No no no no no no no no no

[nny]

this right here makes me want to sit in a corner and rock.

THIS IS WHY I HAVE KIDS ASKING ME IF SYPHILIS COMES FROM GIRLS GIVING YOU BLOWJOBS, OKAY? This is why there are so many teenage pregnancies, why STDs are on the rise, why kids are ignorant about the diversity that ought to be acceptable when it comes to sexual identity.

UGH.

(I so need an angry icon for my DW.)

Comments

[lamardeuse.livejournal.com]

America is going straight down the toilet, seriously.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Did you see the article two down from the one on the teen pregnancy rate? About the California school withdrawing the latest M-W because it contains the dictionary definition of oral sex?

As another flistie occasionally tags hir political posts, "this country makes me tired".

and Nny, I wonder if someone's used the same 'cap for your "angry" moodtheme to make an icon? Because rowr.

[villainny.livejournal.com]

Did I link wrong? That was the article I meant to link to.

And dude. Dude, Tony has a face that needs to be iconned in pretty much EVERY permutation. :D

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

...teach me to RTFA. I was looking at Feministing's main page, and the top story was about teen pregnancy rates being on the uptick.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Banning the dictionary?

The dictionary?

I'd be furious if it weren't so absurd.

[mattp.livejournal.com]

It's as though the thought process was: "I don't like this word, so I'll pretend it doesn't exist".
I don't really know where to begin for how to change such broken thinking.

If the playground talk contains topics of this nature then they're old enough to be taught about the material, or to have it available to them.

What are they going to do next - remove the entry for Darwin or Evolution?

[winkingstar.livejournal.com]

What are they going to do next - remove the entry for Darwin or Evolution?

Yes.... They already do that in many places. Also, there was an article several months back about how the British movie Creation (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974014/) with Paul Bettany as Darwin wouldn't be released in the U.S. because they could not find a distributor. Apparently they did find a distributor, but it is on extremely limited release and is currently showing in only five cities in the U.S. Evolution is still a hugely controversial thing over here. :/

On the other hand, there were a number of books published last year, since it was the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth and 150th of the publication of Origin of the Species. And at least one of them did receive book award nods.

[mattp.livejournal.com]

I think I just died a little inside.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

As if knowing about oral sex weren't one of the best defenses against teen pregnancy.

Besides knowing about masturbation. I'm sure the school district's against that too.

[mattp.livejournal.com]

Maybe they should ban the playground epithet "wanker".

[crysothemis.livejournal.com]

*bangs head against wall*

I just don't get why it's fine to expose your kids to violence, but sex is somehow taboo.

[winkingstar.livejournal.com]

I know it's enraging. *hugs* But we do have groups who will be all over that. Whether or not they're successful depends on the area the book challenge/ban comes from (and I'm not familiar with that part of California), but either way these groups get the word out.

The American Library Association's Office of Intellectual Freedom sponsors Banned Books Week every year and it's my favourite part of the library year. The reasons for challenging or banning books are ridiculous and/or enraging, but having a week where we go to extra lengths to bring them to people's attention in public libraries is a wonderful thing. It's especially great for kids and young folks, because they get a kick out of reading stuff that's been banned. Banning books makes people curious. Not all of them, but enough.