Harmful to Minors: How Book Bans Hurt Adolescent Development

Harmful Effects of Book Bans on Adolescent Development

• Article analyzes the increasing wave of book bans in the United States.
  • Modern focus on young people's reading materials began about 50 years ago with increased publication of realistic depictions of young people's experiences and identities.
  • Current censorship is larger, more politicized, and targets marginalized identities (people of color and LGBTQ+).
  • Argues that book banning uniquely burdens adolescent development and is particularly harmful to marginalized youth.

Key Definitions

• Book Ban (PEN America definition): Action taken against a book based on content due to challenges, administrative decisions, or lawmaker actions, leading to removal or restriction of access.
  • Temporary restrictions during review are considered bans.
• Book Challenge: Attempt to remove a book from a school or public library.
• Children/Minors: People 18 or under or in primary/secondary education.
• Young People/Adolescents: Those 13 and up (roughly 7th grade or older).

Historical Overview of Book Bans in the United States

• Book banning is not new; historically focused on allegedly dangerous ideas.
  • Ancient Greece: Plato proposed editing Homer for immature readers.
  • Pre-printing press: Authorities banned books threatening church or state.
  • Late 19th/early 20th centuries: Suppression of books educating workers/encouraging unionizing, or discussing sex.
  • World Wars I & II: Removal of pro-German propaganda.
  • McCarthy era: Efforts to remove Communist materials and anti-Catholic or harmful stereotypical representations.
• 1939: ALA created its Bill of Rights, followed by the Committee on Intellectual Freedom to track censorship.
• Shift of focus toward preventing children from reading books deemed inappropriate:
  • Increased literacy rates and schooling.
  • Cheaper access to books (paperbacks, mass printing).
  • State and federal funding of public libraries (WPA spent 51,000,000 between 1931-1945).
  • Move toward children's literature not solely designed to morally prime children.
• Earlier, authors followed unwritten rules about language and topics; libraries restricted collections to morally improving titles.
• Books challenging these rules emerged and were challenged themselves.
  • The Catcher in the Rye (1951): Questioned almost immediately.
  • 1960s/70s: Authors like Judy Blume, Robert Cormier, Norma Klein began accurately depicting children's experiences and identities.
  • 1980s: These books became the focus of scrutiny.
• Heightened censorship during political turmoil or change.
  • Post-World War II: Anti-communist sentiment.
  • 1980s: Unease during Reagan presidency, desire to suppress humanist/secular ideology.
  • Recent years: Political divides over the Trump presidency, growth of Black Lives Matter, increased support for LGBTQ+ communities.
    • 76% of the 50 groups involved in book bans were founded in 2021 or later.
• Three contexts contributing to heightened sense of needing control:
  • Panic over (mythical) teaching of Critical Race Theory (started in 2019).
  • COVID-19 pandemic, online school, vaccines, mask requirements causing conflict and erosion in trust of school districts and government officials.
  • Return to in-person schooling with lingering fears of safety and unresolved tensions.
• Basis for challenges has changed over time.
  • Early on: Language (cursing, blasphemy).
  • Later: Sex and bodily functions.
    • Judy Blume's Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret (menstruation) and Deenie (masturbation).
  • 1980s: Any mention of sexuality, particularly girls'.
  • Late 1990s/early 2000s: Witchcraft (Harry Potter series).
• Consistently, books about the