Re: Darrell Furgason’s letter in the Sept. 9, 2022 Chilliwack Progress, “Trustee says there is child porn in school.”
My goodness, reading the first two-and-a-half columns of your letter was quite enough explicit language for me for a day. I sure hope no children under 18 read it – they could be corrupted for life. Oh, but wait a minute. Actually, I have come to the conclusion that it’s not the children being informed that is the problem; it’s the lack of information among kids that makes them vulnerable to preying adults – sometimes even in their own homes, very often online. And it seems to me that “child porn” is not materials that inform children, but sexualized depictions of children for the benefit of pedophiles.
However, armed with your knowledge of Canadian pornographic laws, you have applied your views to a couple books in the district that should be, according to you, not banned but “removed” because they shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Makes sense to you I guess.
I read the first one, All Boys Aren’t Blue and this is what I observed: this book is a personal memoir, written by a gay American black man chronicling his childhood and young adulthood experiences as he tries to figure himself out and how he fits into the world. He comes from a loving family that mostly accepts him and, yes, there are some very explicit scenes, no euphemisms, quite raw actually, but truthful and without romanticism. These scenes are totally necessary to the meaning of the book. Very well-written and has won many awards. I think it would be very helpful to someone who is struggling with their sexual identity – they could vicariously learn how to be cautious and they could compare their feelings and thoughts and experiences with the author. A young heterosexual person reading it would learn to understand a bit about how others feel and cope, but would definitely not think that they might like to turn homosexual. In fact, they would be quite grateful that they were simply heterosexual.
The second book you want removed is The Hate U Give, and I really don’t know why you have picked out this book. I scanned through it and actually did not find any references to sexual activities, which seem to be your main interest in life. It’s a story set in the U.S. about a 16-year-old black girl whose friend is shot and killed for no apparent reason by a policeman; and the subsequent soul-searching and the brave decision to speak out against police brutality against blacks. It’s a powerful story that has won many awards and was made into a well-received movie. I can only conclude you haven’t read either book.
As most of us can attest, parents are mostly a pretty lame source of sex info, so that leaves kids with their peers’ opinions and the internet (yikes!). Surely some well-vetted age-appropriate literature containing sexual matter, available for students to read, is a pretty good idea after all?
Along with Trustee Willow Reichelt, I’m “promoting” well-written books containing sexual content in schools.
Pauline Harms
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