1 00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:07,680 Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Stephman 2 00:00:07,720 --> 00:00:19,440 Speaker 1: Never Told You, a production of iHeart Radio. And recently 3 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:24,360 Speaker 1: we had an episode where we talked about book banning, 4 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:28,240 Speaker 1: specifically what's going on in the United States right now 5 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:31,479 Speaker 1: with book banning, which is a lot. But as we 6 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:35,640 Speaker 1: mentioned in that episode, book banning has quite a long history, 7 00:00:36,479 --> 00:00:40,800 Speaker 1: quite a long history, and it's pretty telling. And in 8 00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:46,440 Speaker 1: that spirit, we do have a classic all about banned 9 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:51,640 Speaker 1: books for you to give you more context in this conversation, 10 00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:59,040 Speaker 1: So please enjoy. Welcome to Stuff Mom Never Told You 11 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:07,120 Speaker 1: From housetop dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 12 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:12,039 Speaker 1: I'm Kristen and I'm Caroline, and today, by listener requests, 13 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:16,120 Speaker 1: we are kicking off a two part Summer book Club 14 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:21,319 Speaker 1: two thousand and twelve series, and we're talking about saucy 15 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:29,920 Speaker 1: books books. We've discussed romance novels before, the genre unfortunately 16 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:35,520 Speaker 1: termed chick lit before, and I would say that for 17 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:42,320 Speaker 1: women's literature popular fiction this summer. The title that everybody's 18 00:01:42,319 --> 00:01:46,720 Speaker 1: talking about is we gotta say it, Caroline, It's fifty 19 00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:49,440 Speaker 1: Shades of Gray. Yeah, And as I was just telling Kristin, 20 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:51,080 Speaker 1: I didn't even really know what this book was until 21 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:53,400 Speaker 1: about a month ago. Yeah, and there was a specific 22 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:57,680 Speaker 1: request also for our summer book club series do not 23 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:00,640 Speaker 1: be about fifty Shades of Gray. So don't worry, We're 24 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:04,960 Speaker 1: not about to talk about you know what some might 25 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:09,960 Speaker 1: not really appreciate in terms of erotic fiction, that is, 26 00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:12,600 Speaker 1: fifty Shades of Gray. But all this fifty Shades of 27 00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:17,079 Speaker 1: Gray buzz got us thinking about books that are hard 28 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:20,720 Speaker 1: to get your hands on, and specifically book banning in 29 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:24,440 Speaker 1: the US, because I think today in the information age, 30 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:27,520 Speaker 1: with the Internet, you know, we can it seems like 31 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:31,679 Speaker 1: we can read whatever we want, but that was certainly 32 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:35,919 Speaker 1: not the case for a long time here in the US, 33 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:40,200 Speaker 1: and going back in history to as far back as oh, 34 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:43,720 Speaker 1: I don't know for fifty BC. What happened in four 35 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:52,600 Speaker 1: fifty BC? Well, Carol on a guy named Anaxagris an 36 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:55,200 Speaker 1: axe Gorris, thank you, Okay, we'll just run with that. 37 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:58,520 Speaker 1: A guy with a not easily to roll off the 38 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:03,799 Speaker 1: tongue name Anaxagoras. He wrote some stuff and people did 39 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:07,080 Speaker 1: not like it. Yeah. He was a Greek philosopher who 40 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:09,480 Speaker 1: ended up getting forced out of Athens and had his 41 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:13,160 Speaker 1: writings burned after claiming that this crazy notion that the 42 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:15,800 Speaker 1: sun was actually a white hot stone and the moon 43 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:20,280 Speaker 1: reflected the Sun's rays. So everybody's like, get out out 44 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:24,040 Speaker 1: of town. We hate you, you're stupid. And then in 45 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:30,680 Speaker 1: three Socrates was required to drink poison for supposedly corrupting youth, 46 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:34,640 Speaker 1: leading them to criticize Athens again, what's going on with 47 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 1: you Greeks? But I mean seriously, like, as long as 48 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:40,760 Speaker 1: there've been ideas or thoughts happening, there's been some