Erotica author Anne Douglas sent me a link to a story that she discussed on her blog: a Jacksonville, FL, mom is up in arms because her 16 year old daughter brought home an erotica novel from the library.
Says the mother:
“This is just the kind of stuff we’re trying to protect our kids from in society today,” says Maddox. “And here she’s able to just grab it off the shelf at the library with no one there to keep it away from them.â€
According to Douglas’ blog entry on the story, the book in question was by Zane. Further, this is Douglas’ local library:
On a personal note, this is not the only erotic romance on the shelf at Pablo Creek – I was pleasantly surprised to pick up Diane Whiteside’s Irish Devil (I think I saw one of the follow up stories too). Pablo Creek also has a separate children’s section—as in not even in the same main room, and also a separate wall of teen books in the fiction, along with a separate teen computer/meet&greet teen shelving room that is in a glassed off section from the main library. Teens and children are well catered for at this particular library.
My reaction: a hearty “Oh, for fuck’s sake, people. Literally.” It’s, of course, the library’s fault that a 16 year old can check out erotica from the local library. And I suppose we need some beefy security guards at the local bookstore, too, should any 16 year old want to buy such literature.
What a waste of an opportunity to have a thoughtful conversation about sexuality with a daughter. Instead that poor girl is going to be embarrassed for weeks.
You know what I’d like to protect my daughter from? Closed-minded pinheads and fashion magazines. If she comes home from the library with CosmoGirl, can I sue? The library’s obviously not doing enough to protect her from unrealistic relationship expectations and poor self-esteem (not to mention questionable fashion choices.).
For fuck’s sake, indeed.
don’t you know it’s the library’s responsibility to parent our kids. And the schools. And the churches. And the politicians…
Oh wait. If they are all responsible for parenting my kids…then what am I supposed to do?
Yes, libraries buy erotica. It’s been known to happen. Some of it even gets favorably reviewed in the professional journals – which is why we’ve been known to purchase it.
Listen, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say the Zane book was probably NOT in the children’s or teen sections of this library. It was in the adult section. If you don’t want your child reading dirty, dirty books – here’s an idea! Go with them to the library instead of dumping them on us for free child care and make sure they stay from the evil adult fiction area. Geez.
And neither here nor there – Zane is HUGELY popular. Her books go out like hot cakes….
You know I read romance novels from the time I was 12. I bought them from B Daltons and my local grocery store. I picked them up in the library sometimes. But they were graphic enough for me to know what was going on. And still I remained a “virgin” (in quotes because I had a frequent flyer card with Good Vibes) into my 30s.
In high school, I read Mein Kampf (out of the school library) and somehow I’ve escaped becoming a fascist.
Who are these people?
All I can say is: where the heck was Mom or Dad?
It isn’t up to a librarian [who doesn’t know or raise the child] to decide who can read what. The answer this mom doesn’t want to hear is that she should’ve been there at her daughters side.
Hopefully we won’t see Zane’s name on next years challenged or banned books list because of this event.
I don’t know much about Jacksonville, FL (other than that they apparently have at least one good librarian), but here in NYC if a kid wants a library card their parent has to check a box indicating whether or not the kid is allowed to check materials out of the children’s section only, or any materials that the library offers. Then the parent has to sign the application. Foolproof? No, but one way to cut down on dumb shit like this.
I also hope the poor kid managed to finish reading the book before mom went ballistic.
There’s a book by Zane in a library, and it hasn’t been stolen yet? Now that’s a news story.
I agree with Wendy – the only section our local libraries stock erotica in is the adult area. The teen/childrens section does not include them. Why should libraries be forced to help parent your children? and what about the rights of adults who choose to read these books? I’m very happy that my library orders Elloras Cave, Lora Leigh, Lisa Marie Rice, Emma Holly, Maya Banks and a host of other writers and publishers of erotica. Someone has a real knowledge of the genre! I’ve noticed that the new copies are very popular and become worn very quickly. I just finished the wonderfully enjoyable Fairyville by Emma Holly and Dangerous Lover by Lisa Marie Rice and say more power to the libraries of America!!
No wonder the poor girl was checking out erotica from the library. With a mother like that, where else was she going to learn anything about sex except that it’s “bad”. I want to slap parents who are unable to get enough perspective outside of their own sexual distress to not screw up their kids’ feelings about sexuality, too.
While I agree that it’s not the library’s job to parent your children for you, I do think that they should pay attention to what they are letting out. I know the book industry is not rated like the movie and game are, but think of it from that perspective. In theory, a 16 year old shouldn’t be able to rent The Grudge or buy Grand Theft Auto. Should books be held to a different standard.
On the other hand, I was totally reading my mother’s romance cast-offs by 16, so maybe I’m not one to preach.
What’s truly criminal about this story is the fucking graphic Fox news chose to stick on it. Did anyone else look at that thing? It’s like the sign for every porn store I’ve ever been in.
Fox’s commentary was almost as ill informed as the opinion of the young woman’s mother. The line I remember from seeing the story air on the evening news a few days ago – probably not word for word, but this was his message – was “The library’s rate movies, shouldn’t they rate books as well?”?
No, library’s don’t rate movies, the MPAA rates movies.
The ALA has a rather large amount of information about censorship on their website at http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/basics/intellectual.htm
(Thanks sis for the link)
And they address the issue of protecting children with this response :
“What About Protecting Children From Pornography, Whether Or Not It Is Legally Obscene?
The primary responsibility for rearing children rests with parents. If parents want to keep certain ideas or forms of expression away from their children, they must assume the responsibility for shielding those children. Governmental institutions cannot be expected to usurp or interfere with parental obligations and responsibilities when it comes to deciding what a child may read or view.”
Good job Fox news for presenting a rather typically one sided and inflammatory view of the “news”.
Way to make sure your kid never asks you for your opinion or advice on anything sex-related ever again, Mrs. Censorship. You just lost your credibility badge. *headdesk*
Re: Fox News. Hubby has a mug I got him: “Faux News. We distort. You comply.”
I think it’s four years old, and it’s still as apt as ever. Gotta love Fox. Not.
When I applied to get into the Libary Assistant pool at our county library system, one of the first questions they asked in the phone interview was “if a 5-year-old was checking out ‘The Joy of Sex’, what would you do?” The proper answer was “nothing, because libaries aren’t in the business of parenting or censorship.” My mom watched what I checked out from the library pretty carefully until I was 13, and then assumed that I was old enough to know what was what. By that time, I’d been checking out Johanna Lindsay books for a year based on classmates’ recommendations.
If you don’t want the schools to “do your job” by teaching your kids about sex, then you’d better not want the library to “do your job” by monitoring and denying books to your children.
Verification: middle69. Maybe that’s what freaked out the mom so much?
“All I can say is: where the heck was Mom or Dad?
It isn’t up to a librarian [who doesn’t know or raise the child] to decide who can read what. The answer this mom doesn’t want to hear is that she should’ve been there at her daughters side. “
As a mother of teenagers I’d like to remind folks out there that these kids DRIVE themselves to the library, school, work, etc… It’s a little thing we mom’s refer to as Independence. I’m hoping that it’ll catch on and I won’t have 30 year olds living in my basement.
What that dingaling mom did correctly was
a) let everyone in her daughter’s school know that the girl likes to read smutty books
b)act like a tool infront of the world to the absolute mortification of her child
c) drive a wedge between herself and her daughter.
Yea. There aren’t going to be any healthy discussions about sex in THAT household.
Um. I’m sort of torn on this one, since I went on a one-woman campaign to keep Anita Blake out of the YA section of the library, after I caught my eleven year old brother happily reading his way through a werewolf orgy scene with lots of attempted rape. I have no idea why Anita Blake was sitting in the 11-16 category of shelving, but there they were – and very popular too, according to the librarian. I just bet. It’s not so much the sexuality in those books, but that so much of it is violent (lots of attempted rape, lots of magically-compelled sex). I have no problem with eleven year olds reading Judy Blume’s Forever, but think that possibly, just possibly, the ardeur can wait a few years…
I’m reminded of my high school librarian happily buying all of the ‘Clan of the Cave Bear’ series for the school library, under the illusion it was educational. It sure was.
