Books Banned Recently For Sexual Content

Censored: Books Banned For Sexual Content

May 10, 2012

Books Banned Recently For Sexual Content

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E.L. James may have kicked off her Fifty Shades of Grey book tour in Miami, but don't expect to see the erotic book in every Florida library. Librarians in Florida, as well as Georgia and Wisconsin, took the series off the shelves for being semi-pornographic and not so well received by critics.

While book banning may sound like a throwback to Victorian times, censoring books continues to flourish in 21st-century schools and libraries. What's most surprising is a book can be removed from a curriculum, reading list, or school library with the complaint of just one parent. Violence, racial themes, and the occult are commonly cited reasons, but an even more popular one is sexual content. Check out these 11 books that have been removed from schools and libraries in the last two years, and tell us if you think there's ever a good reason to ban a book.

Source: Flickr User wheelo50411

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by POPSUGAR Sex & Culture 13

Source: Flickr User wheelo50411

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13 Comments

northandwells 1 year

Notice, most of the states are southern. High degree of christian, evangelicals who want to raise their child in a bubble so they know nothing about 'neverland'. Only the kids do know what's going on, and often end up with unplanned pregnancies, STD's, drug addiction, etc. Case in point: Palin children.

ModernGraceKelly 1 year

What I kept reading over and over was "one parent".

luckyduckyy 1 year

I don't agree with most cases of banned books, such as with this case (regardless of how crappy I think the book is). However, I'm reminded of an e-book on amazon that was written by a pedophile, on how to properly love a child. It was a guide book of sorts. I'm not sure a book like that should be allowed.

spacekatgal 1 year

My Southern school was big on banning books. It's like the separation of church and state issue - it just will not compute with a certain percentage of the population.

Cris1192 3 years

I had to write a mid term about this subject and I think censorship is the worst, you can't deny an opinion, or in this case the contents of a book, of course you can disagree with it's contents or think they are inappropriate, you have a right to do that, just as an author has a right to write what he or she wants.

3 years

hmm tricky topic... the age that children are at when they read books with sexual contact should be the variable...... I dont find it necessary for younger children because they dont understand it... and i dont think its appropraite to raise sexual content levels when kids become closer to age 13 and then just give up on restrictions afterwords..... but based on americas obession with perverted movies that are usually pg13 so that the movie gets more viewers.... i dont think america really wants their children to have any sense of right and wrong.... sexualizing everything is just.. well part of the way we are entertained now... were just so smart

Kimpossible 3 years

There are t-shirts and bracelets that you can purchase to tell others that you read banned books lol. Like one of t-shirts says "I read Banned Books". I want one :-) I don't agree with banning books either.

Kimpossible 3 years

MissSushi 3 years

I don't agree with the banning of books, especially for reasons like these. My mother never censored what I read, and always let me read books that were far above my age level, and while there were things when I was younger that I didn't understand, I really think it helped me in the long run. I was far less naive and clueless then my friends were about so many issues. Sometimes it can be easier to learn and explore things through books then by talking to someone about these issues, and most the time the people getting these books aren't talking to their children about these issues and tolerance for differences, so there's such a huge knowledge gap. I went to school with a girl in the 6th grade (13 years old) that was afraid to have/go to sleep overs because she thought sleeping in the same room with other girls would make her gay, and according to her parents being gay was a sure trip to hell.

HoneyBrown1976 3 years

Surprise, surprise. These books were banned in the South. Illiteracy for all!

Kimpossible 3 years

Thank you for finally mentioning that it was Banned Books Week! :-)

Mousuke 3 years

I have read most of these listed books (in the slideshow) and think it is absolutely ridiculous that they were banned in some schools...and I think it's even more ridiculous when a book is banned purely because it contains sexuality...Too often, parents freak out over sexual scenes/content, and are too blinded by it to see the deeper issues that the book is dealing with...In many cases, sexuality (including orientation and masturbation) is a tool to express something about a character or a theme...for example, in "Beloved", Paul D's sexual encounter with Beloved was a clever metaphor for his love-hate relationship with his past...In many of these books listed, sexual content isn't even graphic ("Perks of Being a Wallflower")...It really, really irritates me when books are banned from schools because of sexuality...those kids are missing out on some really great books.

Mousuke 3 years

I have read most of these listed books (in the slideshow) and think it is absolutely ridiculous that they were banned in some schools...and I think it's even more ridiculous when a book is banned purely because it contains sexuality... Too often, parents freak out over sexual scenes/content, and are too blinded by it to see the deeper issues that the book is dealing with... In many cases, sexuality (including orientation and masturbation) is a tool to express something about a character or a theme...for example, in "Beloved", Paul D's sexual encounter with Beloved was a clever metaphor for his love-hate relationship with his past... In many of these books listed, sexual content isn't even graphic ("Perks of Being a Wallflower")... It really, really irritates me when books are banned from schools because of sexuality...those kids are missing out on some really great books.