SPEAK Out and Banned Books Week

I knew on the outset that this was going to be one of the more difficult posts I’ve ever written. Please bear with me if I begin to ramble. I have been reading a lot about banned books and more specifically about Speak and the whole Wesley Scroggins debacle. I wanted to post this during banned books week which runs from September 25, 2010 to October 2, 2010. I know I lag behind the posts in support of Speak, but just felt like the time was now, so here we are.

I started thinking about Speak and Wesley Scroggins talking about his views of rape being soft porn, which incidentally makes me want to vomit. It makes me sad to think there are people out in the world who would say such a thing. It breaks my heart that these people have any kind of influence at all. It’s horrible to think that the voice of a few can dictate the actions of many. I’m so proud of the literary community coming together and shouting “NO, this is not okay!”

I joined the #SpeakLoudly movement on twitter. I kept thinking about it, Speak Loudly. I felt a little like a hypocrite. Whew, here goes. You see, I am a survivor of sexual abuse. There are very few people who actually know that, as a matter fact, only one member of my family knows and only because I recently told them. So here I am going on about Speak Loudly and I was carrying around this secret. People like Wesley Scroggins feed into the mentality that what happened to me was dirty or my fault somehow. And that, well that’s a bunch a freakin’ crap! Thinking back to when I was a kid, reading some of the books with characters going through similar things (there probably weren’t many because I’m getting towards old), really did help me. I didn’t feel like such a freak. And now maybe it’s about time I do a little speaking out of my own.

To say that wonderful works of fiction such as To Kill a Mockingbird, The Scarlet Letter, or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are somehow harmful to our children, well frankly that insults me and my child. We all have to live in this world together and not simply within the confines of one’s own small, closed mind. I encourage my son to broaden his horizons, put himself in another person’s shoes, and view life from their vantage point. I would think doing this through a work of fiction would be one of the safer vehicles.

I did warn you all that I may ramble, right? My son has challenges. He has been diagnosed with ADHD, OCD and Tourette ’s syndrome. This country, not all that long ago, used to practice eugenics. Can you imagine being told that because you have some kind of disability or difference deemed ‘unacceptable’ in your familial line, that you were NOT going to be allowed to re-produce! Someone actually performing sterlization procedures on you.  Wonderful children like my son might not be here today!  Letting someone else determine what’s acceptable for us to read is akin to that very same thing. NO ONE decides what’s acceptable for me and mine, other than me and mine. Okay, I’m stepping down off my soapbox and stopping my rambling rant now.

Sneak Peek: However, I also wanted to say that on October 26th I’m interviewing Beth Fehlbaum on my blog. Beth is the author of two novels, Courage In Patience and Hope In Patience. They are the story of 15 year old Ashley Asher, abuse survivor, who not only survives, but goes on to thrive. Hope In Patience will be released October 27th 2010. I’m very excited to be able to interview Beth on my blog. I hope you’ll stop by and check it out.