I do think the library should be more careful about that. Children will always try to get away with as much as they can and someone has to be there to try and stop it (parents/librarian).
I actually don’t think erotica is the way teenagers should learn about sex; I really don’t think adolescents should be reading it either.
If movies are censored according to age appropriate content why shouldn’t books?
It’s not because it’s trash or porn or anything like that, but some of it even shocks me. I think there is a time for everything in life and childhood/adolescence is the shortest period we go through. There is enough time to be an adult and learn a lot of extra things later.
Anita “Gleaming Orifices” Blake would be way too much for the YA section, IMO. I would say no one actually read beyond the first few books at that particular library?
However, to go from that to “how dare public libraries carry books *I* don’t want my daughter to have access to!!!!!” Well, that’s a bit of a stretch, no?
And I take exception to the use of “we” in what’s-her-name’s rant. I’ll see about my children and their reading material, thank you very much.
So the girl wanted to read some porn? Oh fricken well people, maybe it will give her some ideas and save her boyfriend from dealing with a cripple starfish! I know I wish some of the women I’ve been with picked up a Zane! And Mom’s just mad cause her daughter checked it out from the library when all she had to do was go into mommies room and its right next to the his and hers S&M kit! Friggen hypocrits!
I actually worked for Jacksonville Public Libraries when I was 16. It’s entirely possible that the only library worker this girl would have encountered while she was checking out her books was her own age. I’d have raised hell if my bosses and coworkers had tried to keep me from reading anything, and I certainly wouldn’t have gone censor on any of my peers.
Jacksonville’s known for this kind of nonsense, though. I was subjected to a blatantly religious sex education program full of misinformation and outright lies long before abstinence-only sex ed caught on in the rest of the country’s public schools. If it hadn’t been for my access to the public library, I would never have managed to learn anything useful about sex or even just plain puberty at all.
This sort of thing makes me angry (can you tell?) It’s a big part of why I eventually became a librarian, and a bigger part of why I ditched librarianship in favor of law school (yes, I’m yet another 1L.)
The early Sweet Valley High books had a recommended age printed on the copyright page: 13 and up. I remember seeing that when I was eleven and thinkin’ “gotta have it”—coz it was for junior high kids! Mom allowed it, but then she put the kabosh on me reading Love Story coz of the 70s sexxxin. But the point is we talked about it, she answered my questions, and I didn’t try to sneak behind her back. Open dialogue works.
Hmmm… can we go back to thinking about the beefy security types? They overcompensate in the bedroom because they can’t carry real guns…
Oh Holy Jeebus! My first official librarian job was at Jacksonville Public Library. And I totally believe that can happen there. 🙁
Fox News was more interested in scandal than actual news back then, parents used the libraries as free day care, school reading lists had teens reading ‘Rainbow Fish’ and 2nd graders reading Mary Higgins Clark (thanks to a crappy computer program that made up the lists), and a local government that would give $20 million to the Jaguars, but not $50,000 to the library. Seems like nothing has changed since I left.
I still remember with great fondness the day I brought home – all unknowing – Fanny Hill from the library when I was 15. Who’d have thought that would be in a Penguin Classic?
Perhaps that mother should think about how lucky she is to bringing her kids up in a country that protects freedom of expression. There are places on this planet where the libraries are free of erotica – and all sorts of other pesky stuff – but I wouldn’t want to live there.
If this girl attends public education, it is highly likely she is exposed to that and much more school.
Baconsmom…yeah, Cosmogirl is probably more harmful than erotica. Although muy teens won’t even shop at Abercrombie & F, due to the near naked posters (they will however wear the clothing if I do the shopping).
Tam…AB #1, I think Guilty Pleasures is often shelved in YA, don’t know why. I suppose a library could assume books #2 thru whatever also belong there…scary thought considering the content of the last six or so.
I check erotica out of my local library, it’s good stuff. But, with three teens, I have come to accept that it is not the role of my library to censor reading material. PARENTS need to know what their kids are doing, not the library. When I observed youngest (about 11 or 12) viewing online porn at the library, he was not allowed online there for months…my decision, not the library.
