Librarian Warns Parents and Librarians About S3xualization of Children; Texas SB13 Legislative Efforts by TXLA Criticized

The Librarian Dodge and Weave

by Anonymous

As a school librarian a quiet corner in the state of Texas, I felt fortunate to be away from the battle lines currently being drawn through libraries throughout the United States of America.  I'm blessed to have the full confidence of my institution's administration and board, freedom to curate the library collection as I see fit, and a supportive school community that does not feel that their children's library is a potential source of damaging content. 

I am a rarity in the field of librarianship.  I am a fiscal and social conservative, and as such, were I “out” and active in my field, I would be castigated and attacked from every corner.  I have read countless messages and overheard conversations at professional events castigating people of my political and personal beliefs as a modern-day devil who must be run out of town and destroyed.  Needless to say, I keep my head down, my mouth shut, and listen hard.

One of my more fascinating sources of professional word comes through the Texas Library Association. The rot is just as deep in TLA as it is in ALA (American Library Association) and having eyes on the internal list servs, professional programming, and more is very revealing. 

In the state of Texas, the state legislature meets every other year and this year is one of those years.  As all professional organizations do, TLA is tracking proposed legislation that would impact libraries and librarians within the state.  The conversation around these proposals is grimly illuminating.

Texas SB13 Legislative Efforts by TXLA Criticized

Look how the Texas Association of School Libraries newsletter (promoted and shared within the TLA list serv) frames one such bill:

What is this “affirmative defense”?  KXAN has an excellent definition in this (https://www.kxan.com/news/texas-politics/texas-librarians-alarmed-over-book-review-bill/) article, Texas Librarians Alarmed Over Book Review Bill, by Ryan Chandler (Posted: Mar 29, 2023 / 05:37 PM CDT, Updated: Mar 29, 2023 / 07:29 PM CDT):

“A person has an affirmative defense to the crime of distributing harmful material to minors if they do so with an educational justification.  SB 13 would remove that justification.  Exposing children to harmful material is penalized as a Class A misdemeanor.”

This definition implies that TLA believes there is educational merit in books and graphic novels depicting underage s3x, drug use, and alcohol consumption. 

Mumbling About Censorship and Diversity While S3xualizing Kids

When All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson has pages long scenes of underage oral and anal s3x (one example starts on page 266 of the paperback edition), that's educational. 

Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez is recommended for kids starting at age 14 by Kirkus Reviews and can be found in school libraries.  The graphic scenes of a father violently beating and raping his daughter before murdering her and her boyfriend are educational, apparently.

What does TLA have to say about these scenes, about these books?  Nothing specific.  They'll mumble about censorship, diversity, and needing LGBT+ content.  But they won't specifically cite or defend this horrifying content and explain why it is necessary for children to have access to it.

Let's look at what another TLA-promoted resource has to say, this time the What If... Forum hosted by the Cooperative Children's Book Center, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The Importance of Considering Content in Context

Posted on February 21, 2023

Q: I’m struggling with how to explain why words or a scene or images in a book taken out of context should not be used to discount the book as a whole.  Can you offer some ideas for talking about why it’s so important to consider content in context, and not judge a book in a library based on material that’s been excerpted, often with the intent to get people upset?

https://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/the-importance-of-considering-content-in-context/

[snip]

[snip]

There is no possible harm in providing materials to children depicting violent scenes of familial rape and murder, it seems.  It's educational and how else will all the school's students feel represented? 

Everyone knows LGBT+ children require graphic s3xual content to feel represented.

Librarians refuse to acknowledge the true issue at hand.  They won't take responsibility.  They wiggle and squirm and whine when confronted about the materials they share and promote.  They exclaim they can't let parents censor books for other kids.  They're changing lives.

Librarians on Facebook Mock Parents

Librarian groups on Facebook are no better.  Librarians bringing up book challenges and concerns brought to them by parents are answered with sneering derision being aimed at said parents.  “If people are too conservative to even READ A BOOK about other people who might have different lifestyles than them, that's a problem and it's one of the reasons we have such an important job to do as a librarian...  Keep it on the shelf; it could change a life.”

