Throughout history, rising governments worldwide have attempted to mold public opinion to best benefit themselves. An educated public is the most dangerous enemy to manipulative and dangerous regimes of power. Books and literature are the lighthouses needed for people to not only understand what’s happened to the people that came before them but be able to recognize how the future is shaping. Book bans and educational censorship are a direct attack on citizens’ ability to stand up for themselves. The book bans and academic censorship that is exploding across the United States right now are not coming from a rising government trying to encourage an ideal or mold a new utopia for a culture, but to chip away at identities that had previously been allowed to build their presence in their homeland.
Throughout history, we’ve seen this many times before. Leaders who impact the lives of others in ways that can and do damage to the culture. Between the years 1497 and 1498, Girolamo Savonarola was a Florentine religious fanatic who committed horrific censorship. The burning of literature, poetry, and artistry from masters in Florence, Italy was supported by Savonarola’s vast followers and eventually, the creators themselves. The art and writings were coined as “impure” and were destroyed or rewritten with hymns to replace them. This religious oppression overcoming personal expression damaged Italian culture as well as the world’s because those works of art will never be experienced by the modern world. This continued through time, the prey becoming more unprecedented.
In February 1921, a novel published serially in The Little Review was the victim of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice (NYSSV). The novel, Ulysses written by James Joyce, was halted from being published and the newspaper was fined for obscenity, due to a single scene depicting human sexuality. The suppression ultimately failed, but it went all the way to a federal courtroom in the case of The United States v. One Book Called Ulysses.
The NYSSV played a role in suppressing more than just Joyce’s work, but also Theodore Dreiser’s. A writer and reporter, Dreiser’s first novel was cited by the NYSSV for amoral content and the negative focus on his work only increased from there. Dreiser was one of the writers villainized by the Nazi party along with other politically-inspired writers. All of his writing published before 1933 was found and burned as being “Un-German”. This nationalistic attitude is the extreme end of a harmful and swiftly-escalating problem. How many books are considered amoral, obscene, and “un-American” in our society and according to purists in our government, our school systems?
Currently, there are at least 1,477 instances of books banned in the US. While being investigated, they’re removed from the shelves which means they’re being removed from the hands of those who could benefit from them. The banning of these books can originate from private complaints from consumers as well as government bodies. So far this year, 103 different bills have been introduced that would not only remove books from the hands of those learning but also ruin the lives of those who choose the books to teach our children. No matter the perspective on free speech and book bans, it wouldn’t take a significant jump to see a common theme among the literature being targeted.
- Oklahoma Senate Bill 1654 – Questionnaires, discussions, or books whose main topic is sex, sexual behavior, gender identity, etc. can not be utilized in a way that would elicit responses from students concerning their own experiences or identities, e.g “lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender issues or recreational sexualization”
- OK SB 1142 – Texts that make their primary subject the study of sexual preferences, activity, perversion, sex-based classifications, and sexual or gender identity that a “reasonable” parent might object to are not allowed. This could lead to the termination of a teacher’s position if the book is not removed while the parent in question would be entitled to $10,000 per day that the book is still accessible after thirty days
- Florida’s HB 1557 – Better known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill
- Tennessee HB 800 – Prohibit public K-12 schools from adopting any instructional materials that “promote, normalize, support, or address lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) issues or lifestyles”
It’s very clear that studies surrounding sexuality, gender, and other personal identities, whether within a sexual education course or not, are intended to become “untouchable” by teachers if any parent deems it “inappropriate”. This puts those with the most extreme opinions in charge of what the remainder of students learn. Why is one parent’s child in a full classroom more important than the rest? The standing of an individual’s feelings has no right to supersede the academic opportunity of others.
The impact of these bills isn’t just working to take books and lessons from students. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is determined to not only erase critical-race theory from our education, especially higher education, but he also deems it appropriate to strip college-level professors from their tenure for encouraging it. The firing of professors alongside teachers and librarians (SB 1142) is rampant in these bills, despite a majority of parents and individuals in the US trusting them. Loss of employment, reputation, and even freedom is a very real possibility for many individuals who don’t conform to this outdated bigotry. Jail time is very possible for anyone who engages in or promotes “any transvestite and/or transgender exposure, performances or display to any minor” within 2,500 feet of a public school, according to West Virginia’s SB 252. If adopted, this bill would, at a minimum, make the presence of any transgender or gender-nonconforming person on or near school grounds a criminal offense, including teachers or parents.
Research has shown that LGBTQ+ students who are not provided an understanding environment to learn in were less likely to experience threats of violence or miss school due to concerns for their safety, or attempt suicide than those without. In fact, these students were 140% more likely to skip school for fear of their own safety compared to their non-LGBTQ+ peers. They’re also at greater risk for depression, suicide, substance use, and sexual behaviors that can place them at increased risks for health issues and physical harm. Nearly one-third (29%) of these children had attempted suicide at least once in the prior year compared to 6% of heterosexual youth. Homelessness due to family rejection is another significant difference between LGBTQ+ children and their non-LGBTQ+ classmates with a difference of 120% at the detriment of LGBTQ+ kids.
This not-so-sudden marathon against free speech and personal expression has been blanketed as ‘the benevolent public concern for morality’. The only power citizens are entitled to is that of their own personal beliefs. The right to inflict gag orders and academic censorship onto the greater public to accommodate one’s own squeamishness is not found anywhere in the Constitution. Nowhere can one find “clear and present danger” in the materials used to teach students about themselves and those different from them. No one citizen holds power over another’s education or experiences. Let’s leave the book burning to times past and lessons learned.
As a lifelong writer of creative stories and novellas, Vance graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in English and Communication. She is deeply invested in the art of connecting others through writing and words and shining a light on otherwise shrouded communities such as LGBTQ+, neurodivergent groups, and survivors of domestic abuse. Located in Talkeetna, AK with her five cats and Australian Shepherd, Corvo, she works towards a career in writing and editing as well as a Master’s in Communication.
