A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on book bans took a racy turn Tuesday, as Republican senators and a witness read scenes of various sexual content into the congressional record to defend the banning of multiple titles from U.S. schools.

The hearing on book bans was called as multiple Republican-led states have made it easier for books to be challenged in classrooms and as school board meetings have been flooded with arguments on what is appropriate for children to read.

The American Library Association said the number of book challenges in the United States doubled between 2021 and 2022.

Republicans and Democrats found common ground in agreeing there are books that are inappropriate for some children, but Democrats said the argument that all the books under discussion are sexually explicit is a scapegoat for the issue.

“No one is advocating for sexually explicit content to be available in an elementary school library or in [the] children’s section of the library,” Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said. “That’s a distraction from the real challenge. I understand and respect that parents may choose to limit what their children read, especially at younger ages. My wife and I did. Others do, too. But no parent should have the right to tell another parent’s child what they can and cannot read in school or at home. Every student deserves access to books that reflect their experiences and help them better understand who they are.”

  • JasSmith@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Parents have a right to decide which materials are taught to their kids. I know parental rights make some of you uncomfortable, but you’ll just have to find a way to get over it. I won’t allow my young kids to be given literal child porn.

    • darq@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      I won’t allow my young kids to be given

      That’s a page from Gender Queer. Which is a book for 18 and up. Nobody is trying to give it to young kids you absolute spanner.

    • Janoose@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      People like you screaming about parental rights always forget that parents who don’t want their children taught theocracy or white supremacy are in the majority.

      If you actually believe that your child is being handed books with literal child porn, you ought to be contacting the police and FBI immediately, not posting links to it on the fediverse.

    • ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Kids have a right to be taught what they need to know as adults even if it is something their parents don’t want them to learn.

      Kids need to be protected from those who want them to be ignorant, whether it is a parent or a politician.

    • Jeena@jemmy.jeena.net
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      1 year ago

      Parents have a right to decide which materials are taught to their kids

      • So if my family is a holocaust denying family I can get books about holocaust banned?
      • Or if I’m a young earth creationist I can get books on history and evolution banned?
      • Perhaps if I’m a flat earther then I can get books on geology banned? Especially the ones about vulcanos which I liked so much when I was a kid?
      • If I don’t want my children to read about incest I can get the bible banned?

      Is there any limit to that or will every book be banned on the future?

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Is there any limit to that or will every book be banned on the future?

        Yes. Because books make you literate. And literate folks don’t vote against their interests nearly as much as illiterate ones

    • NOT_RICK@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Nobody is being forced to read any of the books you reactionaries are worried about. If you don’t want your crotch goblin reading Genderqueer you’re perfectly within your rights to forbid that but you don’t and shouldn’t have the right to deny someone else’s kid from actually developing their own healthy sexuality.

    • negativeyoda@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Wish I could set a remindme! Bot for a decade from now when your kids experiment and hunt down this shit on their own and the fallout from that. Have fun with that one

      Also, have you read the Bible? Kid fucking, beastiality and genocide abound. I assume you’re cool with that tho

      • Evie @lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Don’t forget the incest committed by the kids of Noah after the flood, and the killing of kids by bears for being kids and making fun of travelers clothes, or sacrificing children to prove devotion… nothing more comforting for bedtime stories, right?

    • CmdrShepard@lemmy.one
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      1 year ago

      And your rights end with you and your child. Imposing your puritanical beliefs on society is the antithesis to freedom and violates everyone else’s rights. Perhaps you’d be more comfortable living in Iran or some other religious state.

    • dtc@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Parents have a right to decide which materials are taught to their kids

      So why give that right wholesale to the government? Isn’t it the right of the parents?

      Oh wait, I’ve used logic here and apparently you only have the ‘appeal to emotion’ chat style unlocked. Sad.

    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      You’re allowed to not let your kid go to public schools if they’re teaching things you find offensive. You’re welcome to be that weirdo homeschooling kids; or paying to send them to private schools that do all the brainwashing for you.

      There’s your parental rights. What you should not be allowed to do is decide what books are available to children-not-your-own.

    • AnonTwo@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      You’re not allowing any kids to be given materials you don’t approve of. Do your own damn job and don’t press it on others who may disagree with you.

    • Soulg@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Not only is nobody forcing your kids to do anything, you’re the one trying to force everyone else to not be allowed to do what they want. Extremely unamerican.