form 49 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:45,640 Speaker 1: of censorship. Yeah, and people, humans, human animals seemed to 50 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:50,920 Speaker 1: really enjoy just having things on paper, other people's ideas 51 00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:55,080 Speaker 1: on paper that they can then rip up or ban all. 52 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 1: Anaxagoras got got so much guff because they thought that 53 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:02,400 Speaker 1: he was being derogatory to the gods. Yeah, and that 54 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:07,560 Speaker 1: kind of theme of offending people's religious sensibilities is certainly 55 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:11,720 Speaker 1: something that we still see with book banning today, and 56 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:14,120 Speaker 1: it was something when we go look at the history 57 00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 1: of book banning in the US, Christianity does play a 58 00:04:20,080 --> 00:04:23,479 Speaker 1: pretty big role, starting in eighteen seventy three with US 59 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:28,360 Speaker 1: Post Service inspector and politician Anthony Comstock, who was a 60 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:31,960 Speaker 1: devout Christian and founder of the New York Society for 61 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:36,160 Speaker 1: the Suppression of Vice, right, And this whole society's goal 62 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:41,120 Speaker 1: was to prevent obscene materials from polluting the minds of 63 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:45,400 Speaker 1: the American people. And he really targeted erotica and crime stories, 64 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:47,320 Speaker 1: which I think is funny. So it's not just sexy 65 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:49,839 Speaker 1: times that he doesn't want people to read about. It's 66 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:53,599 Speaker 1: crime too. And he considered dime novels to be pornography 67 00:04:53,640 --> 00:05:00,120 Speaker 1: for children. Yeah, And this kind of puritanical intrusion on 68 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:03,839 Speaker 1: literature and printing was It seemed like it was pretty 69 00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:07,680 Speaker 1: widely accepted at the time, because Congress did pass the 70 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:11,479 Speaker 1: Comstock Acts, which were an anti obscenity bill that Comstock 71 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:15,120 Speaker 1: had drafted, which included a ban on contraceptives and also 72 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:19,080 Speaker 1: barred obscene literature from interstate commerce. And this kind of 73 00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:24,960 Speaker 1: puritanical intrusion on literature and what people were and weren't 74 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:29,599 Speaker 1: allowed to read legally was I mean, I guess fairly 75 00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:32,560 Speaker 1: widespread at the time because US Congress did pass the 76 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:36,320 Speaker 1: Comstock Act while which was an antip scenity bill that 77 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:40,159 Speaker 1: Anthony Comstock had drafted, which included a ban on contraceptives 78 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:44,440 Speaker 1: and also barred obscene literature from interstate commerce and by 79 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:49,640 Speaker 1: obscene literature. We are also talking about things like Margaret 80 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:55,640 Speaker 1: Sanger's early pamphlets on contraception. Oh oh my. I mean 81 00:05:55,680 --> 00:06:00,159 Speaker 1: even even that like kind of biological reproductive information is 82 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:04,560 Speaker 1: considered you know, banned. Yeah, it's so funny. Everybody got 83 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:07,560 Speaker 1: their panties on a twist about just learning about women's bodies, 84 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:11,640 Speaker 1: just learning about contraception, family planning, anything like that, any 85 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:15,040 Speaker 1: any sexy anything, Yeah, was just too much, and all 86 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:17,480 Speaker 1: because it had to do with women's bodies. They were like, Nope, nope, 87 00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:19,680 Speaker 1: can't read it. It's going to pollute everybody's minds. We're 88 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:22,200 Speaker 1: all going to be filthy afterward. And something that I 89 00:06:22,279 --> 00:06:29,400 Speaker 1: didn't know was that Boston was really the hotbed of 90 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:35,200 Speaker 1: literary suppression. Bostonians out there, you guys, I mean, claim 91 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:39,560 Speaker 1: to fame one books were so often banned in Boston 92 00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:45,080 Speaker 1: that in the nineteen fifties, stoleacious titles would be labeled 93 00:06:45,279 --> 00:06:48,640 Speaker 1: banned in Boston to help move them off the shelves 94 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:50,320 Speaker 1: because people be like, oh, it must be bad if 95 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:53,719 Speaker 1: it was banned in Boston. Yeah, I don't, I don't 96 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:55,680 Speaker 1: get it. I mean, you guys had the tea party. 