False stories of ‘porn in schools’ are decoys for book bans |
False stories of ‘porn in schools’ are decoys for book bans
In 2021, alarming accusations of “porn in schools” — sounded by the conservative Florida Citizens Alliance in its 2021 Porn in Schools Report and later championed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) — spread like lice in a classroom. The so-called porn targeted by the report was not AI deepfakes or internet sites, but books for children and teenagers. Shockingly, its false message took hold far and wide.
Now, Congress is seizing on that fear with the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act, which would withhold federal money to schools and libraries over books and materials with what its sponsors determine to be “sexually oriented material”.
In five years of recording book bans across the country, my organization, PEN America, hasn’t come across a banned book that contains pornography. Why? Because distributing pornography in schools is a felony that can carry a prison term. Of the thousands we’ve seen removed from classrooms and school libraries supposedly for porn, none meet the legal or even informal definition.
We have found that, overwhelmingly, books wrongly identified as porn represent gay and transgender characters and themes, depict race, racism, sexual experiences that do not constitute porn and themes that may be challenging, even uncomfortable, like gun violence and sexual abuse.
Book banners promise that removing these books will keep kids safe from supposedly scary, criminal and harmful stories. We disagree. Books and storytelling are an essential part of public education. We oppose book bans and advocate for access to diverse reading materials that reflect lived experiences or introduce new worlds, identities, histories........