Topic: Censorship

One-minute review: What are some of the reasons that books are censored? Edward B. Jenkinson’s list of reasons books are challenged and banned:

children question authority;

profanity;

characters speaking non-standard English;

African American literature and dialect;

portrayal of women in traditional and non-traditional roles;

mythology;

non-Christian culture;

supernatural;

ethnic;

violence;

sex acts and language;

invasion of privacy;

too many cartoons;

homosexuality;

do not champion work ethic;

don’t promote patriotism;

negative view of parents and authority;

SciFi;

questionable authors;

“trash”;

nontraditional family;

promoting self-awareness and self-understanding;

promoting critical thinking;

unfavorable to African Americans;

use of masculine pronouns to refer to male and female.

Source: LK Winkler. English Journal (May 2005), 49. A secondary school publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Comment: That’s a pretty comprehensive list of reasons for censorship challenges. RayS.