Grandmother would go to jail over book with sex info...city won't jail her

and make her a martyr for the cause. The library has received many copies since people began reading about the issue...and the court and library decided to let it go.

City closes the book on Karkos case



JoAn Karkos is not happy about that really, she wanted to make her point.


A judge has ordered JoAn Karkos of Lewiston, Maine to return two copies of It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex and Sexual Health, which she checked out the Lewiston and Auburn public libraries last year.
Boing Boing blog

From Right Wing Watch



ABC has an article and video about JoAn Karkos.

The Book Titled 'It's Perfectly Normal' Is Frequently Protested





Probably good they just let it drop. If they had sent her to jail she would have become a hero to the right wing extremists who are terrified that kids in America might learn about sex.

I have not seen the book, but before I retired from teaching this kind of thing was happening on a daily basis.

Such a low level of tolerance now for anything that does not fit the narrow bigotry of the religious extremists.

I really sounded off to a Republican friend today that I was furious that the John McCain of 2008 had chosen a person with far right religious views, that he did it to inflame the intolerant rhetoric of wedge issues and division.

The person did not disagree, and did not get angry as once would have been the case.

and this is a HUGE deal (not this particular case, but library censorship in general).

According to the ALA code of ethics, we have a responsibility to provide material to people regardless of our own moral codes. It's a tough thing to overcome. God knows I wouldn't want to stock Rush Limbaugh books, but it's our responsibility to the profession and the public. The same thing works the other way. It is NOT our place as librarians, or the public in general, to determine what others can and cannot read, see, or hear.

also, you know what will happen? They'll buy another one! Surprise! more of your tax dollars to those heathens who made the book!

Just responding to your tagline.. ;)

a upbringing that taught her: 1. sex is ONLY for procreation, and 2. women don't need to learn anything about sex until the wedding night...

And issue a lifetime ban on this old bag from ever setting foot in that library,

along with two others. No kidding. I got a boy growing up, and I think this book would be helpful. Thanks to that old fool for hipping me to this book.

I think you'll be impressed. It really explains things in a child friendly but informative manner.

:hi:

to write HER and tell her!

:P

If she continues on her crusade, them I'm sure there are appropriate remedies for that.

Sounds like she thinks she is above the law.

We, as a nation, and as a set of more-or-less liberal/progressives, have to applaud civil disobedience. More power to her if he's willing to take the consequences for her actions. Though it sounds like the city is hip to that and won't allow her to play her game.

The liberal as opposed to illiberal attitude to civil disobedience is that it is "only slightly bad in itself, and therefore often justifiable in a good cause", not "actively good, and therefore to be applauded even in bad causes".

I hate thieves.

And while that is spun as "jail for overdue library books", it is nothing of the sort. It is non-payment of a government fine, whether it is a parking ticket, a library fine or court ordered fines.

... we'd have people contact her and say that she risks being arrested on the outstanding fine if/when she shows up to vote in November. :evilgrin:

she'd receive several thousand calls and/or letters thanking her for

"having the stones to stand-up for her beliefs in an innovative, non-violent and thought provoking way. While I may not agree with your views about this book, it is certainly in the best interests of you and every American to exercise your freedom-of-expression rights, particularily when you found a method of doing so which hurt no-one, nor infringed upon anybody else's rights.

"While society did incur a very slight loss (the cost of the library books and the time of employees and resources expended trying to recover the books), it was very slight - probably in the area of maybe $500-1000 total.

"However, I sure you agree that we (society/government) have the right to seek compensation for losses (no matter how slight) we incurred as a direct result of your well-meaning protest. I believe that was the basic intention of the court while deciding how to respond to your refusal to return said books to the Library.

"I feel your protest does, at the end of the day, center around your (let's face it) theft of those books, and refusal to abide an order of the court. The court was within its rights to attempt to recoup our losses by fining you. The court would also be within its rights to give you jail time, not for stealing the books, but for contempt of court due to your ignoring a court order!

"As your protest began attracting more and more attention, it began to be seen by some as the big, bad government threatening to send Granny to jail because she tried to stand up for her rights. The result of this spinning of the truth was that the government, attempting both to save face and to prevent this issue from developing into a matter which would incur further, greater losses to respond to, decided just to drop the matter entirely.

"I applaud your courage in backing up your convictions with action, even while I disagree with those convictions. You gave me food for thought, and your actions HAVE resulted in a slight change of MY convictions! But face it, you stole those books, and to pay it right, you need to either return them or pay for them.

