Dictionary added to list of Banned Books for Oral Sex Entry

[dragon wench]

[url="http://januarymagazine.com/2010/01/dictionary-banned-for-oral-sex.html"]Dictionary Banned for “Oral Sex”[/url]

Merriam Webster’s 10th edition joins an illustrious group of books banned from some American schools, including selected titles by Maya Angelou, Maurice Sendak, Toni Morrison, Judy Blume, Margaret Atwood, J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, Isabel Allende, John Steinbeck, William Golding and many, many others.

This newest ban comes after a parent in a Riverside, California, school district complained of a “sexually graphic” entry in the dictionary. The Guardian sums things up:

Dictionaries have been removed from classrooms in southern California schools after a parent complained about a child reading the definition for “oral sex”.

Merriam Webster’s 10th edition, which has been used for the past few years in fourth and fifth grade classrooms (for children aged nine to 10) in Menifee Union school district, has been pulled from shelves over fears that the “sexually graphic” entry is “just not age appropriate”, according to the area’s local paper.

That local paper indicates that not all parents are happy with the decision to pull the book:

“Censorship in the schools, really? Pretty soon the only dictionary in the school library will be the Bert and Ernie dictionary,” said Emanuel Chavez, the parent of second- and sixth-grade students. “If the kids are exposed to it, it’s up to the parents to explain it to them at their level.”

Board member Rita Peters questioned why one parent’s complaint would lead the district to pull the dictionaries.

“If we’re going to pull a book because it has something on oral sex, then every book in the library with that better be pulled,” she said. “The standard needs to be consistent ... We don’t need parents setting policy.”






Wow..... just wow...

[Maharlika]

[url="http://januarymagazine.com/2010/01/dictionary-banned-for-oral-sex.html"]Dictionary Banned for “Oral Sex”[/url]

“If the kids are exposed to it, it’s up to the parents to explain it to them at their level.”

Mr. Chavez hit it right smack on the head with this. Props to him for this comment of his. As an educator and a parent I feel that proper parenting can address whatever fears this complaining parent is yakking about.

[dragon wench]

Mr. Chavez hit it right smack on the head with this. Props to him for this comment of his. As an educator and a parent I feel that proper parenting can address whatever fears this complaining parent is yakking about.

Yes indeed.
I also think that this is precisely the problem. There are still far too many parents who feel uncomfortable discussing sex with their kids, and they'd rather keep little Jenny and Johny as ignorant as possible for as long as possible. Such parents also fail to realise that attitudes like this are far more likely to lead to teen pregnancies.

*sigh*

[fable]

Yes indeed.
I also think that this is precisely the problem. There are still far too many parents who feel uncomfortable discussing sex with their kids, and they'd rather keep little Jenny and Johny as ignorant as possible for as long as possible. Such parents also fail to realise that attitudes like this are far more likely to lead to teen pregnancies.

*sigh*

Well, after all, they were told nothing when they were kids, and they turned out perfect.

[Xandax]

I'm pretty ... speechless about the stupidity in that situation.

I'm sure violence and murder are also explained, but yet again - sex is bad, violence and murder is acceptable. I'm sorry, but that is really a twisted view on the world supported by such nonsense decisions and situations.

[dragon wench]

[QUOTE=fable]Well, after all, they were told nothing when they were kids, and they turned out perfect[/QUOTE]

And unfortunately they also reproduced...

[QUOTE=Xandax]I'm sure violence and murder are also explained, but yet again - sex is bad, violence and murder is acceptable.[/QUOTE]

Those were my thoughts too. I know I've said it before, but honestly... the attitude towards sexuality --as opposed to violence-- on the North American continent never fails to astonish me..
Talk about severely misplaced priorities...

[Maharlika]

Those were my thoughts too. I know I've said it before, but honestly... the attitude towards sexuality --as opposed to violence-- on the North American continent never fails to astonish me..
Talk about severely misplaced priorities...

I got a profound answer for that. Mind, North American folks do not have the monopoly of such a paradigm. We have that this side of the globe too.

It's called: Population Control.

There's something though that kept me thinking and it was mentioned in DW's link:

Are the parents really THAT empowered that it takes just one parent to change such a major policy? It looks to me that there was no consultation with other stake holders prior to the execution of the decision to ban such books.

[Xandax]

I got a profound answer for that. Mind, North American folks do not have the monopoly of such a paradigm. We have that this side of the globe too.

It's called: Population Control.
<snip>

Population control by "banning" Oral Sex......Somebody needs to read more then the dictionary :laugh:

[Maharlika]

Population control by "banning" Oral Sex......Somebody needs to read more then the dictionary :laugh:

X-man, your selective reading is hilarious.

Then again, for the sake of argument, it can also be argued that Oral Sex is a prelude to the next step to Population Contribution.

So the name of the game is to be proactive and nip things in the bud.

[Xandax]

X-man, your selective reading is hilarious.
<snip>

I do try

[QuenGalad]

You know, for some time now i wanted to discuss this with people who are parents, since i'm not.

Why is it that virtually everybody thinks sex should be a secret kept form the children?

