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

[madfloridian]

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

LEWISTON - The showdown between the city and JoAn Karkos ended Friday even though Karkos failed to return a library book she has deemed obscene.

Karkos will not be ordered to jail for violating a judge's orders. The city will not continue trying to wrest from her a copy of "It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex and Sexual Health."

There will be no national debate drawn to Lewiston based on the arrest of a 64-year-old grandmother. City leaders believe they made the right choice by choosing to drop the matter. Karkos, they say, still has to pay a $100 fine and cannot return to the library until she does so.

"Going any further on this, really, I don't see any other gain that the city is going to have," Lewiston City Administrator Jim Bennett said. Karkos said she would have been happy to see it go further. By dismissing the matter, she said, the city is trying to make the issue go away.

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

A local woman said Wednesday she's prepared to go to jail rather than return a library book about sexuality that she calls "dangerous" to children.

JoAn Karkos, 64, was confined to a courtroom at 8th District Court for about an hour after she was ordered by a judge to hand over the borrowed book: "It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex and Sexual Health."

ABC has an article and video about JoAn Karkos.

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

Officials in Lewiston, Maine, have told JoAn Karkos that she could face jail time if she does not, by this afternoon, return the library book "It's Perfectly Normal."

Karkos has had the book checked out of the Lewiston Public Library for more than a year in hopes of preventing children from reading it. Aimed at 9- to 12-year-olds, the book discusses puberty, sexual health and the emotions surrounding a child's newfound sexual awareness.

Her protest is not the first of its kind. From Texas to Colorado, people concerned about the book's frank images and language have staged protests to get it pulled off shelves at libraries and schools.

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.

[Drunken Irishman]

1. FREAK!

[realisticphish]

2. I am just starting my Library and Information Science Master's program

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!

[Fumesucker]

15. Nope, my lips won't exceed the speed of sound.. which is what they would have to do..

Just responding to your tagline..

[Blue_Tires]

3. probably resentful because she comes from

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...

[bluestateguy]

4. The library should get 10 new copies

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

[Gold Metal Flake]

5. I just ordered this book from Amazon.

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.

[FedUpWithIt All]

24. It is a wonderful book.

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

[fudge stripe cookays]

28. Make sure...

to write HER and tell her!

[depakid]

6. Why not just fine the woman for the cost of replacing the book?

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

[madfloridian]

7. She has been fined $1000...she is making up her mind if she will pay it.

Sounds like she thinks she is above the law.

[mortfrom]

17. On the other hand

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.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

21. No, civil disobedience is "only slightly bad", not "good".

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".

[Vickers]

23. She's a thief.

I hate thieves.

[bluestateguy]

8. People have gone to jail for unpaid library fines

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.

[ColonelTom]

18. Well, if we were truly Rovian (Roveian?)...

... 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.

[coznfx]

26. But if we were guided by the spirit of what America was intended to be,

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 ...."

[TXDemGal]

9. I bought my 4-yr-old daughter a preschool version in this series

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.

[madfloridian]

10. Thanks for the info.

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.

[TXDemGal]

11. No problem!

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.

[girl gone mad]

12. She must have suffered some kind of sexual abuse..

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.

[wolfgangmo]

27. Collection agencies

That is a great idea.

[Connonym]

13. Isn't this something that falls under that republican chestnut of "personal responsibility"?

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/... I think this is a must read book for teenage girls and the parents who love them.

[barbtries]

14. we are by and large

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

[mortfrom]

16. What a hero

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.

[panzerfaust]

19. It does work: Monthy Python and the Holy Grail

... 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!

[defendandprotect]

20. Have people donated new copies of this book to the library?

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


http://www.amazon.com/review/product/0763624330/ref=sr_...

[madfloridian]

29. Yes, in one of the articles it said 8 were given.

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

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."

[defendandprotect]

30. Thank you! That's the way to do it . . . !!!

[FedUpWithIt All]

22. This is a GREAT BOOK for kids. I bet the issue is about the books open discussion about intolerenc

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.

The drawings also show the stages of sexual development in boys and girls, the many various different kinds of bodies people have, drawings of genitalia and the reproductive organs, different forms of contraception, tampons and pads, and people engaged in talking about sex and even having sex. There's nothing pornographic here and this is certainly not a how-to manual for any sexual activities. The aim of the book is to help reassure children and teenagers that what they are experiencing in puberty is perfectly normal.

The book is non-judgmental and accepting about homosexuality and bisexuality, and represents gay and lesbian sexuality as simply another way of being. It does explain that some people feel hate towards homosexuals and says that their opinions are usually based on misinformation. It promotes self-acceptance and self-knowledge, and gives fairly detailed information about the different parts of the body and what happens through puberty. The text acknowledges that some people, both adults and children, feel uncomfortable talking about sex but it points out that others find it quite comforting and helpful. One of the main themes throughout the book is that it is not necessary to feel embarrassed or anxious about puberty, masturbation, or nocturnal emissions. The book also emphasizes people should respect other people's feelings and should never force to something they don't like.

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

[defendandprotect]

31. This poor grandmother . . . wonder what she went thru as a child---??!!!

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

[1monster]

25. E-Bay has this book! Buy a copy and donate to the Lewiston Library. Buy two and donate one to your

local library.

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

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.