Assbackwardsness rides on as prudes freak out upon learning Anne Frank had...A VAGINA

[battery jackson]

http://rawstory.com/2010/01/school-d...-franks-diary/

School district pulls Anne Frank’s diary over ‘vagina’ passage


By Daniel Tencer
Thursday, January 28th, 2010 -- 11:08 pm

Anne Frank's adolescent curiosity about sexuality is too much for a Virginia school district that has pulled the complete version of the young Jewish girl's diary off its curriculum and off its shelves over a parent's complaint about sexually explicit passages.

Culpeper County Public Schools has pulled Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition off the shelves because parents complained "over the sexual nature of the vagina passage in the definitive edition," reports the Culpeper, Virginia, Star-Exponent.

The complaint has to do specifically with an expanded version of the diary published in 1995. Frank's father, Otto, had excised large parts of his daughter's diary prior to publication in the late 1940s. Anne was killed at the Auschwitz concentration camp in March, 1945. Her diary has made her arguably the most famous Holocaust victim.

According to Valerie Strauss at the Washington Post, the offending passage is a description of female genitalia:

There are little folds of skin all over the place, you can hardly find it. The little hole underneath is so terribly small that I simply can't imagine how a man can get in there, let alone how a whole baby can get out"


The decision to pull the book appears to have been made quickly, last November, on the basis of one complaint from a parent. The Star-Exponent reports:

Citing a parent’s concern over the sexual nature of the vagina passage in the definitive edition, Allen said school officials immediately chose to pull this version and use an alternative copy.

“What we have asked is that this particular edition will not be taught,” Allen said from his office Wednesday morning.

“I’m happy when parents get involved with these things because it lets me know that they are really looking and have their kids’ best interest (in mind). And that’s where good parenting and good teaching comes in.” (WRONG!)
Amazon.com lists Anne Frank's diary as one of the most banned children's books, "for being too depressing for students." (*cough*antisemites) The diary chronicles some two years of Frank's life as she hid out with her family in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam during World War II. It is considered one of the most famous and vivid accounts of the war.

But the American Library Association says it has documented only six challenges to the book since 1990.

[cubby]

How embarrassing for you to have your child ask a question about what they read in Anne Frank's diary. You know you could just suck it up, be a parent and answer the question.

For the most part I never censored what my kids read or saw on TV, we talked about it and I answered their questons. And we talked about whether it is something real people do or TV people do. You know when you talk to your kids you can solve lot of problems.

I think people want to ban books or TV programs because it is uncomfortable for them to have to deal with the questions that their kids ask, but not really because it is particularly objectionable to them. JMO

[Twisted]

It's censorship like this that ultimately sets our education so far behind some others, I believe. When you whitewash and purify history, you alter its core nature, and important lessons can be lost forever.

I do believe parents have some rights to decide what their children learn, even when I disagree with the decisions those parents make. However, they should not have the right to limit the methods and sources that other parents may want their children to learn from.

There's a reason we have private schools available.

[Misskittychaos]

I wonder if the parent who complained has the kid who makes babies b/c they don't know the facts of life? My parents didn't believe in censoring our reading and frankly it benefited me(IMHO). If that parent had a problem she/he could have gone out, bought the censored version for the child not make that choice for ALL the other children.

[battery jackson]

it seems like we either have mob rule of the dumb unwashed masses or super duper crackdown because one single person got upset.

what the hell happened to the middle ground, or the archaic phrase "common sense"?????????????????????????????

[cubby]

You so eloquently expressed exactly what I was thinking and couldn't put into words. Thank you!!

I love books and nothing will ever replace them for me. I feel sad that alot of the classic books that I enjoyed as a child have been removed from school libraries. They were great stories and a glimpse into the social interaction of the times.

[Twisted]

it seems like we either have mob rule of the dumb unwashed masses or super duper crackdown because one single person got upset.

what the hell happened to the middle ground, or the archaic phrase "common sense"?????????????????????????????

