…If you can still read it?
We have apparently missed “Banned Books Week,” which ended October 1st, but I just saw this nice post about books which have been “banned.”
Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than 11,300 books have been challenged since 1982 according to the American Library Association. The 10 most challenged titles of 2015 were:
[Sorry, shouldn’t it be Challenged Books Week, then? – Dave]
Looking for Alaska, by John Green
Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group.
Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James
Reasons: Sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and other (“poorly written,” “concerns that a group of teenagers will want to try it”).
I Am Jazz, by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings
Well, whoever is banning them is doing a piss-poor job of it.
Reasons: Inaccurate, homosexuality, sex education, religious viewpoint, and unsuited for age group.
Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out, by Susan Kuklin
Reasons: Anti-family, offensive language, homosexuality, sex education, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group, and other (“wants to remove from collection to ward off complaints”).
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon
Reasons: Offensive language, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group, and other (“profanity and atheism”).
I’m not sure who ‘challenged’ these books, but they don’t actually appear to be banned. One is a big bestseller, and was a motion picture. If these were challenged as far as their use in schools, well that’s just setting standards. That’s not censorship, banning or ‘Big Brother.”
The phrase ‘unsuited for age group” keeps cropping up in the list. Does the American Library Association think all books should be available to all children? As far as the comments for Fifty Shades of Grey, they seem reasonable enough, since the book was about tying a woman up and having sex.
Maybe the American Library Association needs to look up the word banned.
The Artisan Craft Blog -- Dave Alexander & Company with David Edgren and Gus Bailey 
Tying a woman up, and whipping (real, welt-raising whipping) her, to be more precise. Also causing pain in other ways.
But it’s okay. Not only is the guy character handsome, he’s a billionaire. That makes it sexy, rather than sick. Apparently.
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I’ve also read a few very cogent arguments that the descriptions of the female protagonist’s behaviour and thinking make her seem much more like 13 than 23. So, its reallychild porn with a very thin disguise.
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http://watchdogwire.com/florida/2013/03/10/50-shades-of-grey-pedophilia-hiding-in-plain-sight/
This isn’t the original article I read on this, but put “50 shades of grey is really child porn” into your search engine and see how much comes up. (Including a petition to get Walmart to stop selling it for precisely that reason.)
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It started life as Twilight fan fiction. The protagonist in that, Bella, was a high school student, so this makes sense.
I denounce myself for knowing any of the above.
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That, I can’t agree with. I read the book out of curiosity as to how it became popular. Yes, the character is immature and I would describe her as having daddy issues, so that part is accurate. I just don’t believe that is what a child porn consumer would be looking for. My reading on the subject indicates that pedos are into adult behavior from physical children, not childishness in adults.
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Interesting. I haven’t read the book; never mind my views on the subject matter, everyone who I respect who has, has said the actual writing is truly atrocious, and there’s too much good stuff out there to waste time on crap.
It may be that the main girl is immature enough and the man has enough issues of his own that it sets off some bells for those trained to hear them, whether through personal or professional experience. From what I’ve heard/read about the author I don’t imagine she set out to write kiddie porn.
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Your friends are right. The book is poorly written, and the ‘sexy’ parts are creepy. I powered through it, looking for the part that made it a hit. Still have no real idea how that happened.
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OMG, you’ve got me laughing so hard!! “Well, whoever is banning them is doing a piss-poor job of it.” >.< I'm dying!
Maybe it's not called "Challenged Books Week" because that sounds like we're celebrating 'special needs' books? "Awww… bless his little heart! His spine is crooked, and his pages turn with a lisp… that poor challenged book. Give him a nickle, Dave."
One book I pimped for Banned Books Week, ('D is for Degenerate' by Ian Rob Wright), is banned from Amazon, but still available on the author's website. I consider that 'banned', and if I were the author I'd have a big red BANNED slash on the cover – it would a great marketing tool!
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