97 00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:58,080 Speaker 1: You know, you threw tea bags in the water and stuff, 98 00:06:58,120 --> 00:06:59,840 Speaker 1: and now here you are banning books. I don't get it. 99 00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:02,320 Speaker 1: But the efforts in Boston were really led by the 100 00:07:02,360 --> 00:07:06,280 Speaker 1: watch and Wards Society, who kind of like Comstocks New 101 00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:09,520 Speaker 1: York Society for the Suppression of Ice. Yeah, this was 102 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:11,880 Speaker 1: coming from the Boston Globe. Just to give you a 103 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:16,480 Speaker 1: sense of how much the Watching Wards Society cracked down 104 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:19,480 Speaker 1: and also how much people like I mean, they jumped 105 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:23,040 Speaker 1: when the Watching Words Society cracked its whip. For instance, 106 00:07:23,440 --> 00:07:27,680 Speaker 1: in its heyday, the Boston Public Library kept books which 107 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:31,160 Speaker 1: the Watching Wards Society found objectionable in a locked room. 108 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:34,200 Speaker 1: The Museum of Fine Arts kept parts of its Asian 109 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:37,440 Speaker 1: collection behind doors. And again the you know, the label 110 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:42,640 Speaker 1: band in Boston became a selling point for smutty literature. Yeah, 111 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:46,720 Speaker 1: well they weren't the only ones. The nineteen fifties were definitely, 112 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:51,160 Speaker 1: definitely a stretch of time that was big on book banning. Yeah, 113 00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:55,560 Speaker 1: for sure. In nineteen fifty three, for instance, Senator Joseph McCarthy, 114 00:07:56,040 --> 00:07:59,080 Speaker 1: whose name should be very familiar, had his AIDS search 115 00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:02,040 Speaker 1: US Information and Service libraries in Europe and Asia for 116 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:07,800 Speaker 1: subversive books and libraries were accused of circulating communist materials. Yeah, 117 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:10,880 Speaker 1: all the McCarthyism that was sweeping the nation at the 118 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:14,520 Speaker 1: time seemed to kind of replace banning books on the 119 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:18,760 Speaker 1: basis of immorality to banning books on the basis of 120 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:23,600 Speaker 1: subversive communist undertones, right, just making everybody scared, yeah, and 121 00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:28,440 Speaker 1: burning books and such. But then, thank goodness, in nineteen 122 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:31,600 Speaker 1: eighty two, the Supreme Court stepped in with the case 123 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:36,800 Speaker 1: Board of Education Island Tree School District versus Pico with 124 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:41,120 Speaker 1: a little bit of a little bit of sensibility about 125 00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:44,440 Speaker 1: this whole book banning issue. Yeah, they ruled that public 126 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:47,120 Speaker 1: school boards could not remove a book from the library quote, 127 00:08:47,160 --> 00:08:51,000 Speaker 1: simply because they disliked the ideas contained in those books. 128 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:54,200 Speaker 1: Basically saying that there needs to be a balance between 129 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:57,680 Speaker 1: school's role as an educator and student's right of access 130 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:00,880 Speaker 1: to the material. So a book has to be pervasively 131 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:06,120 Speaker 1: vulgar to be banned. Yeah, And this case sprang out 132 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:11,080 Speaker 1: of nineteen seventy six issue where a bunch of parents 133 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:15,160 Speaker 1: and school staff ordered that certain books be removed from 134 00:09:15,280 --> 00:09:18,520 Speaker 1: a junior high in high school library. And to give 135 00:09:18,559 --> 00:09:21,040 Speaker 1: you an idea of some of the books that they 136 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:24,760 Speaker 1: wanted to ban Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, A Go 137 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:28,440 Speaker 1: ask Alice, which is a commonly banned book, A Reader 138 00:09:28,480 --> 00:09:33,040 Speaker 1: for Writers edited by Jerome Walter Archer, The Naked Ape, 139 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:37,640 Speaker 1: The Best Short Stories by Negro Writers edited by Langston Hughes, 140 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:41,720 Speaker 1: a lot of other race related titles as well. And 141 00:09:41,760 --> 00:09:44,800 Speaker 1: they claimed that the books were anti American, anti Christian, 142 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:49,600 Speaker 1: anti Semitic, and just playing filthy, and thankfully the Supreme 143 00:09:49,640 --> 00:09:52,920 Speaker 1: Court stepped in