(WARNING: Graphic) Common Core Approved Child Pornography
Oregon PolitiChick Macey France is a stay at home mom of two
boys who are now in elementary school. As a mom who has always been interested
in politics, religion and all of the taboo subjects, she has… More
Following are graphic and explicit excerpts
from The Bluest Eye, which is on the Common Core’s
list of exemplar texts for 11th graders. If you are easily offended you
may want to skip them and go straight to the story. (Note from editor: Even heavily edited, this
is still very graphic.)
Pages 162-163: “A bolt of desire ran down his
genitals…and softening the lips of his anus. . . . He wanted to f***
her—tenderly. But the tenderness would not hold. The tightness of her vagina was
more than he could bear. His soul seemed to slip down his guts and fly out into
her, and the gigantic thrust he made into her then provoked the only sound she
made. Removing himself from her was so painful to him he cut it short and
snatched his genitals out of the dry harbor of her vagina. She appeared to have
fainted.”
Page 174: “He further limited his interests to
little girls. They were usually manageable . . . His sexuality was anything but
lewd; his patronage of little girls smacked of innocence and was associated in
his mind with cleanliness.” And later, this same pedophile
notes, “I work only through the
Lord. He sometimes uses me to help people.”
Page 181: “The little girls are the
only things I’ll miss. Do you know that when I touched their sturdy little t***
and bit them—just a little—I felt I was being friendly?—If I’d been hurting
them, would they have come back? . . . they’d eat ice cream with their legs open
while I played with them. It was like a party.”
Pages 84-85: “He must enter her surreptitiously,
lifting the hem of her nightgown only to her navel. He must rest his weight on
his elbows when they make love, to avoid hurting her breasts…When she senses
some spasm about to grip him, she will make rapid movements with her hips, press
her fingernails into his back, suck in her breath, and pretend she is having an
orgasm. She might wonder again, for the six hundredth time, what it would be
like to have that feeling while her husband’s penis is inside her.”
Pages 130-131: “Then he will lean his head down and
bite my t** . . . I want him to put his hand between my legs, I want him to open
them for me. . . I stretch my legs open, and he is on top of me…He would die
rather than take his thing out of me. Of me. I take my fingers out of his and
put my hands on his behind…”
Pages 148-149: “With a violence born of total
helplessness, he pulled her dress up, lowered his trousers and underwear. ‘I
said get on wid it. An’make it good, n*****, Come on c***. Faster. You ain’t
doing nothing for her.’ He almost wished he could do it—hard, long, and
painfully, he hated her so much.”
I understand that after reading those
excerpts a lot of you may be angry that this is approved for reading in any
school. I could probably end the article here.
However, there are many things that need to be
addressed and I have detailed for you here with much help from Jill Manning,
PhD.
Adams 12 5 Star School District is the
5th largest school
district in Colorado and has transitioned to the new Common Core standards. The book, Toni Morrison’s
1970 novel, “The Bluest Eye,” is among Common Core’s exemplar texts for
11th graders.
I was recently afforded the opportunity to
discuss the book with Dr. Jill Manning, a Licensed Marriage and Family
Therapist. She has been involved in social policy and research and has testified
for legislators on these issues. Dr. Manning is also a former Social Science
Fellow at the Heritage Foundation. She knows what she’s talking about and she
also happens to be a concerned mother.
Obviously the reason behind some parents calls
for removing the book are the graphic depictions of incest, rape
and pedophilia. And not just
that, the book actually lets the reader see the depictions from the perpetrators
point of view.
In fact, the author of the book, Morrison, says
that she wanted the reader to feel as though they are a “co-conspirator” with
the rapist. She took pains to make sure she never portrayed the actions as wrong
in order to show how everyone has their own problems. She even goes as far as to
describe the pedophilia, rape and incest “friendly,” “innocent,” and “tender.”
It’s no wonder that this book is in the top 10 list of most contested books in
the country.
