‘Banned’ Books Controversy Misguided: Why Are Explicit Titles in Schools?

Ican only muster a sigh of exhaustion at the start of this fall’s beloved holiday celebration. I’m speaking, of course, about “Banned Books Week.” According to the American Library Association (ALA), the literary victims of censorship include books such as Gender Queer and Lawn Boy. Predictably, the ALA makes no mention of the sexually explicit content in these books — books that the Left has censored such as Irreversible Damage, or the wide availability of these “banned” books, which you can bravely buy for $29.95 a pop off a prominent display at your local Barnes & Noble.

But these observations of irony and hypocrisy are now commonplace. Even authors at left-wing outlets such as Slate and the New York Times are starting to realize that it might be inadvisable to distribute books with depictions of “adult bodies having sex” and “detailed drawings of genitals” to children.

About the Author

Daniel Buck

Daniel Buck is a research fellow and the director of the Conservative Education Reform Network at the American Enterprise Institute.

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Ican only muster a sigh of exhaustion at the start of this fall’s beloved holiday celebration. I’m speaking, of course, about “Banned Books Week.” According to the American Library Association (ALA), the literary victims of censorship include books such as Gender Queer and Lawn Boy. Predictably, the ALA makes no mention of the sexually explicit content in these books — books that the Left has censored such as Irreversible Damage, or the wide availability of these “banned” books, which you can bravely buy for $29.95 a pop off a prominent display at your local Barnes & Noble.

But these observations of irony and hypocrisy are now commonplace. Even authors at left-wing outlets such as Slate and the New York Times are starting to realize that it might be inadvisable to distribute books with depictions of “adult bodies having sex” and “detailed drawings of genitals” to children.