Of course, common sense is a wonderful myth, assuming that people actually are self-motivated, and not easily swayed to act against their own self interest.

[Twisted]

I love books and nothing will ever replace them for me. I feel sad that alot of the classic books that I enjoyed as a child have been removed from school libraries. They were great stories and a glimpse into the social interaction of the times.

I agree, and I'm glad that I had access to a rather liberal selection of books, including "Chocolate Wars", "To Kill a Mockingbird", and "Catcher in the Rye." They were all required reading for me, and for several of my friends they were specifically disallowed in school.

[battery jackson]

i remember chocolate wars! that book upset me because they treated that kid so fucking badly. but that's what books are SUPPOSED TO DO. make you FEEL. it's a good way to learn and experience things within the comfort of your own home, or the discomfort of school.

[Twisted]

i remember chocolate wars! that book upset me because they treated that kid so fucking badly. but that's what books are SUPPOSED TO DO. make you FEEL. it's a good way to learn and experience things within the comfort of your own home, or the discomfort of school.

For me, it was a bit more familiar. I got treated quite badly through most of school. It was a comfort, though, because it suggested that others were at least familiar with the sort of thing I was going through.

[battery jackson]

For me, it was a bit more familiar. I got treated quite badly through most of school. It was a comfort, though, because it suggested that others were at least familiar with the sort of thing I was going through.

oh i hear you man. people weren't so good to me back then either. but it was all good, i knew once i'd finish school i'd never see any of those people again. but my reaction to bullying was always the same whether it was to me or someone else who got picked on. a combination of anger, pity, and disappointment in clearly inferior peers who must meet role reversal. never got my ass kicked though. that just wasn't gonna happen. :D

[battery jackson]

speaking of school reading, pretty sure i brought it up once on here in the past, but BILOXI BLUES!!!!!!! i remember when we read it in class, the teacher who was a flaming homosexual would designate parts to different students, and i ended up having to be the guy who caught brain from another dude in the latrine. so not cool!!!! but hilarious. never would happen in a public school in this day and age though.

[Twisted]

speaking of school reading, pretty sure i brought it up once on here in the past, but BILOXI BLUES!!!!!!! i remember when we read it in class, the teacher who was a flaming homosexual would designate parts to different students, and i ended up having to be the guy who caught brain from another dude in the latrine. so not cool!!!! but hilarious. never would happen in a public school in this day and age though.

Admittedly, we didn't cover that one. It's Colorado, so all things homosexual are forbidden.

[battery jackson]

Admittedly, we didn't cover that one. It's Colorado, so all things homosexual are forbidden.

lol. it's a double whammy. that story is set in the US military of all places. they wont like that up in the springs will they?? lol

[Twisted]

they wont like that up in the springs will they?? lol

LOL I suppose it depends on whether or not he becomes a repentant pastor of a Colorado Springs megachurch.

[battery jackson]

LOL I suppose it depends on whether or not he becomes a repentant pastor of a Colorado Springs megachurch.

hahah oh nooooooooooo. i wouldn't mind living there though, if only to be part of the USA hockey organization.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

If your kids already know about vaginas and such, why would what the book says be an issue?

If they don't know about vaginas and such, hearing what another young person has to say is no different than what they are going to hear from their peers. Actually, it's probably better. Her take is probably more in line with any parent that hasn't told their kid yet than what their kid will hear in the schoolyard.

[evervigilant]

What about all the parents who didn't complain? Maybe if they all complain about the book's removal they could have it reinstated. This sort of thing annoys me with tv and radio presenters etc too. They can lose their jobs just because a few people are offended, the masses who aren't offended and don't ring in to complain aren't considered. Banning books is an archaic practice, isn't it?

[Pete Bondurant]

Anne was killed at the Auschwitz concentration camp in March, 1945. Her diary has made her arguably the most famous Holocaust victim.

Anne Frank actually survived Auschwitz. She was transported to Bergen-Belsen and died there from typhus. The author of that article is an idiot.