Explicit Children’s Books Edition
Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Hearing
DISCLAIMER: The following hearing recap contains direct quotations from children’s books.
If the need for a disclaimer confuses, confounds, or concerns you, we suggest you proceed.
Today, the Committee on Education and the Workforce covered one of the most contentious issues in American politics: children’s books.
Republican members fought back against the narrative that concerned parents are “book banners” and argued that some books disseminated by public employees contain wildly inappropriate material. As such, parents are well within their rights to protect the innocence of their children with a book challenge—that’s called “content moderation” not “book banning.”
Subcommittee Chairman Aaron Bean (R-FL) led the hearing with a disclaimer for the audience. He cautioned, “Children should not watch at home. We’re holding this hearing to help ensure that young children are never exposed to this kind of graphic content, not to further expose them to it.”
Agreed, and no children should read beyond this point. If the sensitive and mature content of these books is enough to make Members of Congress squirm, it’s certainly too sensitive and mature for children.
The first witness to offer testimony was Lindsey Smith, a concerned mother of four. She retold the story of her three-year-old son bringing home a book called Hide and Find, which encourages young children to “find images of ‘leather,’ ‘drag queen,’ and ‘underwear.’” Mrs. Smith’s personal experience with inappropriate children’s books motivated her to get involved in the concerned parents movement and, eventually, testify before Congress today.
Max Eden, Research Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, identified the 10 most-removed children’s books and the sexually depraved content contained within each. To name a few, he listed, “Gender Queer – orally inserting a wearable sex toy. This Book is Gay – a how to guide to meeting strangers on sex apps. Out of Darkness – rape. l8r g8r – a discussion of the finer points of oral sex. All Boys Aren’t Blue – underage incest.”
Mr. Eden also supplied the story of Forsyth school district, which was recently threatened by the Biden administration for pulling Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl from school libraries for review. “In one passage, which I maybe shouldn’t read verbatim, one character asks another if he knows how to perform oral sex on a woman. The other character replies no, but that he has been taught by ‘Papa Gaines’ how to perform oral sex on an anus,” he said.
Megan Degenfelder, Superintendent of the Wyoming Department of Education, rounded out the witness panel. She spoke to the common concern shared by all parents: “It’s common sense that children should not have access to pornography while at school. When did protecting our children become so controversial?”
Once the hearing turned to member questioning, Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT) opened an exchange with Mr. Eden by asking, “How do these books get into these schools’ libraries in the first place?”
“They get in, in large part, innocently enough on the behalf of school librarians who look at a list and see that certain titles are recommended as being LGBT inclusive, and so they purchase the books,” Mr. Eden replied.
But there’s a catch. Mr. Eden continued, “They are looking at lists from organizations such as the American Library Association [ALA], which at this point is a wholly ideological organization run by a self-proclaimed ‘Marxist’ who has said that school libraries ‘need to be sites of socialist organizing.’”
Leftwing groups like the ALA fuel the false narrative that parents are “banning” books on a discriminatory basis, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. PEN America, who was represented today by Dr. Jonathan Friedman, Director of Free Expression and Education Programs, is especially responsible for spreading this lie.
And Democrats took the bait. Ranking Member Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) cited PEN America’s research on The Hate U Give, describing it as an “important book that elevates black voices” yet is “challenged by Republican officials and parents in at least four states.”
Luckily, Mr. Eden was there to set the record straight. He clarified, “PEN America labeled the Black Lives Matter-inspired The Hate U Give as the fifth-most banned book, a book that Mrs. Bonamici referenced in her opening statements. She will be relieved to hear that we found that book in every single school library present.”
Bottom Line: Republicans are confident that pornographic materials should not be in children’s schools. Democrats? Not so sure.
Opening Statement:
Witnesses:
- Mrs. Lindsey Smith, Parent
- Dr. Jonathan Friedman, Director of Free Expression and Education Programs, PEN America
- Mr. Max Eden, Research Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
- Mrs. Megan Degenfelder, Superintendent, Wyoming Department of Education
Recap:
