Oh, bollocks!

[neadods]

There is a Newberry-winning book, The Higher Power of Lucky that is being banned from libraries because it has the word "scrotum" in it.

Nevermind that scrotum is the medically accurate term for something half the audience has, apparently knowing this will Scar The Children Forever. (Much like answering a nine year old girl's question "A vagina is the thing between your legs" was too much for a woman who demanded that the title "Vagina Monologues" be changed since her niece asked what it meant.)

"The inclusion of genitalia does not add to the story one bit and that is my objection," said Dana Nilsson, a teacher and librarian from Durango, Colorado. "Because of that one word, I would not be able to read that book aloud...you won't find men's genitalia in quality literature ... At least not for children."

Neil Gaiman, bless his cotton socks and brass equipment has posted a whole list of children's books that mention scrotums. (He's left out My Friend Flicka, one of my own favorites, which has a graphic scene of colt castration, including explanation of what a "risling" was.)

And on a side note, Josh Steichmann's excellent editorial on the subject. [T]he idea that children have to be protected from all sex and discussions thereof is more emblematic of a repressed adult mind than any real risk, and the ways lines are drawn are nearly always insulting.

Comments

[lagilman]

Yep, yep, and also, yep.

Scrotum.
Vagina.
Penis.
Clitoris.
etc.

Ban all the medical books!

[spiralsheep.livejournal.com]

And the dictionaries!

Children must under no circumstances be allowed near dictionaries or encyclopedias!

;-)

[bulky-monster.livejournal.com]

Neil Gaiman is love... and you know, I never worry about these things because it seems like banning books just gets people more interested in reading them. I mean, look at Salman Rushdie.

Overcensorship is stupid, I'll grant that, but it makes me laugh because it's so self-defeating.

[suzy_queue]

I work in the children's room of a public library, and the first e-mail I was greeted with upon opening my work inbox was entitled "Not the first scrotum!" That was my introduction to the whole thing. *g*

This is one reason why I would not want to work in a school library. (And it is almost universally the school libraries that are freaking, not public.) Having to put up with easily panicked school boards and parents can be a terrible thing. If they'd only use their brains.

[flaviarassen.livejournal.com]

Having had a pediatrician use the word "pee" to ME - not to my child - I
was so disgusted that I determined on the spot that my children will not
use STUPID words for perfectly normal things .

[steviesun.livejournal.com]

I get told off by my sister for using words like breasts and penis. She says I sound too much like a doctor.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I've been told that using those terms took some of the sizzle out of some of my smuttier fics. So now I've made it a challenge to see if I can get away with writing with no nouns at all...

[steviesun.livejournal.com]

Yes, for someone old enough to remember classic who on tv, reading smut that describes the Doctor's cock just hurts my brain. I'd personally rather hear the current words then slang. Unless it's being thought or said by someone and the slang is correct for that individual's dialect.