The erasure of books on sexual abuse is striking amid an epidemic of sexual violence.
In 2021, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey found that more than one in 10 teenage girls reported having been raped—an estimated one million girls nationwide.
That same year, book bans in public school districts across the country took off with unprecedented magnitude and coordination. During that school year, PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans recorded 2,532 instances of book bans across 32 states and 138 public school districts.
In the next school year, from July 1, 2022, to June 31, 2023, a quarter of over 3,000 book bans that PEN America recorded were books with scenes of rape or sexual assault. Of the 12 most frequently banned titles, five contained scenes of rape or sexual assault: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas, Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, Sold by Patricia McCormick, and Identical by Ellen Hopkins.
The erasure of books on sexual abuse is striking amid an epidemic of sexual violence.
The book-banning movement is efficiently eradicating an already narrow space to learn about sexual violence in public schools. A book about sexual assault may certainly be triggering to some readers, or just plain difficult for others. But to make them unavailable for all students—when districts serve students who range in age from 5 to 18—is to cut off a lifeline and put students at further risk.
These books aren’t harmful—censorship is.
Locally, school boards across the country have excised curriculum about consent and healthy relationships. Nationally, increased rhetoric about “porn in schools”—rhetoric that continues to falsely conflate depictions of nudity, sexual experiences, sexuality, gender and rape with “porn”—has placed extreme pressure on schools and libraries.
Allowing students to learn about rape can help *prevent* it, and it can help those who have experienced it learn how to talk about it.
In Idaho, for example, the West Ada School District banned The Nowhere Girls, a young adult novel that challenges and examines rape culture, because a community member called it “vulgar and obscene.” The same district went on to ban several more books about sexual violence, believing them to be inappropriate—including poetry by Rupi Kaur that offers a personal account of the trauma of sexual assault and Jaycee Dugard’s memoir about her own kidnapping and rape. If West Ada follows statewide trends, about one in 10 girls in the district have already been raped; while banning these books, the committee did not comment on the vulgarity or obscenity of the real rapes occurring in their state—only the ones in print.
Such an attitude is reflected in legislation, too. In Oklahoma, one bill introduced this year would prohibit sex-ed instructors from teaching about consent. A failed 2022 bill in Virginia defined “sexually explicit content” as anything involving sexual assault, and would allow parents to prohibit their children from engaging with it. More broadly, several states prohibit school materials that include “sexual conduct” or “sex acts,” such as Iowa’s currently enjoined SF 496. And at least six states have adopted some version of Florida’s infamous “Don’t Say Gay” law, which prohibits discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in schools.
Access to information is crucial to addressing sexual violence and improving sexual health. Banning such information, from the curriculum or from the shelf, ignores the realities faced by students. There is strong evidence that comprehensive sex education protects teens from abuse, unwanted pregnancy, and disease. Similarly, allowing students to read and learn about sexual violence doesn’t cause more violence. In fact, the opposite is true: Allowing students to learn about rape can help prevent it, and it can help those who have experienced it learn how to talk about it.
Rape cannot be censored away in the real world. It shouldn’t be censored in our libraries either.
Schools and libraries can be havens for students struggling with traumatic experiences.
- A librarian in the Idaho district said The Nowhere Girls “empowers students to stand up for themselves.” It has nonetheless been banned in at least 16 districts since 2021. The late Robie Harris frequently told the story of a young girl in Delaware who pointed to a chapter about sexual abuse in her book It’s Perfectly Normal and who told her mother that it was happening to her. Even so, the book has been banned in at least 15 districts.
- A high schooler in California said Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson helped teenagers “get a taste of what it’s like to develop the kind of solidarity that young women should have with each other.” The book, an award-winning YA novel about a 13-year-old girl learning how to regain her voice after rape, has been banned in at least 16 districts.
Students deserve to see themselves in books and to cultivate empathy for the experiences of others. Books like Speak and The Nowhere Girls elevate the voices of young women and girls, and they help teach others about the traumatic realities of violence against women.
Rape cannot be censored away in the real world. It shouldn’t be censored in our libraries either.
Up next:
U.S. democracy is at a dangerous inflection point—from the demise of abortion rights, to a lack of pay equity and parental leave, to skyrocketing maternal mortality, and attacks on trans health. Left unchecked, these crises will lead to wider gaps in political participation and representation. For 50 years, Ms. has been forging feminist journalism—reporting, rebelling and truth-telling from the front-lines, championing the Equal Rights Amendment, and centering the stories of those most impacted. With all that’s at stake for equality, we are redoubling our commitment for the next 50 years. In turn, we need your help, Support Ms. today with a donation—any amount that is meaningful to you. For as little as $5 each month, you’ll receive the print magazine along with our e-newsletters, action alerts, and invitations to Ms. Studios events and podcasts. We are grateful for your loyalty and ferocity.
