A Marshall, Missouri woman has requested that FUN HOME by Alison Bechdel and BLANKETS by Craig Thompson be removed from the library shelves, because she feels they are inappropriate, writes the Marshall-Democrat News. A library hearing was held last night to examine the issue with a decision expected on October 11th.
The Marshall Public Library Board of Trustees will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 4, to hear a request to remove material from the library.
Louise Mills of Marshall is requesting that two graphic novels — “Fun Home,” by Alison Bechdel and “Blankets,” by Craig Thompson — be removed from the library because she feels that the books are inappropriate. Mills has filed forms with the library to request the removal of the books. Mills could not be reached for comment Tuesday, Oct. 3.
[snip]Marshall Public Library Director Amy Crump said that almost any book in the library can be seen as “offensive” to someone.
“Any time a person or one group of people are allowed to mandate what information is available to an entire community, you find yourself on the slippery slope of censorship,” Crump said.
In the story Crump invited member of the community who are anti-censorship to come to the hearing.
“Slippery slope”? Hell, that IS censorship.
Christ, it’s a good thing this woman has never seen Crumb or Burns’ stuff. She’d have been scandalized to death.
Here’s a follow-up on the story:
http://www.marshallnews.com/story/1171432.html
Jeez. I just read the follow up. These people need to realise that a drawing of two people having sex is not going to get more than a giggle from 99% of kids. Why would they get excited over that when quality softcore porn with photos of real people is easliy available over the internet, in shops, from older brothers and from the porn collections of parents and the parents of friends. At 12 I’d seen enough porn to actually bore me from leafing through the collection of a friends father. I worked with teenage kids with problems for a couple of years and they would have laughed you out of the room if you showed them the sex scenes in blankets and told them it was porn.
The people of Marshall need to get a grip on reality and remember what they were like as kids.