Jane M. Auel’s Neolithic-age novel
Clan of the Cave Bear
has a brutal scene in which the protagonist, at age 10, is brutally beaten and raped by a Neanderthal (later, she gives birth to their child). This, I’m sure, is why it’s likely to be pulled from Edmonton Public School libraries in the fall.
It’s one of 200 titles that made the school board’s draft list of books slated for removal, which was
to CBC, due to the province’s sexual content guideline. That guideline states that no works containing graphic, explicit sex should be on school library shelves — and that access to works containing non-graphic depictions of sex should be limited to Grade 10 and up.
Our preview from Edmonton of what that policy looks like in practice — a level of transparency that Ontario parents were denied when certain school boards
began politically “weeding” books
from their libraries for diversity, equity and inclusion reasons — appears mostly reasonable.
Also included in Edmonton’s explicit-sex-book list is George R.R. Martin’s
Game of Thrones
and sequels, which contain vivid sex scenes, including a series of rapes of a 13-year-old (which, like in
Cave Bear
, results in pregnancy). So too is Diana Gabaldon’s
Outlander
series, a time-travelling romance series based largely in 18th-century Scotland known for its multitude of graphic rapes. They’re joined by sexcapade stories
How I Paid for College
and
Frenemies with Benefits
.
Also included is Richard Van Camp’s
The Lesser Blessed
, a coming-of-age tale of a Dogrib boy in the Northwest Territories, which I once had to read for a university course for adults, contains graphic teen sex (and miserable depictions of drug use and poverty).
Indeed, the list of graphic sex books also includes some award winners and classics: Lolita, a novel about a little girl’s sexual abuse at the hands of her adult neighbour;
The Handmaid’s Tale
, Margaret Atwood’s award-winning story of a dystopian future in which sex slavery is a regular part of society; Maya Angelou’s
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
, in which she describes being raped at age eight;
The Color Purple
, which also includes child rape. I’m on the side of leaving these for adults, but if a teacher wants to teach them in class, they’re free to do so — classroom materials aren’t in-scope of the library restrictions.
Of course, there isn’t time to go through every title, but the only potential bycatch I found was
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
, a coming-of-age novel about two girls from different walks of life in 19th-century China which certainly contains sexual themes due to the novel’s focus on marriage. It’s
for the more mature of high school ladies, but having read it back then myself, I don’t remember it being pornographic.
There is also a shorter list of books found to have sexual, but not explicit, content suitable for Grade 10 and up. These included
The Great Gatsby
(this
stretching it),
1984
(fair enough) and Atwood’s
Alias Grace
(a story with various sex elements).
So, from me, you’ll get a big shrug for the most part. Literary smut doesn’t need to be in school libraries, and I would expect librarians not to stock it to begin with. Graphic rape scenes and sexual abuse are also inappropriate, even if they take place in award-winning works of literature. Just as there are excellent movies rated R —
The Godfather
,
Letters from Iwo Jima
,
Atonement
, etc. — there are excellent books that are too adult-oriented to belong in schools. As for other, more consensual depictions of sex that some parents will be open to their kids reading, that conversation should be left to them.
The Library Association of Alberta’s former president Laura Winton maintained that sexually explicit content doesn’t necessarily make a book inappropriate for kids, but really, it’s not up to her to decide. Schools have a particular role in the province, and their near-mandatory, public function means that they have to run in a way that’s respectful of parental beliefs. Most parents likely don’t want their kids looking at colourful illustrations of oral sex, or reading about graphic rapes from the perspective of little girls.
“What specific book-banning lists are going to do is limit the amount of material that’s available to students, limit the amount of topics that can be discussed and just create a culture of fear in the classroom,” Winton told CBC. I have a hard time believing that, firstly because of the teacher exemption to the guideline, secondly because most teachers aren’t bringing up graphic sex to begin with.
Will this actually limit the minds of students? Doubtful. There are certainly mature high schoolers out there who can handle novels with these mature, sexual themes — but they can still access those via the public library. There are those who browse their parents’ books at home. There are others who are buying
Fifty Shades of Grey
and laughing at its passages with friends at sleepovers. That’s all fine by me.
National Post
