# Angry parent gets book thrown out due to "pornographic stick figures" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 1, 2004, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-parent-gets-book-thrown-out-due-to-pornographic-stick-figures/267055 "2004-10-01T16:32:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-parent-gets-book-thrown-out-due-to-pornographic-stick-figures/267055/1 "2004-10-01T16:32:51Z")
[Article here](http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1001evbook.html) Since I haven’t read this book, I can’t vouch for the material inside. Based on the title, it sounds like a book that attempts to help young girls feel okay about their bodies. Perhaps someone in the bookselling industry, or someone that’s actually read the book, can shed some light on the materials therein. But banned thanks to the complaints from one mother? Really? It seems to me that if you think your 16 year-old daughter will be damaged by a book about their own bodies, then perhaps your biggest problem isn’t the book in the library. Ass. ---
**Author:** ![presidebt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c37758/32.png) [@presidebt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/presidebt)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-parent-gets-book-thrown-out-due-to-pornographic-stick-figures/267055/2 "2004-10-01T17:04:10Z")
> [@Chastain86](#): > > [Article here](http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1001evbook.html) > > Since I haven’t read this book, I can’t vouch for the material inside. Based on the title, it sounds like a book that attempts to help young girls feel okay about their bodies. Perhaps someone in the bookselling industry, or someone that’s actually read the book, can shed some light on the materials therein. > > But banned thanks to the complaints from one mother? Really? > > It seems to me that if you think your 16 year-old daughter will be damaged by a book about their own bodies, then perhaps your biggest problem isn’t the book in the library. > > Ass. Thanks for posting the link, because I found [www.gurl.com](http://www.gurl.com) as a result, which I plan on checking out to see if it’s appropriate for my daughter. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-parent-gets-book-thrown-out-due-to-pornographic-stick-figures/267055/3 "2004-10-01T17:14:31Z")
> [@Chastain86](#): > > But banned thanks to the complaints from one mother? Really? > > It seems to me that if you think your 16 year-old daughter will be damaged by a book about their own bodies, then perhaps your biggest problem isn’t the book in the library. > > Ass. The librarian looked at and agreed. Apparently it had stick figures going over various sexual positions. I don’t actually have a problem with the illustrations if that’s the case, but it’s not the most unreasonable complaint I’ve ever heard when it comes to parents trying to get a book out of the school library. ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-parent-gets-book-thrown-out-due-to-pornographic-stick-figures/267055/4 "2004-10-01T17:20:01Z")
> [@article...](#): > > a book her 16-year-old daughter, Pamella, checked out at the Desert Ridge High School library A 16 year old wanting to learn more about her body and sex? 16 is too young to be learning about those things in school! Won’t somebody please think of the children?! ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-parent-gets-book-thrown-out-due-to-pornographic-stick-figures/267055/5 "2004-10-01T17:37:24Z")
> [@](#): > > "I turned right to the table of contents and went, ‘No, no, no. This has too much specific sexual information for my library,’ " Satterthwaite said. Because, reading the table of contents is really the same as actually reading the book. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-parent-gets-book-thrown-out-due-to-pornographic-stick-figures/267055/6 "2004-10-01T17:54:29Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > Because, reading the table of contents is really the same as actually reading the book. Well, you couldn’t really expect her to open to the main part of the book without protective goggles on now could you? Who knows what filth, wretchedness, and perversions lie within. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-parent-gets-book-thrown-out-due-to-pornographic-stick-figures/267055/7 "2004-10-01T18:13:23Z")
I noticed the story occurred in Gilbert. Is this the same Gilbert where [a principal suspended a student for inhaling helium](http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=28840)? ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-parent-gets-book-thrown-out-due-to-pornographic-stick-figures/267055/8 "2004-10-01T22:31:41Z")
> [@](#): > > A controversial guide for teenage girls was yanked off high school library bookshelves in Gilbert on Wednesday after a mother labeled it as “a how-to book on sex.” Gee, in my day, we figured out how to have sex on our own… ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-parent-gets-book-thrown-out-due-to-pornographic-stick-figures/267055/9 "2004-10-01T22:39:12Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > I noticed the story occurred in Gilbert. Is this the same Gilbert where [a principal suspended a student for inhaling helium](http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=28840)? Well, that´s an interesting method for getting high. ---
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-parent-gets-book-thrown-out-due-to-pornographic-stick-figures/267055/10 "2004-10-01T22:39:54Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > Gee, in my day, we figured out how to have sex on our own… I personally figured it out a long time before I was 16. Mind you, much of my “research and development” was done in a solo laboratory, so to speak. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-parent-gets-book-thrown-out-due-to-pornographic-stick-figures/267055/11 "2004-10-01T23:50:38Z")