It’s about age appropriatness and maturity/comfort level of the young person. Studies show that exposure to some information at too early an age is harmful. If my High School student came home with this title, I’d ask if they were aware what it was. If they were still interested, I’d let them read it – to either enjoy or embarrass themselves…Unless I knew that particular child couldn’t yet deal with the contents (my youngest can’t handle anything graphically medical, eyeballs, etc. Halo 3 gore, on the other hand, is just fine…go figure.
Bottom line, parents know your kids and don’t handicap them by being an idiot.
*sigh*
And this is where I live.
*headdesk*
You know, where was Mom in all of this (other than maybe pilfering the Zane so she could read it under the covers with a flashlight?) I mean, I go to the bookstore with my kids and I’m with them in the kids’ section and they’re with me in the adult section and we talk about all the titles that might catch their eye and why they’re appropriate or not.
What was funny was the Diva said to me the other day, in a rather conversational tone of voice, “Mom, I can’t read your books yet, right?” and I said, “Nope, they’re not appropriate for you yet.” (She just turned ten.)
She shrugged and went, “Okay,” and pulled something else off the shelf.
Tam – Just a clarification, I think there is a difference between a school library where the audience is only teens or only kids and a public library that is catering to the whole community. That said, assuming the book was shelved in the adult section, I don’t see why those who want erotica shouldn’t be able to check it out.
And, yeah, poor kid. She is so getting teased at school.
“The whole principle [of censorship] is wrong. It’s like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can’t have steak.” The Man Who Sold the Moon – Robert Heinlein
And here I discovered Alyx in the junior high school library when I was 13. It made the rounds of all the 12- and 13-year old girls, what with the big sex scene in the breeding huts right there in chapter one or two.
Eh, well, I was going to hell already anyhow.
Considering a large part of the teenage population is HAVING sex by the age of 16, I think censoring their reading habits is a bit ridiculous. I still and will always credit romances for the strength of my relationship with my partner. They taught me communication skills. And yes, sexual tricks. He doesn’t seem to mind. I certainly don’t!
Moron Maddax should be grateful her daughter’s only reading a book instead of trying hands-on experimentation with with the school bad boy.
Of course, that may have happened or could still happen.
Mommie needs to talk with her little angel about safety, prevention, and personal responsibility rather than rant at some underpaid librarian.
Once I found an unabridged copy of Dracula in the kid’s section. I took it to the front desk and said, “There’s a scene in here where a man cuts open his chest and makes a woman drink his blood. They’re in bed together at the time—right next to her sleeping husband. Would it not be a good idea to put this book over into the grown-up part of the library instead?”
She couldn’t reclassify it fast enough.
Apparently they thought any book labeled “classic” that was that old would be okay for kids.
*rolleyes*
I remember the first book I read with an actual “sex scene” The Horse Whisperer.
Mom bought it for me because it had horses – asked the bookseller if it was appropriate for kids – bookseller’s answer: maybe not.
Mom’s answer: She can figure it out for herself. If she reads it she reads it. If she doesn’t she doesn’t.
I read it.
Apparently I haven’t suffered any.
By the time I was 11 I was sneaking up to the “Adult” section to take books from the library since I was reading at a more advanced level than the YA/Teens books.
Mom was just happy I was reading.
I must concur with what everyone has said: librarians are not parents. We have never pretended to be, nor will we. If we have our own children, we’ll parent them and only them. It is not our job to tell your children what they should and should not be reading – that would be yours.
Also, my library too has a form where the parent must allow the child to access adult materials. Perhaps if that existed in Florida, this wouldn’t have happened. Add the fact that the Mom should have been there with her if she is so considered with what her daughter is reading and then the girl would never have gotten the book!
Parents like this just annoy me and confound me. They are making sure their child never speaks to them about anything private. This is a good idea why? I just don’t get it.
My library catalogs things under “fiction-erotica” to make it easy to find, and ALL of it is shelved in adult sections.
It is up to parents to monitor what their kids read and check out from the library.
I learned about oral sex from a Jude Devreaux book (one of the Montgomery stories) when I was 13 but never engaged in it until college. Probably because my mom recommended that I save that for someone I really loved because she told me it was far more intimate than intercourse. Isn’t it funny how we actually listen to our parents when they’re honest with us and allow us to make our own choices?