There are so many sides of the issue, and each and every one i can think of proves that kids need to know, and that it does not shatter their poor baby minds.
Ignorance, on the other hand, can. When i was 7, or something, a boy in our school was convinced his father is torturing his mother, because they were locked in their room, mom was making strange noises and dad shouted at the kid to leave them alone. He was nervous and prone to panic attacks, and couldn't concentrate on lessons. The story goes on longer, but that's enough, i think.

Honestly, if it wasn't for my older brother, whose collection of pornographic magazines i found one day, i don't think i would have ever learned exactly what's it all about before actually doing it. And i was lucky, because he had the kind where there were photos of people having actual intercourse, not just nude girls. Although even that was a much needed education for my less lucky friends, since you can't really see what's down there when you're a girl, and touching it or using a mirror was, apparently, a straight road to hell.

So do you Gamebanshee Parents have any explanation of this strange fear?

[RPGguy]

I suspect most people in this discussion are a tad bit out of touch as to what kids are up to today.

My ex was a dance teacher...ballet, jazz, crap like that. She had various classes with kids as young as 4 and up until their late teens.

At an outdoor picnic, one of her 12 year old students attended and told us about a party she went to the night prior. This is a 12 year old okay?

She said it was a "rainbow party". We were like, "what's that???" (obviously)

She then went on to explain where they take turns picking a boy...and 4-8 girls put on different colors of lipstip and proceed to apply oral sex in turns...creating a 'rainbow'.

Now I'm not saying they came up with this idea after referencing the dictionary definition of 'oral sex', but it's pretty clear to me that there is a phenomenally low quality of parenting prevalent in our society.

And if you don't think your kids are engaging in this kind of stuff too, then you are completely delusional about what kids are exposed to and pressured into at such ages. I wouldn't worry about a dictionary reference so much.

There's a great quote from the movie 'Parenthood' with Steve Martin. Keanu Reeves plays this dolt whose dad abandoned him or something. He says "you know, you need a license to drive a car or get married...hell, you even need a license to catch a fish but any ***hole can become a parent"

Think about it.

[Maharlika]

Why is it that virtually everybody thinks sex should be a secret kept form the children?

I don't think everybody thinks that sex should be a secret kept from the children. The concern is what to say and how to say it based on the level of (or lack of) comprehension/maturity of the children

So do you Gamebanshee Parents have any explanation of this strange fear?

I think it's more of their inability to explain things to them commensurate to the level of their kids.

[Maharlika]

I suspect most people in this discussion are a tad bit out of touch as to what kids are up to today.

Most people? In THIS discussion?

For some reason, I beg to differ.

And if you don't think your kids are engaging in this kind of stuff too, then you are completely delusional about what kids are exposed to and pressured into at such ages. I wouldn't worry about a dictionary reference so much.

I think that most of the kids, including mine are NOT ENGAGED in this kind of stuff. But perhaps a NUMBER of kids are EXPOSED.

There's a great quote from the movie 'Parenthood' with Steve Martin. Keanu Reeves plays this dolt whose dad abandoned him or something. He says "you know, you need a license to drive a car or get married...hell, you even need a license to catch a fish but any ***hole can become a parent"

Think about it.

I know this well may be a matter of semantics but I rather term it as progenitor since being a parent is serious stuff.

This reminds me of a scene in Boys in the Hood where Dad Lawrence Fishburne told his son Cuba Gooding Jr. something like this (not in verbatim but you can catch my drift):

"Any fool with his tool can make babies but it takes a real man to be a father."

[fable]

Are the parents really THAT empowered that it takes just one parent to change such a major policy? It looks to me that there was no consultation with other stake holders prior to the execution of the decision to ban such books.

No, there wasn't. Which is why when you get a small, non-professional, elected board of education in a town that has several members with a side agenda, all it takes is the slimmest nudge for them to act upon it. And as usual, the culprit is the belief that a large voting class supports a democracy, as opposed to a large, well-informed voting class. Because a little research and some deft questioning would have shown the Riverside voters what they were getting on their education board. Now it's going to take some public activism--another quality sadly lacking in many parts of the US--to do something about it.

Why is it that virtually everybody thinks sex should be a secret kept form the children?

Dates back to the pre-Christian era assumption, common still in some parts of the world, that sex is somehow unclean. This became a religious tenet, and a cultural one. One sees it reappear with frequency. At the same time, some cultures feel under assault by a more modern, international, commercially controlled one that dictates fashions and mores. People, being human, over-react.

But the fact that a majority of people on this small-town board of education jumped at one complaint to ban a book sure smells like a common agenda.

[Maharlika]

Looking back, I remember when I was in Grade 4 we already had sex education although under the minor subject/course called Health... the Catholic Church back then was prolly watching what the Department of Education was doing with its mandated curriculum with owl's eyes.

[RPGguy]

Dates back to the assumption pre-Christian era assumption, common still in some parts of the world, that sex is somehow unclean. This became a religious tenet, and a cultural one. One sees it reappear with frequency. At the same time, some cultures feel under assault by a more modern, international, commercially controlled one that dictates fashions and mores. People, being human, over-react.

I like this point.

Let us not forget that this nation was founded with Puritanical notions and values. And the Puritans themselves were nut jobs who fled from the Old World so they could set up their own 'cult' and ram their ridiculous rules down everyone's throats as they saw fit.

And these Puritanical elements continue to be prevalent today, in aspects of religion, politics and other institutional forces.