BOOK BANNING: Is It the Only Way? - An Opinion

 

In this age of cultural sensitivity and easiness to offend, there have been many books banned from school libraries due to their content. The reasons behind this have been that their stories question societal norms, explore sensitive topics (homosexuality, racism, etc.), and have excessive violence in them. The titles that have shared this infamous distinction include Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, which tells of the truths left on tapes by a young girl who committed suicide, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, which follows a young woman through her experiences in a society ruled by a theocratic regime, and The Hate U Give by Andie Thomas, that explores systematic racism and its effect on its victims. All of these are relatively new books, however banned titles can also include classics like 1984 by George Orwell, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. These are books that I am sure many can remember being assigned to read in English class with never a question as to whether or not they were fit for student perusal. Yet they are also included in some of the banned lists that have been created in some of the states in this country. The question then becomes, is banning books really the only way that we can keep our children safe from being exposed to questionable material?

The fact is, no ban on anything has ever worked. From the time of Adam and Eve, the forbidden fruit has always been the sweetest and most desired. Banning books results in nothing more than the fact being used as a marketing tool to bring those novels into the spotlight where the people will want to read them that much more. There is also another fact that is more disturbing. This is that there are books on the shelves of public libraries, and that have been there for more than a decade, that include vividly detailed erotica under the guise of paranormal romance. (Please see my review of Master of the Night by Angela Knight dated April 26, 2022. Writers of her ilk include Christine Feehan, to name just one.) Many of these libraries have little or no controls on who checks out their materials, so these books, in the stacks under the innocuous nomenclature of Fiction, are available to any and all, including teenage girls looking for novels that include vampires and werewolves. While everyone is losing their minds over some books that contain nothing but stories of young men and women finding their own identities, these books have been the dirty little secret of the romance genre and more than likely have been read by many young girls over the years looking for a literary thrill. Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying anything against these authors. They are excellent writers who tell fantastic stories. It is the way their work has been marketed and labeled that is the problem, and that has led to these books that are actually soft pornography being put into the general audience sections of libraries and sold on supermarket shelves alongside the work of such writers as Danielle Steel and Nora Roberts.

While banning books is not the best idea, and is actually insulting to a public who wants the freedom to read what they wish, I would say that there does need to be a change about who these materials are made available for. Many administrators would say that it is the parents’ job to monitor their child’s intake, but, especially when it comes to teens, this can be a futile if not impossible task. My suggestion would simply be a rating system for books. The computer systems used in libraries could be reprogrammed to include a three-tiered patron program based on age. These would be first for children ages twelve and younger, second for teens thirteen to eighteen, and the third for legal adults. The books themselves would be rated according to their content by the publishers. The movie, television, and gaming industries are required to give similar ratings. Why not books? There could be general consumption (G), young adult literature (T), and adult readers only (M) ratings. Once this program was in place, the libraries would be able to use their existing procedures while there would be automated safeguards to make sure a fifteen-year-old was not checking out a book that included highly charged sexual scenes, as well as scenes of overly violent action or other things that might be deemed unsuitable for children. A rating system such as this would also make it possible for vendors to try to put procedures into place that would make it at least difficult for sales of these books to minors, though online purchases would still be suspect simply because of the nature of the marketplace involved. But at least those occurrences would be out of the jurisdiction of the institutions that are supposed to be safe places for young people, such as libraries.

While this system is not perfect (as nothing ever is), it would be a way to at least limit the cause of the issue. As I said before, I have read these authors and find their talent very real. It is their style that makes them problematic for younger audiences. However, authors do not normally have control over how their work is marketed, so they should not be blamed for this debacle. Also, I would think that that this is a more serious issue than trying to ban classic books that have been the standard of English reading assignments for decades. The people that are responsible for the banning of books do have the correct motives, but somewhere between motive and execution of action something has gotten lost. The only thing that banning books has managed to accomplish is to make those same books even more popular and put them on the bestselling lists as a result. If these people really do not want their children reading these stories, perhaps they should pay more attention to what is in their child’s hands than what is on the library shelves. Especially considering what they have already allowed them to be exposed to for the past decade.