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Sunday, July 24, 2005

 

Fayetteville Arkansas controversy over sexually explicit books

This is a developing story and is already pretty big in Arkansas. As I said in the article, I cannot understand what educational value these books have. I remember in helping with child abuse investigations in Southern Ohio, perpretrators would give material such as is in these books in order to groom kids for a sexual advance. I don't care what your political ideology is, I would hope we could get to some common ground on removing sexually explicit material from public schools.
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Arkansas Parents Uncover Volumes of Vile Literature in School Libraries
By Jim Brown July 22, 2005

(AgapePress) - An Arkansas mother who succeeded in getting three sexually explicit books removed from Fayetteville school libraries says she has found there are more than a hundred books of that nature in the school district. Now a mental health counselor is recommending a parental audit of all the books in the city's school libraries.

According to a search conducted by Fayetteville mom Laurie Taylor, out of 502 books listed under "sex" in the city's middle, junior high, and high school libraries, there are 66 books on sex instruction, and 32 of those are on child sex instruction. Another 75 of the books deal with homosexuality, 23 fall under the category of lesbian fiction, 16 are on rape, 9 on incest, and there are even some books on bestiality.

Taylor and other concerned mothers and fathers are calling area school officials on the carpet for allowing books filled with profanity and gratuitous sex to remain on the shelves in the city's schools. The group has asked Superintendent Bobby New and school board members to restrict students' access to the materials. Meanwhile, Taylor and other parents have begun reviewing the libraries' collections and are providing a summary of some of the shocking and offensive content they have found on the "http://www.wpaag.org/" website.

"The majority of these ... are fiction books," the Arkansas mom notes, "so there's no educational
value in them outside of the fact that they're literary -- and I hesitate when I say 'works' -- but they're literary works that have been put into our library system to, in my opinion, desensitize and indoctrinate our kids to thinking that sex with whoever, whenever, whatever you want to is okay."

Taylor points out that, although the bulk of these books are actually in the middle school and above, in Fayetteville any child in the entire county -- which covers several school districts -- can access any book from the library. "And here's the terrible thing," she adds; after choosing a possibly inappropriate book from any of the libraries, boys and girls can "have it delivered to their home school without their parents' consent or knowledge."

So far, Taylor says, "irresponsible" Fayetteville school officials have refused to address the issue, at least until school resumes. The National Coalition Against Censorship and other left-wing groups have written a letter to Superintendent New and the school board, urging them to resist removing or imposing a parental consent requirement on the sexually explicit books.
Mental Health Expert Appalled by School Libraries' Explicit LiteratureGrove City College professor and psychologist Dr. Warren Throckmorton says he, too, is appalled by the content of scores of books on human sexuality in Fayetteville's school libraries. After reviewing just a portion of literature, the noted sexual orientation researcher and mental health counselor says he found the literary value of many offensive books to be of insufficient weight to overlook their sexually explicit content.

"We're talking not just about descriptions of sexual thoughts or feelings," Throckmorton says, "and certainly we're not talking about any kind of sexual education material. What we're talking about are things that are problems in schools, such as adult-child sexual relationships."
The psychology expert notes one particularly egregious example in particular, a book called Doing It by Melvin Burgess. In it, he says, "there's a description of a boy who has a sexual relationship with his teacher. He doesn't tell the authorities."

Another book to which Throckmorton took especial offense was Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez, which features a threesome of boys who believe they are homosexuals. "One of them has unprotected sex with an adult that he met through a Gay-Straight Alliance [club]," the mental health counselor says. And these kinds of books, he points out, "are touted as being recommended books by groups like the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, or GLSEN. And they're in these libraries. I don't understand what educational purpose [books like] this could possibly have to be in a school library."

Dr. Throckmorton says it is important to remember, researchers warn that kids who are exposed to sexually explicit material -- whether it be in books or on television -- are more inclined to engage in sexual activity. He feels an audit should be made of the books currently included in the Fayetteville School Libraries, to be conducted by a broad committee of parents in the school system.

Comments:
I think the mom involved in this issue is pretty persistent so I don't think this story is going away.
 
RE: Throckmorton

Just read the article then; interesting, maybe we're a little 'backwards' down in New Zealand, but in all my time at college and primary school, we never had those sorts of book - both at public and the two religious schools I went to (Protestant College and Catholic Primary School).

What ever happened to good old fashioned paper back books? and as for the GSA, sure, I support helping young gay teens to learn to accept themselves, but at the same time, the school is neither the time nor the place for that to occur; if people need to seek support, they're better going to talk to their counsellor and asking for groups outside the school that can help.
 
kaiwai - I think the way things are there in NZ are the way things used to be here. We in the US continue to fall behind the rest of the world in academics and yet groups want to take more of the academic day for political things that are best addressed, as you said, outside the schools.
 
kaiwai - I think the way things are there in NZ are the way things used to be here. We in the US continue to fall behind the rest of the world in academics and yet groups want to take more of the academic day for political things that are best addressed, as you said, outside the schools.

Yeap, like I said to an American (who is also gay), the school is being turned into a political ground for the left and right to fight over.

The sole purpose of the education system is to educate youth as to either allow them to get a job once they've left college (aged 18) or move onto either Polytechnic to do a trade or University to obtain a degree or doctorate.

Politics shouldn't play ANY role with in schools; sorry, if these kids want to form opinions, they can keep them to themselves and wait till an appropriate outlet is provided - in history when asked for their opinion, backed up with evidence, on a particular event in history.

As for Saltnlight, I find he abusive tone quite unacceptable; maybe she should pay New Zealand a visit and actually see for herself how New Zealand stacks up to the US in relation to "morality" and values" - or is she part of the 91% who don't have passports?
 
Some people find anything that doesn't agree with their name calling, abusive. Dosen't it amaze you to find that these same ones can abuse my ethics and my guidance all they desire and see no problem with that??

Here this person has put me on the same level as a goat herder and thought himself wise enough to offer me counsel that I neither requested or gave permission for him to give.

I shall follow the commands to not set in counsel of the ungodly, thank you.
 
Seems to be the typical homosexual mindset, "I do no wrong but everyone is always wronging me."

Looks like you have chosen the right character with whom to relate, Charlie Brown, "why is everybody always picking on me?" Da, da, da,ta, da.
 
Again, let me urge posters to refrain from flaming. Please stick to the issues and their merits and refrain from personal assumptions or attacks.
 
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