Introduction
Welcome back!
Today’s post will deal with moral guardians and how writers shouldn’t censor topics deemed controversial for young readers to handle.
First, let me say right now that yes, children should read age-appropriate books, but it’s up to their parents/guardians to determine that.
Furthermore, it isn’t the job of writers to shield them from the harsh realities of life; bad things happen to good people, good doesn’t always win, people aren’t always nice, and they say bad words.
There have always been those who, like Holden Caulfield, try to erase all the “fucks” in the world. “Think of the children!” they cry in their best impersonation of Helen Lovejoy. It’s not enough for their kids not to read these “obscene” books. No, everyone’s child must be spared such a loss of innocence and hence why said books need to be banned.
As I alluded above, The Catcher in the Rye is a perennial favorite on banned book lists. Others include The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Diary of Anne Frank.
Moreover, in recent years books featuring LGBTQ+ characters—such as And Tango Makes Three, about two gay penguins who raise an orphaned penguin chick—or that deal with race justice issue, such as The Hate U Give have also been banned. And right now, there has been a push to ban any book that talks about race and America’s racist past and present, under the guise of preventing the teaching of critical race theory; something which no public school teaches and is only available at law schools as an esoteric elective course.
This is problematic for several reason. First, there is nothing wrong with kids reading age-appropriate books about these topics. Second, banning these books doesn’t make these topics go away. Third, in the case of books like Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird, hiding America’s racist past isn’t helping anyone.
If we as a nation are to address our racism problem, then it means we can’t whitewash history, nor the current reality of racism in America. But this is often the case in YA.
Racism and Race
When race and racism are addressed in YA they are often sanitized so as not to offend white readers. Case in point, in Yes No Maybe So, by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed, Maya’s being a Pakistani-American, Muslim girl comes off as an afterthought. She says a few lines about how hard it is being a woman of color, but this topic isn’t fully explored, even though a pivotal plot point hinges on the republican candidate for her district’s special election wanting to pass a law banning the wearing of hijabs in places like banks and the DMV. Moreover, the racism is contained to people putting a bumper-sticker of a poodle with a teacup and “88” on the cars of the democratic candidate.
In reality, racism is more than bumper stickers; it’s financial redlining, the school-to-prison pipeline, racial profiling, and worrying whether your name will be added to the list of those murdered by police.
It’s the trivialization of the issue that I object to. Kids should learn about racism in all its gory details, so they know where we’ve been, where we are and where we’re going. We’re doing a disservice to them by keeping them blind to these facts.
Yet, books on antiracism and race have been challenged when educators have tried to teach them. So, what then is the solution?
You can’t count on schools to do this, so it must be up to parents and guardians to teach their children about race and racism. But don’t patronize them. Kids are smarter than you think. I know this as I was a precocious kid and picked up on things fast.
I get that certain topic like sex and sexual orientation can be embarrassing to discus, but that doesn’t mean we ignored them and pretend they don’t exist.
Sex and Sexual Orientations
It has become an industry cliché in YA that sex, if it happens, it happens off screen. This is ridiculous; sex is a natural, normal part of being human and growing. I’m not saying it should be full-on porn, but don’t act like teens aren’t having sex, and that if they aren’t that they aren’t thinking about it.
Sex shaming does no one any good, lest of all young teens who are already hyper aware of themselves and their bodies.
The last thing we want to do is make them more self-conscious, especially about a natural bodily function. Yet The Diary of Anne Frank has been challenged and banned because of passages that mentioned sex and masturbation and prostitution.
This leads me to my next point
LGBTQ+ YA
Books dealing with LQBT+ themes are also often challenged and banned simply for having queer characters. The refrain from moral guardians is usually something along the lines of, “Learning about LGBTQ+ people will turn kids LGBTQ+.”
First, if that were the case everyone would be heterosexual since we’re flooded with media depicting straight couples from birth.
Second, no one can make you LGBTQ+. You either are or you aren’t.
Third, before people are LGBTQ+ adults they’re LGBTQ+ kids. Having representation of people like you in the media is crucial to being comfortable with your sexual orientation. So, by trying to expunge any queer character from children’s books you’re just hurting queer kids.
But having LGBTQ+ characters isn’t enough, especially if those depictions are hetwashed. They may be in relationships but rarely are they shown doing anything beyond kissing. Likewise, these stories almost always feature allo, cis, white characters whose primary goals are coming out and falling in love.
Don’t get me wrong. I like a good romance, but there’s more to being LGBTQ+ than coming out and relationships. LGBTQ+ kids need stories where that show them that they can do anything they want, including saving the day.
But it’s not only characters that fall prey to censors. Their words do, too.
Obscene Language
The irony of The Catcher in the Rye is Holden Caulfield appoints himself the moral guardian of young children, yet as I mentioned above it is frequently banned for obscene language. Likewise, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is also banned in many schools because of its use of the N-word. The objection to them is that such language isn’t appropriate for kids and will stunt their vocabulary.
To that I say bullshit.
First, what stunts vocabularies is banning words and phrases. Second, even if you could ban all offensive language, who decides what is and isn’t on the list? Third, telling kids they can’t do or say something only makes them want to do it more.
Instead, works like Huck Finn and Catcher should be explained in the context in which they were written, and that such language while common then isn’t appropriate now. Anyone offended can opt to read another school-approved book.
However, that might be easier said than done as politics is often involved in which books are banned and which aren’t. Which leads me to my next point.
Politics and Social Justice Issues
Regardless of an author’s politics, they will often get criticized for “indoctrinating kids” if they include politics in their work. The problem with this is writing, like all art, is inherently political.
Moreover, millennials came of age in the post 9/11 world, and Gen Z has lived most of their lives in a world where the US has not been at peace. Furthermore, they themselves are political; they took to the streets protesting police brutality, global warming, and the last president
So to have books devoid of politics is not a reflection of reality. However, when politics have been included in YA books, it’s often reductionist. For example, the core theme of The Hunger Games is down with the oligarchs and up with the proletariats.
Likewise, the themes of several dystopian YA novels can be boiled down to anyone over thirty can’t be trusted. The problem with such stories is that it teaches kids to see the world in binaries. Instead, we should have stories that show there is nuance to politics and life. Kids can handle the facts without us dumbing things down for them.
Conclusion
The truth is kids can handle any subject, when it’s presented to them in the right manner, be that the origin of our species or death. And we’re doing a disservice to them by not keeping it real. The world isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, and the sooner they learn this the sooner and better equipped they will be to function in the reality of our world.
This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to hold onto their innocence, just not forever.
Call to Action
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