and said yeah, yeah. And there was 144 00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:56,280 Speaker 1: another case in nineteen eighty nine Texas v. Johnson, where 145 00:09:56,360 --> 00:09:59,440 Speaker 1: a Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Junior, said that 146 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:02,840 Speaker 1: there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment. It 147 00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:05,280 Speaker 1: is that the government may not prohibit the expression of 148 00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:09,199 Speaker 1: an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive 149 00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:12,199 Speaker 1: or disagreeable. So we have people like this saying things 150 00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:15,840 Speaker 1: like this, which are wonderful and supportive of knowledge and 151 00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:20,520 Speaker 1: access to knowledge. But book banning efforts to ban books 152 00:10:20,559 --> 00:10:23,600 Speaker 1: are not going away, basically no. And the thing is, 153 00:10:23,640 --> 00:10:26,640 Speaker 1: even though we have Supreme Court justices like William J. 154 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:31,600 Speaker 1: Brenner who have in the past supported First Amendment rights 155 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:35,160 Speaker 1: and the freedom of expression. That is not to say 156 00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:42,040 Speaker 1: that obscene literature is legally protected in the US. So 157 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:45,600 Speaker 1: a case that christ and I actually learned about in 158 00:10:45,679 --> 00:10:50,440 Speaker 1: our journalism days at college and in our legal ethics 159 00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:53,080 Speaker 1: course exactly we had a very dynamic professor. I really 160 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:57,320 Speaker 1: liked that class. This case is called Miller v. California, 161 00:10:57,360 --> 00:11:00,400 Speaker 1: and it basically established a three point test for scinity. 162 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:04,480 Speaker 1: And those points are one, the text must appeal to 163 00:11:04,679 --> 00:11:08,880 Speaker 1: prurient interests when taken as a whole, it must involve 164 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:14,000 Speaker 1: patently offensive sexual conduct. And it must contain no literary, artistic, political, 165 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:16,160 Speaker 1: or scientific value. And these are points that have come 166 00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:19,599 Speaker 1: up again and again in various cases because there is 167 00:11:19,679 --> 00:11:22,839 Speaker 1: a desire to protect literature that is actually out there 168 00:11:22,840 --> 00:11:27,079 Speaker 1: to inform and to educate it. This will prevent people 169 00:11:27,080 --> 00:11:29,320 Speaker 1: from this willy nilly being like, well, that's against my 170 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:31,600 Speaker 1: religious beliefs or my moral beliefs, and I don't want 171 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:33,760 Speaker 1: anybody else to read it. Yeah, And in the in 172 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:38,760 Speaker 1: the past, the way that the law approached obscenity was 173 00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:41,720 Speaker 1: more narrowly focused on whether or not there was a 174 00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:48,000 Speaker 1: particular obscene scene in the book. For instance, in Ulysses, 175 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:50,960 Speaker 1: which we'll get to. It all sprang out of one 176 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:56,640 Speaker 1: episode where the protagonists masturbates rather than the entire work, 177 00:11:56,800 --> 00:12:00,640 Speaker 1: and the law used to focus just on and how 178 00:12:00,640 --> 00:12:05,440 Speaker 1: it might affect vulnerable populations, particularly to miners. Yeah. So, 179 00:12:05,559 --> 00:12:09,280 Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty three, in the wonderfully named case United 180 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:12,760 Speaker 1: States versus one book called Ulysses as opposed to what 181 00:12:12,920 --> 00:12:16,920 Speaker 1: I don't know, the judge ruled that Ulysses was not obscene, 182 00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:19,679 Speaker 1: and he didn't use the Hicklin test as it had 183 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:22,360 Speaker 1: been recognized prior, which was just focusing on the vulnerable 184 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:25,760 Speaker 1: population and how obscenity affected them. The judge ended up 185 00:12:25,800 --> 00:12:28,880 Speaker 1: saying that it should be judged by its effects on 186 00:12:28,920 --> 00:12:31,880 Speaker 1: the average person. Right, because all of this that was 187 00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:34,959 Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty three, as you mentioned, and up until 188 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:38,120 Speaker 1: that time, the sale of ulysses in the US, or 189 00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:42,240 Speaker 1: mailing it through the mail that's really descriptive, right, that's right, 190 00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:47,000 Speaker 1: email it through the mail had been banned since nineteen 191 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:50,120 Speaker 1: twenty two because of the masturbation scene that a younger 192 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:52,880 