What book has quietly sold over a million copies, miseducates children about sex, and outrages many parents when they get hold of it? It’s 'Perfectly Normal', written by Robie Harris and illustrated by Michael Emberley, and it's been described as "pornographic." That’s putting it mildly. It's chock-full of watercolors featuring assorted sex acts and full frontal nudity. Most of the characters illustrated are pubescent boys and girls. The presentation would not be out of place on the walls of a ruined brothel in Pompeii.
'Perfectly Normal' is a self-described sexual health children's book so graphic in its contents that material from it has been banned from a state prison and several web sites. It's been targeted by the American Life League (ALL) as completely inappropriate, especially since its instruction is aimed at children ages ten and up.
Endorsed by Planned Parenthood, it contains written descriptions and cartoon depictions of sex acts, including two pictures of teenagers engaged in masturbation. The text is dismissive of religious disapproval of masturbation and also discusses deviant sex acts.
Free copies of the book are distributed to children at an annual party sponsored by Planned Parenthood.
"How can anyone claim that this book is appropriate for 10 year-olds?" asked Jim Sedlak, vice-president for American Life League.
A Washington State prison rejected a fund-raising letter that included censored images from the book for being "sexually explicit" and "obscene."
Book author Robie Harris was interviewed on the Planned Parenthood web site in response to earlier ALL reaction to her book. In the interview she said "My response is that there is no response. I could spend all of my time responding to things that are said about my work that are not true. Or I can spend my time making sure that my books are up-to-date and the information is current, and I can continue speaking at schools ... and creating new books for kids." Typical liberal dodge.
American Life League examined 'It's Perfectly Normal' in the above video report posted to several streaming-video sites. Even though it reproduced the book's most explicit content only in censored form, the ALL video was removed from vidilife.com, sharkle.com, and hi5.com for "inappropriate content," and flagged on another site to restrict viewers under 18.
"What an irony that censored content from a book intended for 10-year-old children is rejected by a prison, removed from video-streaming sites, and flagged for viewers over the age of 18," said Sedlak.
"We actually have no objection to the actions of the online sites and the prison. We agree that this is not appropriate content.”
"We are calling for libraries, schools and parents all across the country to take similar action," Sedlak continued. "Planned Parenthood should be denied access to our children at all times. The material it promotes is totally inappropriate and could be harmful."
If a dirty old man gave your kid this book in a park, he'd be under arrest. Planned Parenthood will stop at nothing to sex up the kiddies-the sooner they start screwing around, the better for business. As was rightly said in the ALL video, Planned Parenthood uses the same business model as drug dealers-get them hooked and reel them in. This isn't Planned Parenthood's only sex guide for kids - check out Healthy Happy and Hot, their guide on how to get laid for HIV positive teens. Depraved.
The brochure for people with HIV is appalling. Apparently people with HIV have a right to bear children of their own, even though up to a third of babies born to HIV+ mothers will also have HIV. If a man with HIV is with a woman who doesn't have it, there's no way (short of expensive in vitro fertilization) for him to have a baby with her without exposing her to the virus. And according to this brochure, it's entirely up to you when you want to disclose your HIV status. I didn't see anything to the effect that it is absolutely ethically inexcusable to have sex with a person you haven't yet informed.
ReplyDeleteUgh. Ugh. Ugh. And I'm all for educating children about sex, I'm not one of those people who think knowledge will take away their innocence, but there is absolutely no reason to show a child graphic pictures like this. The reason sexuality is a largely private matter isn't that it is shameful but that it is special. Surely we can reassure children that they are normal without making the most intimate moments of our lives into cartoon fodder.
If you go through the whole brochure, you'll find they actually encourage kids not to disclose their HIV status, and refer to hiding it as a 'reproductive right'. And very well said on reducing intimate moments (that ten year olds are not nearly emotionally ready for) to cartoons-really sums up who we're dealing with here.
Deletecoming from a prison, that's saying a TON. it's just like the tobacco industry creating their future customers with their cartoon ads on TV with well-known characters smoking whatever brand of cancer sticks and making it look like the cool thing to do.
ReplyDeletewhen i have kids, they're NOT getting this garbage. they're getting age appropriate stuff and only when they start asking questions, nothing elaborate. any kid whose parents taught them well doesn't need Planned Parenthood in their lives. it should be the parent's responsibility for teaching their kids about sex, not some jackass organization that thinks deliberately hiding one's HIV+ status is A-OK.
Too many parents have abdicated responsibility teaching their kids about this stuff, and PP takes full advantage of that. 10 year olds shouldn't be made to worry about this stuff-their job is to play, learn, get through school. The last thing on my mind when I was 10 was sex. Childhood is short enough, but morons like the depraved idiot who wrote this book aren't content with that, they gotta rob kids of what's left. Not on my watch.
ReplyDeletei didn't care about any of this stuff when i was 10 myself, and neither will my kids.
ReplyDeleteTen-year-olds should know the parts of their bodies and understand how they will be changing in the next few years. They should have a general understanding of how the bodies of the opposite sex are different. They should know how babies are made. They should know that sex is a beautiful part of a loving relationship but isn't something to take lightly. They should know that sexuality is part of being human, but it's also something very private. And they should be given honest, age-appropriate answers for any questions they may happen to have and explanations of any more adult situations that may happen to impact them personally. That's it. They don't want or need to know what sex looks like or how many positions you can do it in. They don't need to be taught how to masturbate - if they haven't discovered it on their own, they probably wouldn't be interested anyway. For most kids, a book like this will be an occasion for nervous giggling. (Naked people ... tee hee!) That's hardly conducive for developing a respectful, mature approach to their bodies, their sexuality, and the sexuality of others.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly how my mom handled it. She sat me down with simple diagrams of the female reproductive system, explained menstruation and why women menstruate, explained intercourse and how we get pregnant, and how not to. Half an hour and I was in the know, all my questions answered, and it came from someone I trust. She made it super simple and I didn't feel like it was over my head. LOL @ kids not needing to be taught how to masturbate-like most of them don't figure it out on their own?
Deletei just knew the basics, like what happens when we girls get older and what we have, nothing like what PP's pushing for kids to know at that age. besides, i didn't care about boys as anything else than friends.
ReplyDeleteClearly not appropriate for children, but I don't get the point of labeling something a "deviant sex act." Unless it involves rape, incest, or some form of abuse, "deviant sex act" usually translates into "something the user of the phrase considers gross." There's a difference between "kids don't need to know about this at their age" and "this sort of sex is always, always wrong no matter the circumstances." If kids don't need to know everything about every possible sex, they don't need to get sexual shame put on them, either.
ReplyDeleteGood points.
ReplyDelete