A YA book that deals with tough and unfortunately relevant subject matter, SPEAK, is under attack. You can read more about that here.
I see two separate issues here. One, silencing people who talk about violence against women and girls does not make violence against women and girls go away. It only helps perpetuate the problem.
Two, if you are concerned about what your kids read (and I’m sorry, but you only have the right to be concerned about what YOUR kids read), the best way to deal with that is not by banning books. It’s by reading with your kids, going to libraries and bookstores with them, and guiding them to appropriate choices when needed.
My kids are far too young to read SPEAK. We’re reading Ivy and Bean here. But the need to direct kids to more appropriate reading level started well before kindergarten. My five year old wants to read comic books with werewolves and monsters in them. She’s not old enough to deal with graphic images. So we guide her to age appropriate comics featuring characters like Lightning McQueen, and to picture books like Neil Gaiman’s The Dangerous Alphabet, which is creepy enough to please her but still well within her tolerance.
We don’t just tell her no, you can’t read that book/see that movie or TV show. We explain why and help her choose something else.
Like it or not, kids are experiencing the problems confronted in SPEAK
in reality, and pretending that isn’t true will not make it true. Why
not read the book with your kid and use it as an opportunity to discuss
personal safety, what to do if the worst happens, what to do if it
happens to a friend?
I read an interview in which a friend of the deceased author of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo said he wrote the books because he was haunted by a rape he witnessed as a teen, when he was so shocked and unprepared for the reality that he didn’t know what to do and only realized later that he probably could have stopped it. So SPEAK doesn’t only speak to girls.
Violence against women is a reality. It happens to all age groups, including those who are least experienced and knowledgeable and least able to deal with the consequences. I encourage parents of teens to at least discuss these issues with their kids and point them to resources and help them think of appropriate actions they or their friends could take. Maybe the book isn’t for you, or isn’t for your kids, but these issues are likely to confront them at some point in their lives, and talking about it is a far better choice than silence.
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