Alicia and Sarah take a slightly different approach with this week’s episode over the film adaptation of Judy Blume’s classic novel, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. They discuss the movie, puberty, the censorship history of the novel, and book bans at large. At the end of this week’s discussion, they talk about the things they've been reading, watching, and analyzing outside of the classroom.
Literary terms of the week: Censorship, Challenge, Ban
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Music by Craig Harmann
Cover art by Matt Holman
Show notes:
Literary terms of the week:
Censorship: the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security.
Challenge: “an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group”
Banning: “the removal of those materials”
Why books are banned: “The following were the top three reasons cited for challenging materials as reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom:
the material was considered to be ‘sexually explicit’
the material contained ‘offensive language’
the material was ‘unsuited to any age group’”
Group that most often challenge books: parents
Top 13 most challenged books of 2022
Either for LGBTQIA+ or sexually explicit content
“1,269 demands to censor library books and resources in 2022
729 book challenges reported in 2021
2,571 unique titles in 2022
38% increase from the 1,858 unique titles targeted for censorship in 2021
…by or about members of the LGBTQIA+ community or by and about Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color”
Reasons why AYTG has been banned:
Menstruation
Puberty
Negative portrayal of Christianity
“Even her own children’s primary school refused to keep a copy” (Guardian article).
What are we enjoying right now?
Alicia: The Summer I Turned Pretty (TV on Amazon), Book Lovers (Emily Henry)
Sarah: The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee by David Treuer (book), Yellowstone (TV)
Related episodes
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Chapter 4.2 - Are You There, God? and Book Bans