I even saw one horrifying post once from one high school librarian determined to ensure that the child s3x workers in her school feel represented.  There was very little push back from other librarians or even people pointing out that if this librarian knew about child s3x workers in her school, then she was failing her legal responsibility to serve as a mandatory reporter of child abuse.  (This matter did get brought to the attention of local authorities and the librarian was removed from her position, I believe.)

These aren't new issues to anyone who's been following these stories.  But it hit me hard today when I followed the link TLA provided to the What if... Forum and saw how the s3xual content families are rightfully concerned about being minimized and endorsed.

Texas Library Association is Part of the Problem

TLA is one of the largest library professional organizations in the world, and as such it has an out-sized-influence on the current state of the library profession.  Matters in this profession are not improving and are not going to improve without both real-world consequences and a shift in the demographics of the profession—not towards any one racial category but one of political diversity. 

Much of the work librarians do also honestly isn't something that requires graduate-level training, as the TLA forums recently had a frantic session assuring themselves about.  That matter, at least, got some push back from non-degreed librarians frustrated at the lack of respect towards them and their work.

Suggestions for Parents and Librarians

In closing, I can only make a few suggestions, both to parents and other librarians.

To the parents, I say this: Keep making your voices heard.  These libraries are yours, not the librarians.  It can be easy to fall into a censorship trap where materials that should be handled at the family level get targeted, but by and large that isn't what's happening.  Keep going.  Keep pushing.  Clean up these school libraries.

To the librarians, I pray that something causes your ears and eyes to open.  Harm is being done.  We have an incredible influence over children's developing minds and that influence is currently being used to hurt these children.  We can do better.  The children deserve it. 

Addendum

I used ChatGPT to run some numbers per the data it had available to it in 2021.  Here are some revealing numbers:

Q:  Can you rank the state-level library associations in the United States such as the Texas Library Association by available or estimated membership numbers?

A:  Sure, based on the available or estimated membership numbers, here are the top 10 state-level library associations in the United States, ranked by membership size:

• Texas Library Association (TLA) - over 6,000 members
• New York Library Association (NYLA) - over 4,500 members
• California Library Association (CLA) - over 3,000 members
• Illinois Library Association (ILA) - over 2,500 members
• Pennsylvania Library Association (PaLA) - over 1,400 members
• Michigan Library Association (MLA) - over 1,800 members
• Florida Library Association (FLA) - over 1,800 members
• North Carolina Library Association (NCLA) - over 1,500 members
• Ohio Library Council (OLC) - over 1,000 members
• Georgia Library Association (GLA) - over 900 members

Q:  Which library associations at the state, US-state equivalent, or national level have the most members in the world?

A:  The library associations with the most members in the world are typically national-level library associations, and the following are some of the largest and most prominent:

• American Library Association (ALA) - over 57,000 members
• Library Association of the United Kingdom (CILIP) - over 12,000 members
• Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) - over 5,000 members
• Canadian Library Association (CLA) - over 3,000 members
• New Zealand Library Association (LIANZA) - over 1,000 members

As for state-level or US-state equivalent library associations, the Texas Library Association (TLA) is one of the largest, with over 6,000 members.  However, it is important to note that membership numbers for state-level library associations can vary greatly and may not be as large as those for national-level library associations.

—

The above was submitted to me for anonymous publication so parents, legislators, and librarians could get valuable inside information not available from other sources where such voices are silenced.  This is another in a series of anonymous publications from librarians calling out for reform.  Send submissions to me at SafeLibraries@pm.me. 

If you wish, retweet this:

Librarian Warns Parents + Librarians About S3xualization of Children; Texas SB13 Legislative Efforts by TXLA Criticizedhttps://t.co/NQXwO3SBL7#txlege #txla23 @thedaughter17 @JaredLPatterson @GabsClark5 @Stillurfvseason @BasedLibrarian @XVanFleet @Nicoletta0602 @LandonStarbuck

— SafeLibraries® (@SafeLibraries) April 4, 2023

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