Arizona School Librarian 'Deals With It,' Yanks Book from Shelf

by Jim Brown
October 25, 2004

(AgapePress) - Some Arizona high schools have removed a sexually explicit book from library bookshelves. The move comes after parents complained the book was filled with pornography.

Even though it is billed as a "hip, no-nonsense resource book for girls," Deal With It! A Whole New Approach to Your Body, Brain and Life as a Gurl (Pocket, 1999) is no longer in Gilbert high school libraries. The book, also billed as a "sumptuously colorful and solid puberty guide for girls," reportedly legitimizes lesbianism and bisexuality. In a chapter titled "Sexual Preference," for example, topics include "Sexual preference is a continuum," "Why do girls like girls?," and "Homophobia."

Gilbert High School librarian Tally Satterthwaite explains she "deselected" the book after looking at the table of contents for areas parents would dislike. Some sections, she says were "too specific" or clearly "not appropriate" for a high school library to provide.

"What I saw in a very brief review was that it was accurate and clear information," the librarian says, "but that it just went much too specifically into sex acts." A book purporting to show children how to have better sex, she says, has no place in high school libraries.

Does removal of the book constitute censorship? Satterthwaite does not think so. She says in first selecting the book, she employed "professional judgment based on reviews and recommended lists."

"Then when I heard that it was a problem, I looked at it and -- using professional judgment once again -- decided that it was not appropriate for my library," she explains, adding that it is not the first time she has decided a book is inappropriate for her library.