So I was watching the local news here in Florida when I came across this story
Parents Want Sexually Explicit Books Relocated At Library
LEESBURG -- A group of concerned parents wants librarians to pull several books off the shelves and relocate them to the adult section.
The parents said the books contain sexually explicit language and are inappropriate for teens.
Dixie Fechtel said she can't believe the books her daughter has access to in the young adult section at the Leesburg Public Library.
"I was just accidentally thumbing through the books that she had read and I just couldn't believe what was in them," Fechtel said. "It was really shocking. We're talking about teens having chain sex, which they say is the equivalent of chain smoking."
Some parents said that's just part of the inappropriate material that teenagers are reading in books like the Gossip Girl series and others.
They now have several books they want separated from the rest of the young adult section.
Fechtel and other parents have joined forces with churches in the community, including First Baptist Church Leesburg to prevent teens from stumbling upon the books.
"We're not saying censor them get them out of the library. We're just saying this hard language, sexual erotica, that it really doesn't need to be in there for minors," said Art Ayris from the First Baptist Church Leesburg.
"I don't think in the books that they found sex is gloried. Violence is there to make a point," said Wendy Breeden, the president of the Florida Library Association.
Some parents argue movies and even video games are labeled based on their content, and books should be no different.
Breeden said the private industries are the ones responsible for those labels, and it's a slippery slope if librarians were to get involved.
Some parents in Leesburg said they're determined to get those books out of the young adult area and said they could broaden their fight to the whole county.
The group fighting to get the books removed from the teen section is, unsurprisingly, a band of old folks. They actually are petitioning the library and are threatening to take it up with the Mayor/city council if the books are not removed from the teen section of the library...
On the television spot for this an old man went as far as calling Gossip Girls "pornography". I just couldn't /facepalm any harder when I heard that. I've heard some crazy "think about the children!" rants before but calling Gossip Girls Porn is like calling Wayne Brady a Gangster Rapper. God this reminds me why I hate living in Florida...
So my fellow Escapists, should the library be forced to put books like Gossip Girls into a seperate "adult" section?
