Trans books banned in children's library sections

[BeeSouriante]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6257p2vry3o

Including kids books that just acknowledge the existence of trans people.

Obviously, this is a local Reform council, but would you call for a ban of books about trans people across the board?

What does that even mean?

What does it bring to a plotline to labour the point that a trans person is someone who's female, but who would like to be male, and so dresses in clothes that are stereotypically male, and has changed their name etc.

Mentioned in passing, totally normal part of a book. Labouring the point? Preaching, not normal in a book.

Someone being trans as the sole point of a book for 3 year olds? Nope - it's not part of their life experience yet - let 3 year olds be 3 year olds.

Someone being trans as the sole point of a book for 15 year olds - maybe, as long as it's not misleading/lying/encouraging harmful behaviour - just as I wouldn't want a book glorifying bulimia, or brushing over the difficulties of any other health issue if it was the key plotline of the book.

In the majority of books, the fashion choices and drug regimes of a character just aren't important - mentioned in passing to add flavour, but not key to the plotline, and that's the same whether it's them being a goth, trans identified, skater or diabetic.

I'll never ever ever support banning books, even ones I don't agree with.
But they should be in the appropriate section. In the same way that I put books like Secret Diary of A Call Girl on the top shelf of the bookcase at home when dc were small.

Actually, I question that Grandpa's Pride book. It's totally inappropriate for the age it's aimed at, and had my DC found it in the library I'd have found a reason why we couldn't borrow it. So maybe it should be banned. Or maybe just not available in the library so parents would only get it if they actually bought it.

Lots of age-inappropriate books aren’t in the children’s section. Stephen King. 50 Shades of Grey.

They’re not banned and no one with an ounce of sense thinks they belong in the kids’ section either.

Against what? These were age appropriate, written for children’s books I believe?

I have no idea how 'in depth' the book is, but it's a book written for adults, so it shouldn't be in the children's section. Why was it in the children's section in the first place?

There are plenty of books which are stocked in libraries which are for adults and which are totally unsuitable for children. Do you really think that there should be no age guidelines or that children should be able to access all books no matter the content?

What slur did I use?

That’s the problem - a lot of them aren’t age appropriate at all. How some got published I can’t think. Red flags a-go-go in children’s publishing and among children’s librarians.

Anyone supporting porn for children should be on the sex offenders register.

WRN Dorset did a deep dive into the books available in the children’s sections of their local libraries.

https://18f02ace-7799-41bc-b056-c55659821902.usrfiles.com/ugd/18f02a_0f679315ef46436f98480c7b1657c689.pdf

This link might work better: https://www.womensrights.network/post/what-our-public-libraries-want-your-children-to-read

Not all books are suitable for children. It isn't "book banning" to acknowledge this.

Our local librarian won't have them anyway. Calls them tosh and says it encourages too much navel gazing.

I make her right.

Transsexuals is not a slur its a legal definition 😂😂😂😂

In the US there was a parent who started reading out the content of a book from a children's library at a public meeting, they tried to shut him down because what he was reading was too explicit.

Isn't that the book about a dystopian future where armies of library assistants called 'Shelfmen' move books from one part of a library to another??
Like from from the children's section to 306.768?
Shocking!

And please stop with the "denying trans existence", no one is doing it.

What people are trying to do is to stop a culture-bound syndrome.

I don't believe in banning books generally.

However, libraries should have a responsibility not to be biased in pushing one particular belief, especially where that is contentious.

I'd rather have legislation that required books that could be used to persuade children to adopt such a belief, to have a front page that gives some facts and signposts to appropriate other texts to read too.

Eg "This is a book of fiction and the characters aren't real, but some of the people you meet in the real world will also have some of the same ideas. Some people believe it is possible for girls to become boys and boys to become girls, but scientifically this isn't possible. No one should be bullied for their beliefs, and it is ok that we don't all believe the same things. After you have read this book, maybe you will also enjoy (insert names of a few similar-reading-age titles where children are allowed to enjoy the activities associated with the opposite sex without having to believe in the magic of genderswapping)"

Children are going to grow up in a world where they encounter people who believe in genderfeels. I would rather they encountered the concept while they are young enough to be reassured that it's just one of those slightly bonkers things that some people believe in if their grip on reality is tenuous, like horoscopes. If they are shielded from it while they are young, they may encounter an evangelistic true believer at that vulnerable age when teens start thinking their parents are generally stupid and ignorant, and then it's much more difficult to protect them.

With legislation requiring that a suitable age-appropriate statement like the above must be attached to any ideologically-biased book in libraries and schools, it's not a ban but the the onus is on the adults to be aware of their responsibilities, and the difficulty of composing something age-appropriate for a very young child will ensure that those in charge of choosing which books to stock will swerve away from books with any ideological bias.

No. It is where books are totally banned and firemen exist to burn books not put out fires in houses (which are fireproof).

That's interesting.

To repeat what others have said they are NOT banned, merely quite properly removed from Childrens section.
Children need to work out about straight sex before being led along the trans route.

Banning books is very different from not putting books in the children’s section of a public library. There are loads of books that have no place in the children’s section of a public library - not because they are aimed at adults but because they are texts aimed at indoctrinating children into specific ideologies. The Nazis produced a whole range of literature for children, should those be translated and stocked by the local library too? What about extreme religious books telling children non-Muslims are worthless, or from Jehovah Witnesses telling them blood transfusions will stop you going to heaven? Or books that say women and girls do not have the same worth as boys? I have already mentioned porn.

I do not think we should place any books in the public library that in anyway suggests children have something wrong with them if they don’t prefer clothes/colours/activities that regressive stereotypes suggest are appropriate for their sex. If you want to buy your daughter a book that say preferring blue, not wearing dresses, liking your hair short, playing football, and wanting to be a leader makes you a boy and you should choose a boys name and everyone will have a party to celebrate, then that is up to the parents. But such books should be nowhere near public libraries or schools.

I would agree with this.

Young kids don't need to know about this.

TBH I'm not surprised because at the moment there seems to be a trend of rival political parties or campaigners going to the BBC to moan about Reform councillors doing stuff such as removing Pride flags or not spending money on Pride events.

What the media and campaigners don't understand is that these events are not vote losing things. Trump's ban on males in female sport was popular, which is what the left just couldn't understand.

Reform will be judged on whether potholes are fixed, not whether a Pride flag flies from a council building.

And whilst Reform are naturally divisive, their policies around Pride are generally supported.

I agree. Kids dont need to know. And then they will be brainwashed into thinking boys can be girls and girls can be boys. They can't.

Yes, of course they shouldn't be in the children's section; they should be in the mental health section instead.