"You gave me something useful, so please accept my returning of the favor by putting the $1.00 in the envelope with this letter into the Book Replacement Fund which you will start-up after I say

"Sincerely ...."

earlier this year. She LOVES it! It's called "It's NOT the Stork!: A Book About Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families and Friends" and is by the same author(s). This series is excellent. The authors lay all the info out there in an age-appropriate fashion, and the cartoon illustrations are great. Since we are an adoptive family, I appreciate the fact that these books acknowledge that adoption is one the ways that families are formed. :)

For those who are looking for straightforward, factually correct, and fun sex ed books for their kiddos, check out "It's Perfectly Normal," "It's NOT the Stork," and the one other title in the series by the same authors.

When I was teaching I was on top of stuff like that, but not so much anymore. Our area is a hotbed of religious conservatism. Once a parent told me to take down a Halloween bulletin board or she would sue me. The principal backed me up.

It's weird here.

Hey, I'm in freakin' TEXAS, so I feel your pain. But since my kid isn't in school yet, I haven't had to deal with wacko parents of her future classmates...yet! I have to tell you, I am not looking forward to it.

for that to upset her.

I don't understand why they would ever threaten to jail her in the first place. Fine her and sic a collection agency on her.

That is a great idea.

Don't want your kid reading that stuff at the library? Don't let them check it out. How hard is that? Meanwhile every other parent should have the right to make the same decision for their child -- to let them check it out or to prevent them from checking it out. Same thing with sex and violence on TV.

My kids have not this particular book but several others in the same ilk -- about menstruation, puberty, body image, sexuality, sexual and reproductive health and OMG even one that shows actual photos of real women and what real, unaltered, nonairbrushed female body parts look like. I'm glad I was able to provide these resources for my daughters (they also know they can come to me with ANY and all questions without embarrassment and they will be given honest answers). Those of us with the means to can provide this for our children but there is also a need to provide these at public libraries. It's a sick person who looks at these books as perverted instead of looking at them as educational.

I would particularly recommend "Body Drama" for tween and teenage girls. It's rather graphic but the rationale for that is explained by a physician in the beginning of the book who states that she was inspired to co-write this book based on her experience as a doctor with girls who had no idea what was normal or abnormal for their bodies, didn't know the names of certain body parts, some who came in after long periods of time being petrified that there was something wrong (something that turned out to be totally normal) and, more frighteningly, girls who had serious medical conditions but did NOT come in because nobody told them that what they were experiencing was abnormal. http://www.amazon.com/Body-Drama-Bodies-Issues-Answers/dp/1592403263/ref=pd_ys_iyr15 I think this is a must read book for teenage girls and the parents who love them.

a sick, repressed society. it sounds to me like this woman has some kind of sexual hang-up. probably sour grapes.

I suppose if Gov. Palin discovers a need to spend more time with her family (TM) that Jo Ann will certainly be on the short list. She has the creds.

... Kept disappearing from local video-rental stores until they gave up replacing it.

When you have The Truth, it is difficult to leave people to wander in the Darkness of Error.

Best that you make their decision for them.

Especially about what their children should be able to read or see.

Praise The Lord!

Read the article quickly and don't see that the book has been replaced . . .


http://www.amazon.com/review/product/0763624330/ref=sr_1_1_cm_cr_acr_img?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

http://www.sunjournal.com/story/280442-3/LewistonAuburn/Shed_rather_go_to_jail/

I guess I failed to post this one.

Here is what it said...and I think I heard more had been given since then.

"Library Director Rick Speer, the only witness other than Karkos to testify during the short trial, said he was pleased with the outcome. "We felt that one person does not have the power to keep the book from 36,000 citizens of Lewiston."

After Karkos' actions were picked up by the media, the library received eight copies of the sexual education book from people around the country, including parents and concerned educators, Speer said."

The book openly discusses homosexuality. That is what this is about i bet.

I read this book with my daughters. It is clear and pretty to the point about the subject of sex. At the same time it is very informative without being over-informative. It does deal with homosexuality as simply another type of sexual expression. I recommend this book to EVERYONE with appropriately aged children.



Edited to add review link
http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?id=2483&type=book&cn=28

...and I bet she's even been too frightened to read this book --- ???

local library.

http://books.search.ebay.com/Its-Perfectly-Normal_Books_W0QQ_trksidZm37Q2el1313QQfromZR40QQsacatZ267QQsatitleZItQ27sQ20PerfectlyQ20Normal

I always vetted my kid's library choices. If the parents don't want their kids to read the book, then they can "just say no."

I don't need any repressed, anti-educational sexual prude making that choice for me.