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The latest comics controversy is here, and it's a new one: Two librarians have informed the media that they have been fired for refusing to allow an 11-year-old to check out the Alan Moore graphic novel "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," a decision they defended by calling it "porn." Not "Lost Girls," mind you, but "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen."
Here's how a local news station, WTVQ, described the incident:
Beth Bovaire worked at Jessamine County Public Library up until a month ago. She and Sharon Cook worked as librarians- the two were fired last month when they say they didn't allow a child check out a book from the league of extraordinary gentleman series.
"My friend Sharon had brought it to me on Wednesday, and she said 'look at this book it's filthy and it's on hold for an 11 year old girl,' and I said well okay, lets take it off hold."
The Jessamine County Library director says it's against their policy to speak about employee terminations but he did give me a copy of their policy and it clearly states the responsibilities of the child's reading must lye with the parents and not with the library.
The women say the books contain lewd pictures of men and women in sexual situations that are inappropriate for children.
Putting aside WTVQ's hatred of punctuation, formatting, and spelling for the moment, they apparently didn't see the need to investigate the book the librarians got fired over -- and by "investigate" I mean "open" -- so all we know is that these too women thought some unspecified aspect of it was "filthy" and "lewd" and presumably other words that grandmas say when Britney Spears is on television. Then they titled the article "Librarians Won't Give Child 'Porn' Book," and called it a day.
As I was reading, I took a wild guess that this incident took place in the south -- where history has taught us it is a terrible idea to offer the public even vaguely controversial comics -- and lo and behold, a quick Google search reveals that it all went down in Kentucky. Even so, I find the whole controversy a little bit unsettling, as every librarian I have ever encountered has been all about Banned Books Week and enthusiastic about what graphic novels and manga can do for circulation; it's actually kind of shocking to hear that these ladies are working hard to keep excellent sequential art out of the hands of their patrons.
I've actually got my copy of "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" right here, and I just spent the last ten minutes leafing through it and trying to figure out where the porn is. There's certainly some violence, but when it comes to sexual content, there's almost none, save for ladies in low-cut dresses and one scene where an invisible man attempts to (or actually does?) have sex with a girl in a nightgown, although we don't actually see anything because he's invisible.
Comments:
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Monday 26 October
By ostrakos
Well, I wouldn't call it porn, and I'm no prude, and I don't support sheltering kids from the real world, but I'm not sure LoEG is appropriate for an 11 year old kid. I think a mature 14 or 15 year old would be fine with it. And are we sure weren't not talking about Volume II, wherein Mr Hyde sodomizes the Invisible Man? I mean, it's a non-comics crowd, so who knows...
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Monday 26 October
By Laura Hudson
Maturity and the ability to deal appropriately with "grown up" content can vary widely from child to child, which is why parents should make the decisions about what books are appropriate for their children, not have libraries or librarians making those choices for them.
Monday 26 October
By Kristin
I skimmed through my copy too. At the first scene in Miss Rosa Coote's Correctional Academy for Wayward Gentlewoman, there is a naughty spanking scene as well as small detail of sex underneath the satyr statue. There's also a detail of a woman about to give a blow job carved into the bed, as well as a lot of other implied sexual things in the art hanging on the walls of the school. So, to say "but when it comes to sexual content, there's almost none" isn't quite accurate.
HOWEVER, I agree 100% that is is NOT a library's place to decide what is appropriate and what is not for their patrons.
I read ElfQuest Volume 4 at the age of 12 - a book that depicts an orgy scene. My parents let me read whatever I want. I got that book from my local library (in the southern state of Louisiana, mind you). This kind of thing constantly happens all over the country. All of it is fall out from Seduction of the Innocent, a ghost American comics is still sadly haunted by.
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Monday 26 October
By Kristin
There was a typo in my previous post, for which I apologize. It should read IT is not a library's....
Monday 26 October
By Laura Hudson
I don't totally agree with your characterization of the content; while there may be some suggestive meta-art that decorates the narrative, it is just that: suggestive, and in no way equivalent to visual representations of sex that are necessarily at the heart of the porn accusation. The only sex that takes place involves a man who is invisible, which is an arguable sex scene at best.
Also, I think it's interesting that these content controversies almost always swirl around sex, when depictions of violence in comics are more common and often more graphic -- and unlike sex or nudity, inherently damaging and negative acts.
Tuesday 27 October
By GatewayGeek
I'm half-and-half with you on this one. While I don't like the idea of banned books, or withholding any media for that matter, i kinda have to put my foot down when exposing anyone under the age of 15 to Alan Moore.
It lies with the parent to determine what their child is exposed to, but they don't necessarily pay attention all the time.
What the librarian should have done, or what the policy should be, is to ensure that the parent has some knowledge of what their child is reading.
When I used to work in retail, I remember a mother was purchasing a copy of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for her bratty son. This woman's goal seemed to be just to get back home as soon as possible to shut the kid up. I realized the game was for this kid, so I pointed out to the woman that the white box on the back with the Giant M and list of adult themes was included in the game. She decided to not buy it.
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Monday 26 October
By Magma Suit
Well, volume one isn't that porny, but as the series goes on, Moore puts in more and more sex (like the aforementioned rape-to-death of the Invisible Man). I agree that it's more than a bit much for an 11-year-old but these librarians are still overstepping their bounds.
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Tuesday 27 October
By ostrakos
I agree that it's a parent's place to decide what the child reads, and there are certainly varying degrees of maturity (having worked with kids from ages 3-18 over the past 16 years, I know that very well). Unfortunately, if the kid had taken it home and mom/dad didn't approve, there would be a whole different controversy arising over the book. It's too bad it's a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation.
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Monday 02 November
By joe
The issue in question was the 3rd volume in the series Black Dossier, and WTVQ did indeed open the volume up and look in it, they even showed clips showing the book, though edited for television. I personally applaud the two librarians for taking a stand, too many people hide behind the idea that "intellectual freedom" is more important than taking responsibility and protecting children from what I consider obscene materials (and yes, I personally love graphic novels, but I am quite a bit older and thus a bit more responsible). Also, when did "children" get First Amendment Rights? Considering the Constitution only extends those rights to adults. It astounds me just how far this country has taken these issues and where will it end? That is something I shudder to contemplate.
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Thursday 05 November
By Alicia C.
In my local library( and maybe some others) the parent is present when signing their kid up for a card of their own. But like buying media, if the child wants to borrow a book from the adult section a parent has to be present. Otherwise the card will block all adult materials. This is for kids 2-15. I'm no prude but I think this is the most reasonable comprimise. The child can borrow whatever book or media they'd like, with parent's permission. I think other libraries should look into this.
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