Body Parts and Censorship
If you were to read a book to a child that contained the word “scrotum”, would you be offended? Or would you see it as a no-nonsense description of a body part? That’s the controversy boiling right now over a Newbery-winning book The Power of Lucky by Susan Patron.
The story, in which ten-year-old Lucky hears this word through a hole in the wall, depicts how the word intrigued the boy and started his adventure. The author defends her work, saying in essence that it’s just a word. Meanwhile, some librarians are vowing to pull the book, while others are defending furiously Ms. Patron’s right to write.
What do you think? Here’s the link: New York Times story
Category: Uncategorized
I think it’s justified in the context of this particular book. Now, if the book started talking about him waving his scrotum at his teacher, I might feel a little wary about reading it to my six year old, but showing a fascination with a word that kids aren’t “supposed” to know and using it to jump start an adventure, I think, is a positive thing.
Even if I was wary of it, I still feel it should be on library shelves.
Wow, this got me. Thanks for the post.
It’s puritancial and it’s downright damaging. Avoiding what’s human is the first step toward shame: shame for being a boy, shame about our bodies, and shame on you for curiosity.
I have a 10 year old boy. When he was little, I was always pretty matter-of-fact with things like this, reading as if I were reading the ingredients on a bottle of ketchup. Now he’s pretty matter of fact too, and shows no shame for the words that name his body parts, or for the body parts themselves.
Lisa
I’ve not read the book. Is the use of the word intrinsic to the content and meaning of the book?
Oh for crying out loud… of course a kid that age wants to know, and should! Why oh why are we so afraid of our own bodies? I think we’re in more trouble with censorship than we have any idea… what a bunch of prudes… dare I say Vigina Monologue?
Thanks for the comments, everyone.
I feel the same way. It’s a word. Just a word. It becomes a “bad” word when we attach our own stigmas to it. Scrotum is a word I learned in health class, along with breast, vagina, muscle tone and pupils. My mother didn’t storm into school and demand that teacher stop calling it by its real name!
If the story had started out something like:
Lucky’s neighbor was a putz,
His doggie bit his nuts…
…then there might be cause for alarm. ;))
I found a site that has published the first page, and actually, Lori,I think if the author had used the word “nuts” and THEN went on to express the term in the correct medical term, perhaps no one would have blinked–or maybe not as much. And while The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Children’s Books isn’t the best academic resource, it does indicate that libraries are no longer the primary market for children’s books. I can only assume it was the author/publisher who made public the information that libraries were refusing to carry the book. So if libraries don’t really contribute that much to the publisher’s bottom line, I guess “the word” and the subsequent publicity isn’t all bad, esp. since the run went from 10,000 to 100,000 copies.
Tempest in a teapot. I’ve been a public librarian for almost 20 years now – and I have the papercuts to prove it. For the life of me I can’t figure out why librarians are having a problem with this.
Anyhoo, I believe the Library School students at Simmons have put this in the proper perspective:
Youth Literature is Filled with Scrotums
http://tametheweb.com/2007/02/youth_literature_is_filled_wit.html
The word scrotum is practically a classic reference all by itself!
Now if I could only figure out how to make the links work (sigh)
Anne, if you want to send it to me via email, I’d love to see it. I’ll put it in the next weblog post.