Graphic sexual stories leads to 1,100 check-outs
By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – The voices of opposition to the steady stream of sexually explicit books available to children in the St. Tammany public libraries is expected to decline next Monday, Sept. 25, when the Library Board will likely give its approval for more of the challenged books to return to the shelves.
That is because it has become clear that books with pornographic stories and explicit sexual stories is not something Library Director Kelly LaRocca’s hand-picked committee sees a problem with, specifically when it comes to minors having access to them.
The position of LaRocca and the Library Board has so far been unanimous as the full board prepares to rule on the 18th and 19th challenged books. The first 17 books that were reviewed were deemed “not harmful to children,” according to the state law LaRocca has now made her ultimate authority in the decisions.
While the St. Tammany Parish Council, the appointing authority for Library Board members, has watched the controversy go on for 15 months with no action to step into the fray, LaRocca has cited state law as the reason she and her review committee have decided children should have access to the books.
Opposition, seeking a restricted section in the libraries needing parental approval for such books, has consistently raised the question of the books not meeting the overall community standard, but LaRocca states in her denial letters that she and the committee don’t see that as being a valid reason to restrict them.
“While we recognize that some may find the material in question not suitable for their family, that alone does not render it unlawful and does not warrant censoring the public at large from accessing and/or checking out the material,” LaRocca said.
“We do acknowledge that this book may not be in line with the values of all families in the parish,” she added, making it clear that LaRocca and her committee do not see “community standards” as being overwhelmingly in favor of a restricted section. The public outcry on the matter for 15 months has clearly not been reason enough to convince those at the library that their opinions should be heard—evidenced by what will soon be 19 challenged books all returned to the shelves.
If there is a question of whether teens have an interest to read the sexually explicit books at the library, that was stated pretty clearly in LaRocca’s denial letter. She noted that “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” has been so popular among teenage girls that it has been checked out 1,100 times.
Despite the view of LaRocca and her review committee, Stephanie Whitman, a nationally popular blogger with The Espresso Edition book review site, noted “this should never have been categorized as young adult. Now considered an adult novel, this is not acceptable if you are under 18 years old….it portrays romance that is not healthy in any way.”
“A Court of Thorns and Roses,” is the story of a teenage girl who finds herself involved in a sexual relationship with a “beast,” likened to the “Beauty and the Beast” book.
The book includes graphic violence, extremely explicit sexual nudity, obscene sexual activities and profanity, and has highly descriptive text of the young girl having sex with the beast.
That did not seem to deter LaRocca’s review committee as they used the state law description of what rises to the level of “harmful to minors” and claimed:
–Material does not qualify as harmful to minors according to state law.
–Material does not principally consist of illicit sex or sexual immorality (even though there is certainly plenty in the book.)
–Material does not incite the prurient, shameful or morbid interest or sexual response beyond those considered normal for minors.
–Material is not offensive to the average adult according to community standards.
–Material does not lack literary, artistic, political or scientific value.”
LaRocca’s letter noted several reasons she found to give the committee the right to keep the book on the shelves.
In her letter she stated that the book does not “primarily” consist of sexual conduct. It is a small part of the story that sexual conduct is referred to, but not described.
She added that the book is “a romance novel, so not unexpected that the sexual conduct consummates their ‘true love.’”
The book was housed in the adult fiction section of the library and has been recommended to stay there, while the second book up for review, “Deep and Dark Blue” is a story about twin brothers who flee their home to stay at a women’s convent where one of the boys decides he is really a girl. It is one of many challenged books involving topics of sexual identity, including the transgender movement nationally. These materials, while not sexually explicit, have been challenged on the basis of parents believing they should not be readily available for minors to read without parental approval, since they deal with mature and adult topics.
“Deep and Dark Blue” was housed in the juvenile graphic novel collection and has been recommended to remain there.