Last week The Iowa Standard told you about some pretty disturbing books that are in the Waukee Northwest High School Library — and actually many other libraries across Iowa.
We were sent the following information about books in the Winterset Junior High/High School Library from a concerned parent.
One book is called “Age of Consent.” Here are some of the “contents” or chapters of the book:
“The Appropriate Age for Sex Should be Determined by Individual Maturity”
“Age of Consent Laws Are Based on Puritanical Notions”
“Sexting Teens Should Be Punished by Parents, Not by the Legal System”
“Sexually Active Teens Are Unfairly Labeled as Criminals”
“Morally Driven Groups Should Be Tempered in Age of Consent Issues”
Here is a portion of the book:
“I’d draw the object line at 12, the cognitive line at 16 and the self-regulatory line at 25. I’d lock up anyone who went after a 5-year-old. I’d come down hard on a 38-year-old who married a 15-year-old. And if I ran a college, I’d discipline professors for sleeping with freshmen. When you’re 35, ‘she’s legal’ isn’t good enough.
“What I wouldn’t do is slap a mandatory sentence on a 17-year-old, even if his nominal girlfriend were 12. I know the idea of sex at that age is hard to stomach. I wish our sexual, cognitive and emotional maturation converged in a magic moment we could call the age of consent. But they don’t.”
Theodore Dalrymple wrote in the book that age of consent laws are not being thought of as appropriate for all children as every child matures, both physically and mentally, at a different rate.
“Since children reach puberty and mature sexually earlier than previous generations, age of consent laws have had less influence over the sexual activity of many children. Children are deciding for themselves whether their behavior will be harmful to anyone, and, persuading themselves that it won’t be, simply disregard the law. Despite these trends, no one makes the argument for lowering the age of consent out of fear of being labeled a pedophile. Parents have not helped, as they are sometimes complicit in their children committing sexual offenses and usually only enforce the law in a situation involving revenge.”
Interesting concept for junior high and high school students to tackle, no doubt.
Then there is the book called “Boy Meets Boy” by David Levithan. Here is its summary:
“I was the first openly gay president of my third-grade class. I have seen men holding hands walking down the street in a big city and I have read about women getting married in a state that’s not so far away. I have found a boy I might just love, and I have not run away. I believe that I can be anyone I might want to be. All these things give me strength.”
Again, here is a couple of excerpts:
“I’ve always known I was gay, but it wasn’t confirmed until I was in kindergarten. It was my teacher who said so. It was right there on my kindergarten report card: PAUL IS DEFINITELY GAY AND HAS VERY GOOD SENSE OF SELF.”
“Infinite Darlene doesn’t have it easy. Being both star quarterback and homecoming queen has its conflicts.”
