainly not my favorite book that I've read, but I will defend the right of any person who wishes to read it, in your library, or anywhere else.
Thank you for your time,
Sarah Wendell
Thanks to BigStock for the censorship image.
Natasha – He probably thinks you’re the bestest daughter-in-law ever! I say chin up a brazen it out. And buy him some more books!
‘OH COME ON NOW.’
LOL. I have to say that is my reaction to everything nowadays from the Trayvon Martin killing to the anti-gay marriage vote in North Carolina to the weather in NYC. I’m generally just frustrated, annoyed, and other feelings like that. So, I think I’m just going to sign the petition. As a public librarian, I’m just offended by the banning of 50 Shades of Grey. It’s not like it is a BDSM novel involving 5 year olds. *thppt*
Most of us are not like this! Here is the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights, which most of us generally subscribe to.
The American Library Association affirms that all libraries are forums for information and ideas, and that the following basic policies should guide their services.
I. Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.
II. Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.
III. Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.
Its just now I know why he is so keen on them. Anna my MIL told me several times that she found Mick was up in the middle of the night in the sitting room reading the books over and over (apparently he couldnt sleep). She would have kittens if she knew what he was at.
And three states are either banning 50 SHADES from their libraries or removing the existing copies from their shelves. Because, y’know, nothing decreases interest in a very sexual book than making it a banned book…
I’m a librarian. I tried 50 Shades and found it to be about the worst-written, most boring book I ever read. HOWEVER, that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be in public libraries, because if only books =I= thought were terrific were in the libraries, it would be a pretty boring collection for huge numbers of OTHER people. The Florida library could make a decision not to BUY the book for the collection, but pulling it AFTER it was in the collection was mindbogglingly stupid, as well as in clear violation of the ALA guidelines. But just think: now people who’d managed never to hear about the book will be pantingly eager to read it!
“Mommy porn”? ORLY? So it would be okay if it was “daddy porn”, huh? Wtf… O_o
I want to make sure everyone knows that I am in no defending what this library did. However, I think there are some misconceptions flying around about libraries and the role of a librarian.
Libraries are super strapped for cash and personnel is the biggest expense, not materials. Therefore, a lot of libraries (though not all) implement automatic purchasing plans to cut the pricey process of professional selection. Many libraries have as policy to purchase all NY Times Bestsellers. The concept that a library is reviewing every title is antiquated. It is MUCH cheaper for a library to spend less time selecting than saving money on not purchasing individual books. I just want to make it clear, that little review is not laziness, it is mostly due to lack of funding for professional staff and the way in which many libraries operate.
So, to claim that librarians should know about every book added to the collection is antiquated. People are expensive. Books are cheap. Most demands on libraries are to provide the same amount of service at a lower cost. Collection budgets have been slashed, but personnel budgets have been destroyed in many areas.
Please think about the strains on little budgets and on librarians in general before claiming that not reviewing a book makes the librarian lazy. What Brevard County did is wrong, but it is pertinent to understand the way in which libraries operate.
BTW, “mommy porn” just smacks of sexism.
I’m going to say it again: what is wrong with porn? No, really? Okay, I get that a library might not want to intentionally start a porn collection, but what’s with the harm in a few sexy books?
I know where the 50 Shades squeamishness is coming from, though. My future mother-in-law recently asked me if I had read it, which I have not. She looked at me and very sincerely told me that she heard it had SEX in it, and it really shouldn’t be allowed on the shelves. 1) She’s an example of why books get banned. 2)God help me if she ever figures out the internet well enough to stumble upon my blog :/
They probably should have just said they removed them because they were so appallingly written they didn’t really count as “books”, and left it at that. ;~)
“So, to claim that librarians should know about every book added to the collection is antiquated.”
True. The library I work at, which, granted, is an academic library, gets most of its books via established profiles. We try to look up reviews and make sure that whatever we add to our collection fulfills a need and contains good, useful information, but sometimes weird stuff slips through.
Unfortunately, this library, by pulling 50 Shades for no other reason than that it has been called “mommy porn” by the media, has opened its entire collection up for scrunity. Since they don’t have a clear definition of what “porn” means, it is now pathetically easy for anyone to look at the things in their collection and say “this is porn” and ask why it isn’t immediately being removed. And they’ve got quite a lot of things that people could gripe about, things that they probably couldn’t say slipped through the cracks because they were on a bestseller list or got an excellent review.
One of the reasons my “find the hypocrisy” game tends to focus on manga is because 1) I know the publisher imprints that tend to focus on explicit stuff, which makes searching easier and 2) all it takes is for one staff member to do a quick flip-through in order to find the explicit stuff or look at the cover for the parental advisory warning, so the claim that “we don’t read everything, we couldn’t have known” is less valid. Especially when the library in question considers manga to be entirely YA.
I’d be more sympathetic if, say, a community member complained and the book had gone through a challenge process. It doesn’t sound like anything of the sort happened here.
Does anyone remember their history lessons? In 1933 the Germans burned over 25,000 books for not corresponding with Nazi ideology. Is this where we’re headed with all the crapola censorship by libraries? What’s next? Removing anything that speaks of oral sex, anal sex, BDSM, autoerotic sex, menage, MMF, FFM, orgies, wife swapping, homosexuality, heterosexuality, or just plain white bread sex in general. Might as well lock the doors. Brever County, FL should be ashamed. Would they want the censorship police to come to their home and removing their idea of “porno”? Pull your heads out of your asses. We’re not living in a police state here, we’re the greatest country in the world where we have the unalienable right do so whatever we damn well please within the law. KMA all you hypocrits and spoilers.
