Twitter and the Blogoverse blew up yesterday when Wesley Scroggins, an Associate Professor at Missouri State University put an opinion piece in his local newspaper blasting three books on the local high school reading list and calling for the parents to band together to have these books removed from schools.

Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five has already been removed, and Sarah Ockler’s Twenty Boy Summer is under review. I have not personally read either of these books, so I won’t comment on them more than to say: it is not the right of any individual or group to dictate what others have access to.

The third book being challenged in this article is Laurie Halse Anderson’s remarkable novel, Speak, which he classifies as soft pornography.

If you haven’t read the book (or seen the movie), let me fill you in on what this book is about: Speak tells the story of a high school girl who is raped by an upperclassman. She is so traumatized by the experience that, rather than report him, she shuts down completely, becoming a selective mute. Speak is about her finding her voice again.

First of, let’s get this out of the way: rape is NOT pornographic. Pornography is meant to titillate; it’s purpose is to be sexually exciting. Rape is never sexually exciting. It is not an act of sex, it is an act of violence. The rape scenes in Speak, while necessary to the book, are tastefully done and not graphic. Even if they were graphic, they would still not even border on pornography.

Let me repeat: Rape is never pornographic.

Might I suggest to Wesley Scroggins that if he truly finds rape scenes to be sexually exciting, he should seek out therapy.

Beyond his awful choice of description of the book, the problems with taking this book away from teenagers are plenty. Yes, Speak deals with horrible subjects such as rape. But they are also real subjects. Rape happens. As much as I would love to say that it just doesn’t, it does. And it happens to the high-schoolers who Scroggins wants shielded from this book. Speak is a book that has the power to connect with young people who have had to experience  these terrible things. It is a book that allows them to feel that they are not alone. And, hopefully, it is a book that gives them the strength and courage to speak out about what happened to them.

Speak gives these kids a voice. As Laurie Halse Anderson wrote at the end of the Platinum Edition of Speak:

But censoring books that deal with difficult, adolescent issues does not protect anybody. Quite the opposite. It leaves kids in the darkness and makes them vulnerable. Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance. Our children cannot afford to have the truth of the world withheld from them.

Now I am going to address something that is generally taboo in conversation (and by extension, blogging): religion.

I did not write a blog post about this yesterday when tons and tons of other bloggers were coming out to speak against the injustice Wesley Scroggins is after. I didn’t write yet not because I needed time for my thoughts to stew (though the extra day did help), but because it was a Sunday. And due to my Christian beliefs, I hold Sunday as the Holy Sabbath. I do not work on Sundays, and since my writing (and by extension, my blogging) is my work, I promised I would not do it on Sundays. Because my Christian beliefs mean more to me than getting a blog post up quickly.

Now, I am not stressing the fact that I am a Christian for any reason other than this: Mr. Scroggins is calling out the community to get these books banned because they are Christian and should thus protect their children from such filth. As Christians, apparently, it is their duty to dictate how all children in their town learn and what material they have access to.

But, as a fellow Christian, I know that one of the greatest gifts God gave us is the gift of choice. Each of us has an individual choice how we live our lives and what we do. Every day, we face choices, and everyday we have to pick which way to live. Sure, we all make mistakes, but part of the great plan is that God has made a way for us, through Jesus Christ, to fix those mistakes.

What happens when we don’t have a choice? What happens if we have to do things the “right” way? Things would be easier, right, if we didn’t have the option to mess up – if the only option was the right way? That is what Mr. Scroggins is trying to do to these kids in Missouri. By taking away their access to these books, he is taking away their choice to read them. He is forcing them to do what (in his peabrained mind) is right.

You know who else wanted to take away choice and force all mankind to do what is right? We learn in the scriptures that taking away choice was Satan’s plan. When God was looking for one to send to Earth, Satan volunteered, saying that he would have all mankind do the Father’s will and bring them ALL back. Satan desired to BE God, not a servant of God.

So, Mr. Scroggins, I ask you to reevaluate what you are doing. The ability to choose is one of God’s greatest gifts – it is not your place to take that away from these kids. It is not your place to play God.

And please, please, if you truly find rape to be pornographic, seek help. Please.

EDITED TO ADD THIS:

So, I had started writing a different post today (which will now be posted tomorrow), but after reading Jamie Harrington and Elana Johnson‘s blogs today, I decided it was time for me to address this as well. This is a topic that has been on my mind for quite some time.

I have heard (okay, probably read) people talk before about Young Adult authors being responsible for what their audience is reading. “We are the adults,” they say, “we need to use our writing to teach the readers about life and the world.” Jamie wonders if by having her characters engage in bad behavior, is she promoting bad behavior or telling it like it is? Elana, on the other hand, believes young adult authors have a solemn responsibility to show readers the consequences of bad behavior. So where do I stand on this?

As a young adult author, I believe I have these responsibilities:

• Tell a great story.
• Write real, believable characters.
• Stay true to my characters and plot.
• Entertain.

You will notice that nowhere in this list is the term “teach readers morals and good judgement.” That is not my job. My job as a writer is to entertain the reader, nothing more. Morals and good judgement should be taught by the parents. Unfortunately, the sad fact is there are parents out there who do not teach their children these things. But that doesn’t mean the bill falls on authors.

If an author puts a scene in her book of characters participating in underage drinking at a party, it does not mean the author is trying to promote underage drinking. The author is merely putting a real element of life into her book (and hopefully it propels the story, so it isn’t just gratuitous). Yes, there are consequences of underage drinking, and maybe the author will show these. Maybe not. It should be shown only if it helps move the story forward.

Young Adults are smart, perceptive people. They will know if they are being preached to. I believe it is only appropriate to put lessons and consequences in a novel if they directly help move the story along. Are these lessons being learned by a character? Then great, they are an important part of character development. But if we as writers put lessons into our books to try to teach our readers morals, we are doing them and ourselves a disservice. Teenagers hate to be preached to, and they know when you are doing it. Chances are, they will put a preachy book down and not pick it up again.

I write novels, not lesson manuals. I am not writing to teach a moral code.