Stories For ...?
Oct. 13th, 2004 10:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coalescentJohn Kessell's excellent, Tiptree Award-winning, novella 'Stories For Men' (review) has been banned at one school in Oregon ... and it happened during Banned Books Week. D'oh!
In unrelated news, the Bad Fantasy Cover demons have caught up with Charles Stross. It had to happen sooner or later.
The right to intellectual freedom came under fire recently when a science-fiction short story was removed from an English class at Seaside High School. SHS English teacher Jan Priddy has taught her science-fiction course as an elective for several years. In the class, Priddy gives her students a choice between the short story "Stories for Men" by John Kessel, or a short story by Mark Twain. Because each student was able to choose which work they wished to read, the arrangement worked out well for everyone.Fortunately, the story is available online (or you can pay the princely sum of three dollars to own it as an ebook from here), so overall this is an even more pointless endeavour than such bans usually are. Anyone who hasn't read it should go and do so immediately!
This year, however, one of her students upset by the content of "Stories for Men," shared the story with her mother, Kathy Wilson, who was similarly upset over the sexual content of the short story.
Wilson contacted Seaside High School Principal Don Wickersham to discuss her concerns over the short story’s content. Initially, Wickersham was not familiar the work, but, after reading the passages in question, found them to be "inappropriate." Wickersham next met with Priddy who "saw where it could be deemed inappropriate and chose to remove it from her class," Wickersham said.
As a result, "Stories for Men" is no longer available for any student to read in Priddy’s class, Wickersham said. Priddy refused to comment, but in an earlier statement to the press said that she was aware that some people might find portions of "Stories for Men" objectionable but that it is necessary to read the entire work to understand its meaning.
Upon hearing of the situation here in Seaside, the work’s author, John Kessel, has offered to talk with parents, teachers and administrators, "should they wish to understand what I think this story is about and how I hope that it would cause young people to think about their attitudes toward men and women in society."
"It is unfortunate when students are prevented from reading and discussing work in the classroom," Kessel continued. "The English classroom is one of the last places in our society where young people who are going to be the citizens of the future are challenged to think, to develop their values, to test their understanding of people and society against what thoughtful people have written in times before them and in our own."
The case against "Stories for Men" happened to occur during the American Library Association’s Banned Books Week. Banned Books Week was created in 1982 to celebrate the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular. According to the ALA Web site, Banned Books Week stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them, thus preserving intellectual freedom.
Kessel believes that most good literature is meant to be provocative. "A good story—especially a good science fiction story—should make you question and think about things that you might otherwise take for granted.
"It has never been my intent to offend readers for the sake of offending readers," he continued, "it is unfortunate when students are prevented from reading and discussing work in the classroom."
[via Locus Online]
In unrelated news, the Bad Fantasy Cover demons have caught up with Charles Stross. It had to happen sooner or later.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2004-10-13 04:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-13 05:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-13 05:51 am (UTC)(And then I went away and read a blurb or two, but I doubt most people will bother.)
Stross cover
Date: 2004-10-13 05:43 am (UTC)Re: Stross cover
Date: 2004-10-13 05:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-13 08:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-13 08:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-13 02:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-14 12:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-14 12:22 am (UTC)I read the first chapter...
Date: 2004-10-13 08:43 am (UTC)Re: I read the first chapter...
Date: 2004-10-13 08:51 am (UTC)Seriously, the whole thing is worth a read. The Tiptree is given to fiction that 'expands or explores our understanding of gender', and this certainly does that.
Re: I read the first chapter...
Date: 2004-10-13 11:00 am (UTC)Re: I read the first chapter...
Date: 2004-10-13 11:08 am (UTC)Re: I read the first chapter...
Date: 2004-10-13 12:52 pm (UTC)I'll be handing in my sf geek card at the door on my way out.
Re: I read the first chapter...
Date: 2004-10-13 01:50 pm (UTC)*never had a card in the first place*
Re: I read the first chapter...
Date: 2004-10-14 12:01 am (UTC)