Customer Takes Action Over Bookstore's Display of Sexually Explicit Book
by Allie Martin
August 31, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A concerned mother is applying pressure to a national bookstore chain in an effort to have any sexually explicit books sold in its stores displayed where minors cannot see them.Last week, managers at the Waldenbooks located at Singing River Mall in Gautier, Mississippi, removed all books from the store's "Relationships" section. This action was prompted by complaints from one Gulf Coast mother, who became upset when she noticed a book called The Good Sex Bible displayed on a bargain table where her teenage son and other minors could easily view it.
The woman contacted police, citing a state law that makes it illegal to display sexually-oriented materials or make them available to minors. Pat Vaughn, an attorney with the American Family Association, is representing the mother and says businesses have an obligation to follow the law.
"The statute is quite explicit," he notes. "There's about a dozen things you can't depict."
Even if a bookstore has been violating the law inadvertently, Vaughn says, they still have a responsibility under the law to restrict access to sexually-oriented literature. "So somebody needs to take an hour, go through the books, cull out the ones that violate the law and put those in wrappers," he recommends.
"There's no reason why stores can't sell all of these kinds of materials under Mississippi law," the attorney adds, "but they can't display it for children to look at." And for a retailer to do so "is really a corporate crime," he observes -- one for which he advises Christians to help hold corporate America accountable.
"I would encourage [them] to go to their local mall and look at what's being displayed and perhaps, if it's not on the bargain table, go look at the Relationships section," Vaughn says. "And if there's offensive stuff that might be legal in an adult bookstore but doesn't belong in your mall," he urges, "complain to the manager."
An official with Borders Group, Inc., the parent company of Waldenbooks, said the Gautier store location will eventually restock its Relationships section after officials assess the situation.
According to an article in the South Mississippi Sun Herald, the company's self-imposed censorship was initiated on the advice of Borders Group's corporate attorneys, partly to avoid charges being filed against the bookstore's manager.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