Speaker 1: girl had read, freaked out, her parents freaked out, and 193 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:55,320 Speaker 1: then you know, we have a legal case spring up 194 00:12:55,360 --> 00:12:59,440 Speaker 1: from that end. The nineteen thirty three case usv. One 195 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:03,320 Speaker 1: book called Ulysses was a test case brought on by 196 00:13:03,559 --> 00:13:06,840 Speaker 1: Random House actually that wanted to publish Ulysses. So they 197 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:09,760 Speaker 1: were testing the waters with that, and like you said, 198 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:12,880 Speaker 1: the judge ruled that, hey, it's not obscene. Let's move 199 00:13:12,960 --> 00:13:18,920 Speaker 1: on from there. But some other controversial publishers and writers 200 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:23,640 Speaker 1: who have rankled conservatives throughout the twentieth century, Going back 201 00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:26,760 Speaker 1: a little bit before that Ulysses case, we have hl 202 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:31,520 Speaker 1: Mancin aka the Sage of Baltimore, who seemed to love 203 00:13:32,320 --> 00:13:36,960 Speaker 1: just making conservatives really mad with his writing. Right. He 204 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:40,040 Speaker 1: was actually arrested in nineteen twenty six in Boston for 205 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:43,520 Speaker 1: distributing copies of American Mercury, which was a publication that 206 00:13:43,559 --> 00:13:48,880 Speaker 1: he put out. The publication had been banned by, as 207 00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:52,040 Speaker 1: we mentioned earlier, the Watch and Wards Society, who contended 208 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:56,800 Speaker 1: that the periodical was obscene, and the judge disagreed with them. 209 00:13:56,960 --> 00:13:59,520 Speaker 1: Mancin turned around and ended up suing the society. He 210 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:03,000 Speaker 1: was based kind of lawsuit happy because he thought, here, 211 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:04,880 Speaker 1: I am, I'm going to prove that this stuff is 212 00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:07,840 Speaker 1: not bad for the public, that society is not being 213 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:10,800 Speaker 1: affected for the worse, and I just want my voice heard. Yeah, 214 00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:13,920 Speaker 1: and he used a satirical style that allowed him to 215 00:14:14,679 --> 00:14:18,480 Speaker 1: poke fun at the thoughts, words actions of the US 216 00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:21,640 Speaker 1: and it's more conservative citizens, and he often spoke out 217 00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:26,600 Speaker 1: directly against religious fundamentalists and fun fact, hl Mancon first 218 00:14:26,640 --> 00:14:29,720 Speaker 1: to use the term Bible belt right. He also coined 219 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:34,360 Speaker 1: the term monkey trial of the Scopes trial. So, moving 220 00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:38,800 Speaker 1: on from Mancon, one guy who we can thank for 221 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:45,000 Speaker 1: some of our smuttiest books in our home libraries Barney Rossett, 222 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:50,240 Speaker 1: who founded the publishing company Grove Press, and essentially the 223 00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:54,240 Speaker 1: aim of Grove Press was to breach the dam of 224 00:14:54,280 --> 00:14:58,480 Speaker 1: American Puritanism, as he called it. He brought a bunch 225 00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:02,120 Speaker 1: of writers to Americans attention, including Samuel Beckett. He published 226 00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:06,200 Speaker 1: che Guivara, and in the nineteen sixties he published D. H. 227 00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:09,800 Speaker 1: Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover, which originally appeared in Italy in 228 00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:13,360 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty eight, and Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer, which 229 00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:19,520 Speaker 1: was a very controversial, sexually explicit autobiographical novel that had 230 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:21,920 Speaker 1: been published in Paris in nineteen thirty four and banned 231 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:24,160 Speaker 1: since then in the US. Yeah, and I gotta say 232 00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:27,200 Speaker 1: that Tropic of Cancer is in fact so sexually explicit 233 00:15:27,480 --> 00:15:30,960 Speaker 1: it is almost I find difficult to read. Really, Yes, 234 00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:36,760 Speaker 1: there was just so much penis interesting. Yeah, but Lady 235 00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:41,560 Speaker 1: Chatterley's Lover was a really important book because the case 236 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:44,600 Speaker 1: started out the obscenity case started out in England in 237 00:15:44,680 --> 00:15:48,200 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty with the case of Crown v. Penguin Books, 238 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:53,000 Speaker 1: and essentially Penguin won and they were allowed to sell 239 00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:55,600 Speaker 1: the