The Bluest Eye is the story of Pecola Breedlove, a
young black girl, who prays every day for beauty: for the blond hair and blue
eyes that she believes will allow her to fit in. As her life begins to
disintegrate in the face of adversity and strife, such as being raped by her
father and beaten by her mother, she finally appeals to Soaphead Church, a
pedophile, to help her attain blue eyes. After being impregnated by her father,
she loses her baby and ultimately loses her mind.
Dr. Manning is one of 5 people to introduce
research-based arguments to remove this book from approved literature in the
classroom. Among the five people were two concerned parents who had children
that were negatively impacted by the book, an English teacher, a lawyer, and Dr.
Manning.
The parents who are actively petitioning the school board to have it removed from the classroom
do not want a complete ban on the book nor its removal from the school; rather
they would like it to be removed from the approved reading list in the
classroom, where students spend three to four weeks reading and discussing, in
depth, the developmentally inappropriate material.
There are people out there advocating to let
this book remain in the classroom because 11th and 12thgraders have the
ability to read this material especially those in Advanced Placement classes. As
Dr. Manning points out, there is a huge difference between being labeled a
mature reader, as in one that is technically capable of reading challenging
novels, and biopsychosocial maturation. One of the top reasons behind choosing
this book is the fact that it is on the Common Core Standards list of exemplar
texts. It aligns with the standards and meets the course objectives and needs of
students.
Children are simply not mature enough to process
the violent, incestuous sex scenes in the book.And yes, high school kids are
still considered children! They are minors. They are not adults, and they are
not in college. We need to use
some common sense when choosing texts to be studied in the classroom. Children’s
developing brains do not need to be assaulted with this notion of sexual
violence. Educators are supposed to protect children from violence.
The American Academy of Pediatrics studies and
develops policies pertaining to youth from birth through age 21, and
specifically lists books as part of the mass media environment examined by their
institution. The AAP states that exposure to violence in media has a significant risk on the health of
children and adolescents and
can contribute to aggressive behavior, desensitization to violence, nightmares
and fear of being harmed. It is also associated with teen pregnancy and
promiscuity. The AAP has also called on schools specifically to do more in the
way of preventing young people from being exposed to and negatively impacted by
harmful media.
Although this group of concerned citizens in
Colorado, including Manning, have repeatedly asked to see any research that
would back up the notion that this book and this kind of content is appropriate
for children, they have yet to receive any evidence along these lines. Why?
Because there is no evidence that would suggest this book or this
kind of content is proven to beneficial or not harmful to children. On the
contrary, there are numerous studies from a wide range of fields showing a wide
range of harmful effects and risks.
Through some bizarre loopholes in educational
policy, this book and others like it are allowed in the classroom. It is able to
slip past the checks and balances that we have in place to protect children from
violence because even though it does not meet the common standard of decency, it
is not a form of entertainment. It’s all in the name of English. No matter the
level of filth in the book, it’s English! Therefore it must be allowed.
The Superintendent’s Policy actually has a
section that should clearly cause for halt of having this book in the classroom:
(“SP”) 6220, Section 2.2.2 requires that “[s]ensitivity to practices and beliefs
of other cultures shall be
manifested in instructional
methods and academic
content” (emphasis added). SP 6230, Section 4.0 adds that
“[i]nstructional materials shall be selected which: . . . 4.2 enrich
and support the curriculum taking into consideration the varied
needs, interests, abilities, and maturity levels of pupils served.
Using just the smallest amount of common sense
we can deduce that if the book cannot be read aloud in the class, could not be
viewable if it was a movie and couldn’t be played on the stereo if it was a CD,
then why is it okay for it to be read and discussed; in school of all places! In
fact, according to one lawyer, if the incidents in this book were a movie or a
picture there would be a very clear cut case for prosecution for child
pornography.
I would imagine that a great deal of parents,
especially anyone with any semblance of morality in their bodies would be
opposed to this book being proffered by a teacher to his or her classroom. A
teacher is a trusted adult and surely if they recommend a book for a student to
read, that book then has more weight and is seen as “acceptable” with perhaps
even “acceptable behavior” in it.
In fact, the teachers mark the pages that can
only be read at home. The sexually explicit scenes that take place are noted by
page numbers and the kids have to read those portions of the book at home. It’s
truly astounding. If there are parts of the book that are so explicit that they
can’t be read in school, you’d think that would be a giant red flag to keep that book out of the hands
of children.