In a way this could encourage more kids to read. There’s erotica in the library? Woo-hoo!
Holy jeez!
I don’t know about a lot of people, but a lot of 16 year olds in my neck of the woods were already…ahem…NECKING by the time they were 16. The only thing that really would have stopped them is being shamed into thinking that sexuality and sexual urges are bad things. If my mom reprimanded me for reading erotica when I was 16 I would be seriously sexually repressed.
I totally agree that by being this vocal about her daughter’s choice of reading material this mother is going to ensure that someday her daughter will be in therapy for sexual dysfunction. Maybe I’m blowing it out of proportion, but it doesn’t take much to seriously screw up a teenager. I feel so sorry for this girl!
Baconsmom has this one right: Those media outlets that promote unrealistic or downright destructive female images are the real culprits here…and infinitely more damaging than books that portray sex as a normal, healthy activity.
But, by all means, the responsibility for filtering should rest squarely on parents’ shoulders. The nature and direction of almost all youthful experience should be thus placed—and, increasingly, isn’t.
It seems we live in a society where hand-holding by strangers is the norm. Teachers and guidance counselors are expected to raise children. Social service agencies are overloaded with whining, directionless adults. Oprah and other electronic gurus spend most of their time doling out advice and giving pep talks to people who can’t think for themselves. Professional entities police our personal habits and tell us what’s good for us and what isn’t.
In short, Westerners can’t seem to make any decisions without the aid of those cultural gods that dispense approval and censure, despite the fact their pronouncements are whimsical and ever changing.
So, yeah, whatever the fuck has happened to personal responsibility? (Well, shit, let’s go sue someone and find out!)
Speaking as a current 16 year old…
The idea of libraries being forced to monitor my reading habits is insulting, invasive, and stupid.
There is no way that it can be done, and I will argue every single book I want to check out if they were to try to deny me the right to read it, and I can guarantee that if any other 16 year old really wanted to read the book, they would argue for it too. Or they would steal it. Accidentally of course. It just slipped into my bag with all the other books I was allowed to check out. Whoops.
And the fact that these librarians, people I do not know and who dont know me, would be given the right to determine what I am mature enough to read is just insulting. I can decide my own reading material, thank you very much, and if I’m reading a rape scene and it makes me uncomfortable I have the sense to skip ahead or stop reading the book.
If you sought out or even stumbled across the book in the first place, and you were curious enough to want to check it out, then the chances are strong that you should be able to read it. My first book with sex in it was an Emma Holly at age 11, and I was not traumatized. It gave me a lot of perspective for the horror that was our Health class, where the teacher couldnt bring herself to say another other than “little swimmers” “male parts” “beehives” and random fruit comparisons. If I would have had to rely on just that than I can say that on my first date I would have probably turned up pregnant I would have been confused as to why, because I wasnt eating any fruit or swimming at the time.
To be honest, I think that the reason I have not had a boyfriend at this point in my life is because I read romance and erotica. I got a perspective on what exactly guys were going to expect from a relationship, and I know that they’re just going to have to wait. Plus I got my expectations raised through the roof. All those romance heroines settle for some asshole in the beginning, and that never turns out well. I’m not going to do the same. If its done anything reading what I do has given me a positive education about relationships and sex, and it wasnt the embarrassing experience where we are assured by earnest, 50 year old women, that its ok to be a virgin, really.
Honestly, parents need to accept the fact that their children are curious, horny, and resourceful. If they arent looking at porn then they are reading it, and if they arent reading it then they’re talking about it, and if they arent talking about it, they’re probably doing it. So in that equation I would think that parents would prefer that their children read. At least doing that will improve their SAT scores. Practical demonstrations will only get you pregnant.
Shannon,
I’m more than twice your age and you just said it better than I ever could. You, my dear, are one put together 16 year old. Good for you. *standing ovation*
Bravo Shannon!
I want one! I want one!
As for erotica in the library, get over it. The more you tell kids not to do something, the harder they’ll try to do it…and behind your back.
I know. My teenage years were only 8 years ago.