books, but in the US you still couldn't get 240 00:15:55,600 --> 00:15:59,400 Speaker 1: your hands on the copy until Barney Rossit fought the 241 00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:02,760 Speaker 1: legal battle in the United States and Lady Chatterley's Lover 242 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:05,440 Speaker 1: got into our hands here. And there's a great scene 243 00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:09,200 Speaker 1: in I believe it's the first season of Madmen when 244 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:12,000 Speaker 1: they pan to the secretary's breakroom or something and they're 245 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:15,520 Speaker 1: all passing around a copy of the unabridged version of 246 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:19,640 Speaker 1: Lady Chatterley's Lover, which because initially the publishers said, hey, 247 00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:23,200 Speaker 1: if you cut out all of the dirty stuff, then 248 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:29,360 Speaker 1: we can publish it, and D. H. Lawrence was like, no, no, 249 00:16:29,640 --> 00:16:32,520 Speaker 1: my woodsman's sex scenes will remain, and he did a 250 00:16:32,560 --> 00:16:37,600 Speaker 1: little d snap formation with his fingers. But actually Rossa 251 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:41,840 Speaker 1: had to fight several battles over Lady Chatterley's Lover because, 252 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:45,400 Speaker 1: like the earlier book we mentioned, the main distribution method 253 00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:48,840 Speaker 1: was through the mail. Yeah, the Postmaster General actually barred 254 00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:52,120 Speaker 1: the book from the mail, but a federal judge ended 255 00:16:52,160 --> 00:16:54,920 Speaker 1: up overturning the band, ruling that the book had redeeming merit, 256 00:16:54,960 --> 00:16:57,880 Speaker 1: And that is the key. Does the piece of literature 257 00:16:57,920 --> 00:17:01,120 Speaker 1: have redeeming merit? Yeah? And Tropic of Cancer, as anyone 258 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:05,120 Speaker 1: who has read it can imagine, was a whole lot 259 00:17:05,119 --> 00:17:08,119 Speaker 1: of trouble for Barney Rossett. He faced more than sixty 260 00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:10,800 Speaker 1: legal cases seeking to ban it in twenty one states 261 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:14,680 Speaker 1: and even led to Rossett's arrest, although the grand jury 262 00:17:14,800 --> 00:17:18,160 Speaker 1: decided against an indictment. But it was It's interesting to 263 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:24,639 Speaker 1: hear or read interviews with Rossett because he was so 264 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:29,479 Speaker 1: just persistent and really didn't care whether what it took 265 00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:37,479 Speaker 1: to bring racier titles to the US exactly. Well, some 266 00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:40,960 Speaker 1: of these people who are out to ban books for 267 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:44,520 Speaker 1: whatever reason. You can't just get a book band willie 268 00:17:44,600 --> 00:17:47,080 Speaker 1: nilly out of the gate right away. You have to 269 00:17:47,119 --> 00:17:50,320 Speaker 1: actually raise a challenge, and so that's an attempt to 270 00:17:50,359 --> 00:17:53,080 Speaker 1: remove or restrict materials based on the objections of a 271 00:17:53,119 --> 00:17:57,000 Speaker 1: person or group. Most challenges are unsuccessful, and libraries and 272 00:17:57,040 --> 00:18:01,199 Speaker 1: schools are typically able to retain the challenge materials. But 273 00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:04,119 Speaker 1: between nineteen ninety and two thousand, according to the American 274 00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:07,200 Speaker 1: Library Association, there were six thousand, three hundred and sixty 275 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:12,040 Speaker 1: four challenges raised against books, and that number for ten years. 276 00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:15,480 Speaker 1: I feel like that's pretty high. I feel like that's 277 00:18:15,520 --> 00:18:18,080 Speaker 1: a lot of challenged books. Well, especially when you consider 278 00:18:18,119 --> 00:18:22,360 Speaker 1: it in the contemporary context of all of the more 279 00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:26,840 Speaker 1: sexually explicit or racy stuff, racy stuff that we see 280 00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:29,840 Speaker 1: on television, on the internet. Yeah, you know, the fact 281 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:32,359 Speaker 1: that we're still so concerned about books I find I mean, 282 00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:34,560 Speaker 1: do kids even go to libraries anymore? I hope so 283 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:37,600 Speaker 1: I walk upset too. But I'm just saying, like, is 284 00:18:37,760 --> 00:18:40,080 Speaker 1: really these books are the thing that you're worried about 285 00:18:40,119 --> 00:18:42,399 Speaker 1: the most, Like, shouldn't you maybe take the internet away first? 