I feel like whenever someone brings-up Nazism in a discussion like this, we all lose. A strong argument does not need the most evil regime ever on the face of the planet to justify it. Think about Glen Beck fear tactics. He sees Nazism everywhere.
I agree. I just wanted to take “lazy librarians” out of the equation. The librarians acted unethically, but not necessarily lazily.
Maybe they were tired of the books coming back with the pages stuck together, and are waiting to get the new edition, with the easy-clean vinyl pages? 😉
Seriously, though. STUPID move on their part, fantastic response with the petition, and that is one kickass letter you wrote, Sarah.
IIRC Brevard isn’t the first to pull 50 Shades. It’s also been pulled at some libraries in Wisconsin and Georgia too.
I’m a librarian at a public library and we have purchases 63 copies of this book to fill holds, and another 25 copies in electronic format. Not all public libraries are so reactionary!
Sorry about the Nazi reference. Just wanted all to remember “Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it”.
*stands and applauds wildly* Fantastic letter, Sarah! It’s too bad it had to be written.
Yep, I agree, someone was asleep on the job here. Or living in a closet. How exactly could anyone miss out on the media coverage? Even my mom had vaguely heard of it.
The library director did, in fact, say that when asked why Fear of Flying, Lady Chatterly’s Lover, etc., were still in the collection- because they’re “classics”. Apparently graphic sex is okay as long as the book’s been around for at least thirty years. I guess that’s another reason to read the classics…
I don’t think they were lazy, I just don’t think any library normally places that large an order for one book without reading a description.
I think they just went into cya mode as soon as the media picked up the “mommy porn” label and ran with it.
Y u so awful, Florida. Whenever my home state in in the news, it’s never for anything good. It’s always for people being murderers/criminals, bat-shit crazy or incompetent voters.
I live in Martin County, Florida (representing the Treasure Coast, wooo) and they have a pretty good collection of romance. Including 50 Shades of Grey, which currently has a huge waiting list. Martin, Palm Beach and Broward counties, though, all south of Brevard, are a little more socially progressive leaning than many of Florida’s other counties. The whole state is pretty conservative, socially—unfortunately.
A librarian referred me here…and here is a link of interest to anyone who enjoyed 50 Shades: https://www.facebook.com/WhatT…
Just so you know… Here’s the Brevard County Library webpage & they are also on Facebook…
http://www.brevardcounty.us/Pu…
Yeah, I was just thinking, “Excuse me? I was just busy working on a synopsis for a m/m/m/m/f erotica over here in America, so let’s not be tarring everyone in the colonies, okay?”
“Nobody asked us to take it off the shelves.”
Your TAX PAYING PATRONS (!!!) asked you to put it ON your shelves, Ms. Schweinsberg! The only thing you should be concerned with is if the content is illegal, i.e. child pornography. Nothing else. Anything more is censorship, period. There’s no such thing as “mommy porn”, that’s just some stupid term a media drone vomited that unfortunately stuck. Gah!
I tweeted about this last week when the story came to light, along with my outrage over the censoring of this book. I had hope that someone like Sarah would get ahold of the story and rally the troops. My prayers were answered. Thanks, Sarah!
I dearly love my state, especially the little rural corner I reside in, but I hate having to constantly apologize for some of the idiots who live in it with me.
I’m still in library school, so I guess my opinion is different. Every book published won’t make it into a library’s collection. The issue isn’t whether or not a book becomes part of a collection but why. If a librarian isn’t putting 50 Shades into a collection because it’s been called “mommy porn” (especially if she hasn’t read the book!) then yes, I would say that she is engaging in censorship. I know library usually won’t put actual porn into a library’s collection but we have to determine what porn is. Is sexually explicit material automatically porn? The answer is obviously no. Romance novels, erotic romance novels, erotic movies (e.g. my local library carries the movie Henry and June, which carries an NC-17 rating and is very sexually explicit), etc. manage to make into libraries across America all the time. So why is 50 Shades different from any of this material? Is it different simply because the media has called it “mommy porn”?
As a librarian, I wanted to reply to the question of whether librarians should be familiar with every book they buy. Of course librarians can’t read every book on our shelves (although it’s amazing how many library patrons think we have), and it’s true that many libraries have automatic purchasing plans in place. But there’s no excuse for librarians not being up on what’s happening in pop culture! When 50 Shades exploded in the media, my library director and several of our staff made a point of looking through the books to see what the fuss was about and so we could answer questions about them. I consider it my job to be aware of what books are being talked about and why, even if I don’t read them all cover to cover. (That’s my excuse for being on Twitter at work, too…) 🙂
Uh-oh…better not let your MIL-to-be read the Bible, it has a lot nastier things than just SEX in it. LOL…
You see, this is why I like posts like this. People start talking about the seedy underbelly of Romance and I love it. 😀
Personally, I think _Kushiel’s Dart_ by Jacqueline Carey did it better anyway. Not to mention the Jurisdiction novels by Susan R. Matthews (first one _An Exchange of Hostages_) for those who want to be on the other side. (someone has got to have written a fanfic where Lady Phedre meets Andrej Kosciusko, and if so, I’d like to read it).
Check out this 50 Shades Blog http://www.twitchypalmmoms.com it’s Hilarious!!
I’ve read 50, and I think it’s pretty crappy, but as a librarian, I fight for someone’s right to read whatever they want. Librarians should be familiar with the books they’ve purchased – at least to the point where they have read a review or looked at it more than just “Oh, it’s on a best-seller list”. In the case of 50, it is pretty immediately obvious that it is highly sexual in nature, even just from the summary. Not to mention the copious romance novels and many many other books, both current and classic.
I’m obsessed with it. What happened to freedom of speech. All I know is these books make me happy, and I’m all about the happy. 😉