I’m all for freedom of speech but I draw the
line when it comes to children and minors. Our schools are supposed to be
working in tandem with parents to enrich children’s lives and teach them
valuable lessons, not including introducing them to
graphic, sexual violence with no mental health resources or context provided. Of
course, if a book is chosen that would require mental health resources, again,
you have a flashing red sign that reads: Not for children!
Not only that but it’s irresponsible to
introduce this literature to kids who you have no idea of knowing their past
experiences with rape, incest, or violence. Imagine the scenario where you send
a child who has been abused or raped home to read the illicit portion of the
book and he or she has to not only read it, and be confused by the portrayal of
the perpetrator as a normal human being, but the child also happens to be living
with their very own perpetrator who happens to be a family member.
People and educators who are in favor of this
kind of book are misinformed. They are perhaps not aware of or understand the
social science and medical research that suggest it is not an appropriate choice
for the classroom. Many who have read the book still praise it due
to its “the multi-layered structure” and comparisons to blues music. Dr. Manning
believes that, in part, their praise highlights more of a desensitization to
sexually explicit material and/or ignorance to the well-documented effects of
this kind of material. And then you have people who just haven’t
read the book themselves so they don’t know the graphic nature. They look to the
lists of books that are deemed appropriate and trust the people who determined
the book makes the list. The only caveat is sexual content is not on that
checklist of things that would make a book inappropriate for school.
Recently a student, a minor, at one of the CO
high schools has started her own petition to keep the novel in their classrooms.
This reminds me of a small child advocating for more candy before dinner. Does a
child know better than an adult? In most cases, no. In this case,
especially.
In fact, in a Harris poll it shows that a 62% of Americans say
that books with explicit language should not be available to children in school
libraries. The same poll shows that a majority of Americans think no books
should be banned completely (56%). This shows you that American’s are against
book banning but wants limits by seeking the community standard of decency for
books in schools.
Advocates also say that this book is necessary
for college preparation. It’s beneficial to a student who can read these kinds
of novels to prepare them for academic success. How is reading a filthy book
filled with pornographic scenes beneficial and preparing a student for success
in college? Oh, but it’s not a filthy pornographic book, it’s not entertainment,
it’s for educational purposes! We just want to introduce the kids to different
ways of life!
In case you’re just thinking, “Opt out!” I have
to tell you, opting your child out of reading this bookdoesn’t protect him or
her. They are still surrounded by the other students who are going to be
saturated with this book.
Students that are opted out were being sent to
the library for self-guided study for three weeks. This actually violates
the equal educational opportunity policy. According to Dr. Manning, the
superintendent has now ruled that if this book is being taught, two classes must
be offered that don’t use the book; however, again, this does not deal with the
issue of harm. This
‘solution’ only deals with the fact that some people may not like the
book. Opt out works when you have similar levels and appropriateness to
the material being offered and when none of it goes into the realm of harmful
material.
And let’s use the ever-elusive common sense
here. If you have a movie that was rated R, a child under 17 couldn’t see it
without parental guidance. It certainly couldn’t be shown in the classroom, so
why in the world would it be okay to let the child read a book that contains the
same sort of things that require parental authority?
This child pornography is protected and lauded
because it resides between the pages of a novel. It’s located in libraries and
written by an author who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in the 1990s. Don’t
forget Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace prize for…well,
that’s still a head scratcher, so I don’t put too much stock into Nobel
prizes.
This is not different than if I take some manure
and spread it on a canvas and then place it in a gilded frame and hang it in an
art gallery. I call it art, therefore, it is art. I encourage people to get up
close with the “art” and even encourage touching it so they can really process
it.
Now the same thing is true for the novel and for
my manure art. It’s subjective, it’s potentially very harmful to people and in
the end, it doesn’t matter the label you slap on it it’s still just a pile of
manure.
Read the rest of this PolitiChicks.tv article here: http://politichicks.tv/column/warning-graphic-common-core-approved-child-pornography/#3HBjBlUgrF726d5l.99
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