286 00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:48,560 Speaker 1: But the two top challenged topics basically are sexually explicit 287 00:18:48,600 --> 00:18:54,600 Speaker 1: material and offensive language, followed by things with occult themes, violence, 288 00:18:54,680 --> 00:18:58,440 Speaker 1: anything that seems to be perceived to promote homosexuality, as 289 00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:02,760 Speaker 1: well as religious viewpoints and speaking of occult themes. Between 290 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:06,240 Speaker 1: two thousand and two thousand and nine, the Harry Potter 291 00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:11,679 Speaker 1: series the number one most banned books in the United 292 00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:16,359 Speaker 1: States because of the wizardry teaching out children to be wizards. 293 00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:20,160 Speaker 1: It makes people very upset. My French professor in college 294 00:19:20,359 --> 00:19:22,720 Speaker 1: went on a rant about how you know you see 295 00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:26,680 Speaker 1: these people wearing black around campus. They're not God, they're 296 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:29,720 Speaker 1: witches and they're doing voodoo when they are evil because 297 00:19:29,760 --> 00:19:31,919 Speaker 1: of Harry Potter. Yeah, because one of my classmates had 298 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:34,320 Speaker 1: given a presentation in French on Hairy Potter. So well 299 00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:36,639 Speaker 1: with the offensive language stuff as well. There are still 300 00:19:36,680 --> 00:19:42,040 Speaker 1: issues over Huckleberry Finn because he refers to Jim as 301 00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:44,520 Speaker 1: the inn word. It's like, well, what do we do? 302 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:47,439 Speaker 1: What do we do with that? Because that was you know, 303 00:19:47,480 --> 00:19:50,639 Speaker 1: writing in the time. How does it apply now? And again, 304 00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:53,320 Speaker 1: if you apply that Miller test and look at the body, 305 00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:55,080 Speaker 1: the entire body of the work and whether or not 306 00:19:55,119 --> 00:19:58,280 Speaker 1: it has literary merit, usually things shake out in favor 307 00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:02,639 Speaker 1: of the book. Right. Well, there there are people, don't worry, 308 00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:06,600 Speaker 1: there are people supporting books out there. There's this whole 309 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:09,119 Speaker 1: band Books Week, which I believe this year is in 310 00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:13,360 Speaker 1: September and of September. Yes, it is from September thirtieth 311 00:20:13,359 --> 00:20:16,560 Speaker 1: to October sixth, So that gives listeners plenty of time 312 00:20:16,920 --> 00:20:19,480 Speaker 1: to get a lot of a lot of books to 313 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:24,280 Speaker 1: read openly. Yeah, and not burn and not burn them. Well, yeah, 314 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:27,239 Speaker 1: it's definitely. It's not only to kind of feature the 315 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:29,199 Speaker 1: band books to get more people to read them, but 316 00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:31,160 Speaker 1: it also the whole point of it is to celebrate 317 00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:35,120 Speaker 1: the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Yeah, 318 00:20:35,119 --> 00:20:38,840 Speaker 1: because we've talked a lot about racier literature, but a 319 00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:41,000 Speaker 1: lot of common books that have been banned over the 320 00:20:41,080 --> 00:20:43,879 Speaker 1: years include titles like The Great Gad speed Catcher in 321 00:20:43,920 --> 00:20:46,720 Speaker 1: the Rye, Grapes of Wrath, to Kill a Mockingbird, the 322 00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:50,800 Speaker 1: Color Purple, all of which deal with difficult themes. But 323 00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:54,879 Speaker 1: I couldn't imagine not having them to read, and you know, 324 00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:59,520 Speaker 1: all of the the rich imagery that they bestow upon us. 325 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:01,920 Speaker 1: I mean, except for the Grapes of Wrath. I don't 326 00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:03,200 Speaker 1: know what happened to me. Why I didn't read that 327 00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:05,280 Speaker 1: in high school, but I read I read these other 328 00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:09,680 Speaker 1: ones in I guess in high school. Yeah. So next 329 00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:14,360 Speaker 1: up in our Summer Book Club two parter, we are 330 00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:19,440 Speaker 1: going to dive deeper into racer material and talk specifically 331 00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:24,560 Speaker 1: about erotica. Warning to those who have younger listeners in toe. 332 00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:29,720 Speaker 1: In the meantime, I want to hear from listeners curious 333 00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:33,880 Speaker 1: to know if your library has ever tried to ban books? 334 00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:37,560 Speaker 1: Have you ever challenged a book? Have you read banned books? 