> [@](#): > > "I turned right to the table of contents and went, ‘No, no, no. This has too much specific sexual information for my library,’ " Satterthwaite said. So they should walk down the street after school to the public library where they can check out such smut and filth and bring it to school to show their friends. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-parent-gets-book-thrown-out-due-to-pornographic-stick-figures/267055/12 "2004-10-02T00:12:33Z")
> [@](#): > > “It shows stick figures in sexual positions, and it’s just not right.” And I suppose they regularly go through the text books and white out/erase all the breasts and penises drawn on the pictures therein? Or have kids stopped doing that in the couple years I’ve been out of high school? I agree with Neurotik it’s not a completely unreasonable complaint, but at the same time I want to shake my head because last time I checked high school kids were 15+ and by that point were getting some interesting facts from their peers. A little straight dope on sex won’t hurt them, especially as it’s not like the school is _forcing_ their precious daughters to read this smutty evil book. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-parent-gets-book-thrown-out-due-to-pornographic-stick-figures/267055/13 "2004-10-02T01:14:02Z")
> [@](#): > > “It shows stick figures in sexual positions, and it’s just not right.” Because marriage is between a _man_ and a _woman_ and we need an amendment to prevent anybody from marrying those damn stick figures! I mean, you can’t even tell which is which! ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-parent-gets-book-thrown-out-due-to-pornographic-stick-figures/267055/14 "2004-10-02T03:37:09Z")
> [@](#): > > Because marriage is between a man and a woman and we need an amendment to prevent anybody from marrying those damn stick figures! I mean, you can’t even tell which is which! I heard that if we vote for Kerry, the liberals will ban the bible unless it is illustrated with stick figures having sex. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-parent-gets-book-thrown-out-due-to-pornographic-stick-figures/267055/15 "2004-10-02T04:02:10Z")
That linkie no workie for me. Better linkie? [http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/1001evbook.html](http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/1001evbook.html) > [@](#): > > “It’s basically pornography, and it’s just awful,” [16-year-old Pamella’s mother Mrs. Deborah] Myers said. "It shows stick figures in sexual positions, and it’s just not right. I don’t happen to believe that showing figures in sexual positions automatically “counts” as “porn”, but in the interests of research, I will go and look. I see from a search of the Decatur Public Library’s online database that while they do not have a copy of _Deal with It! A Whole New Approach to Your Body, Brain and Life as a Gurl_, the Rolling Prairie Library System detects one down in Chatham. I will request it tomorrow and get back to you sometime next week. …unless God strikes me down for reading porn, in which case I hereby bequeath all my unused SDMB pixels to the Salvation Army. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-parent-gets-book-thrown-out-due-to-pornographic-stick-figures/267055/16 "2004-10-02T15:23:23Z")
I flipped through some of [gurl.com](http://gurl.com), and you know what-- almost everything on that site was something I learned about in grade 4. _In Class_ I just don’t understand censors. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-parent-gets-book-thrown-out-due-to-pornographic-stick-figures/267055/17 "2004-10-02T15:36:55Z")
This whole crapola of wanting to shield people from violence and sex is stupid. The whole point of exposure to such things in a controlled/safe environment is to better prepare them for the inevitable encounter in unsafe, real world environment. I wish people would have some fucking courage and realize this. ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-parent-gets-book-thrown-out-due-to-pornographic-stick-figures/267055/18 "2004-10-02T15:54:40Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > I flipped through some of [gurl.com](http://gurl.com), and you know what-- almost everything on that site was something I learned about in grade 4. _In Class_. Everything but the spelling on the message boards, which is offensively abysmal. Methinks that some of these gurls (argh!) should spend a little less time worrying about where their clitorises (clitorii?) are and a little more time learning how to spell. But that’s just me. Meanwhile, nerts to Mrs. Myers. When young Pamella comes home with an STD or unintended pregnancy, she’ll learn her lesson the hard way about why access to information about sexual matters – even if accompanied by “pornographic” stick figures – is important. ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-parent-gets-book-thrown-out-due-to-pornographic-stick-figures/267055/19 "2004-10-02T17:19:46Z")
From talking to my peers now (I’m 20), I’ve heard some hilarious misconceptions that they had as teenagers about sex due to lack of good sex education. Some of them only figured certain human anatomical issues out during their first sexual experiences. And guess what? Despite the efforts of backwards loonies everywhere, my generation is still sexually active. Ignorance won’t stop human nature from taking its course; it will just lead to unnecessarily risky behavior. ---
**Author:** ![Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krisfer_the_Cat)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-parent-gets-book-thrown-out-due-to-pornographic-stick-figures/267055/20 "2004-10-02T20:46:12Z")
Makes me glad I have a son 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-parent-gets-book-thrown-out-due-to-pornographic-stick-figures/267055.md?page=2)