https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2022/02/06/reading_writing_and_gender_bending_147132.html
The New York Times is concerned about censorship in American schools. “Book Ban Efforts Spread Across the U.S.” reads Sunday’s headline.
“Parents, activists, school board officials and lawmakers around the country are challenging books at a pace not seen in decades,” the story reports.
The story generally focuses on parents, but methinks the uptick in outrage has more to do with the books than the parents.
Books in the crosshairs, the Times reports, include “Sex Is a Funny Word,” described on Barnes & Noble’s website as “an essential resource about bodies, gender, and sexuality for children ages 8 to 10 as well as their parents and caregivers.”
I get that my profession loves to portray parents who oppose approved textbooks as unsophisticated and wrong-headed, but I see parents who recall a period in their childhood when they were clueless about sex — and want the same timeout for their 8-year-olds.
And they might not welcome an early-grade textbook with a drawing of a smiling child in a bathtub with text that explains, “Grown-ups call this kind of touch masturbation.”
I understand that there are young children who question their sexual identity and might welcome such a book. Their parents are free to buy that book. Other parents have the right to set limits on what schools tell their children about sex.