http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Sat, 22 Sep 2007 22:45:46 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/09/19/123727.php#comment-634996 Good post. I guess that I am going to have to order the book, as well as send a letter to the library in Lewiston, Maine. I am appalled that Ms Karkos believes that she has any right, obligation, or duty to establish herself as the town censor. I don't give a rat's ass about what horrifies her. It ain't her business. On the other hand, I revere libraries (or as Ray Bradbury once called them, "the people's university"), that if I ever won the lottery, I would donate a healthy chunk of the winnings to my local library. Along with this, I want libraries to stock controversial, subversive, even transgressive materials. This is what they exist for. And having books about sex available at the library may even be superior in some ways, than public school sex education courses, which sometimes limit themselves to discussions of bodies, sexual plumbing, and diseases, but rarely intelligently talk about values and the real issues that people face (and not just teens) as they deal with their sex lives. By the way, a few years back, the local PBS affiliate did a program about high school kids who took a bunch of cameras and produced their own program about sex and sexuality. One of the most devastating clips was of a girl who filmed her mother as she asked fairly basic questions about sex and the human body. The mother hesitated, stammered and was generally too ashamed to answer even basic questions. Then the teen turned the camera on herself and noted, "It was especially frustrating to see that my mother could not easily respond to my questions because she is a nurse." 634996@blogcritics.org Sat, 22 Sep 2007 22:45:46 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/09/19/123727.php#comment-634136 It's not just a question of whether a discussion is had or a concensus reached, but whether needs are being met. And those needs will change. Young people are rarely consulted about what they would like to know, and said discussions often frame adults as all-knowing sages who must decide how much truth their young can know and at what age. If instead of setting curriculum we open up forums for feedback and consultation. Then society will be better able to serve the needs of todays young people. 634136@blogcritics.org Thu, 20 Sep 2007 01:56:53 EDT