335 00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:38,560 Speaker 1: I don't know, what do you? What do you think 336 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:41,800 Speaker 1: about censorship and all of that? International listeners are what 337 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:46,320 Speaker 1: are the state of book banning and censorship in your 338 00:21:46,359 --> 00:21:49,360 Speaker 1: countries as well? Let us know, mom. Stuff at Discovery 339 00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:51,719 Speaker 1: dot com is where you can send all of your 340 00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:55,199 Speaker 1: letters that we love to read. And speaking of which, 341 00:21:55,240 --> 00:22:01,520 Speaker 1: we have two letters here, both about manic Pixie dream guys. 342 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:07,000 Speaker 1: So Brandon wrote in with a couple of suggestions about 343 00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:11,240 Speaker 1: manic Pixie dream guys, and he says, there are two 344 00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:14,360 Speaker 1: candidates that I can guess, the sort of prince charming 345 00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:17,359 Speaker 1: archetype that pops up sometimes in movies to be the 346 00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:20,919 Speaker 1: object of his affection and his all glamor and gentlemanliness 347 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:24,199 Speaker 1: and just so perfect who usually sort of convinces the 348 00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:27,200 Speaker 1: heroine that there's more to love than all that He's 349 00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:30,080 Speaker 1: almost never given any real sort of dimension and is 350 00:22:30,119 --> 00:22:33,720 Speaker 1: defined only by his interactions with the female main character 351 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:36,880 Speaker 1: and sometimes by her friends. He may not have pixie ust, 352 00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:40,000 Speaker 1: but his smile is usually slightly blinding because of how 353 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:44,600 Speaker 1: white his teeth are. The other option maybe fits less well. 354 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:48,480 Speaker 1: He is the male character who is in the perfect 355 00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:51,960 Speaker 1: on paper life the female protagonist has at the beginning 356 00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:55,760 Speaker 1: of a movie, but ends up being kind of Sometimes 357 00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:58,560 Speaker 1: he's an outright jerk, other times he's just dull. He 358 00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:01,240 Speaker 1: pops up in those kind of movie these reesed. Witherspoon 359 00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:03,760 Speaker 1: stars in a lot where she's dating him or engaged 360 00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:05,600 Speaker 1: to him or something, and then goes off on some 361 00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:09,280 Speaker 1: kind of adventure and ends up believing him triumphantly at 362 00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:11,439 Speaker 1: the end of the movie. True, it's often for a 363 00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:13,840 Speaker 1: true love interest of some kind, but occasionally we also 364 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:16,239 Speaker 1: see this happen when she decides she doesn't need to 365 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:21,639 Speaker 1: define herself by the man she's with. So too excellent candidates, 366 00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:24,680 Speaker 1: Thank you, Brandon. Okay, this one's from Amber. She says 367 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:27,639 Speaker 1: that she loved the man Pixie Green Girl episode and 368 00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:30,800 Speaker 1: that it raised such paradoxical views that we in the 369 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:33,920 Speaker 1: US have about women. However, when you asked about male 370 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:37,159 Speaker 1: equivalence to this female caricature, My brain instantly jumped to 371 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:40,480 Speaker 1: Matthew McConaughey. If Zoe Deschanelle is the girls girl, he 372 00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:42,880 Speaker 1: is the guy's guy. With the exception of a few 373 00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:46,199 Speaker 1: dramatic roles time to Kill, Cadillac, lawyer, and amistad, he 374 00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:50,000 Speaker 1: has played roles to portray very happy male qualities, travel 375 00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:55,600 Speaker 1: to exotic places, expensive cars, great figure, I agree, power, freedom, 376 00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:58,280 Speaker 1: and he always gets the girl. Another celebrity that fits 377 00:23:58,280 --> 00:24:00,960 Speaker 1: would be Christopher Pine for the same I do wonder 378 00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:03,560 Speaker 1: why the social discourse is not addressed in male counterparts 379 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:06,480 Speaker 1: but has only focused on the female pixies. Hopefully the 380 00:24:06,560 --> 00:24:08,439 Speaker 1: uproar over this will die down and we can just 381 00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:12,640 Speaker 1: enjoy people for who they are. I guess my response 382 00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:14,879 Speaker 1: to this would be I don't know if there is 383 00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:18,320 Speaker 1: a total male equivalent to a Mani Pixie Dream girl. 384 00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:20,400 Speaker 1: I think that a lot of I was thinking about 385 00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:23,280 Speaker 1: this a lot of Jason Siegel's characters, like in I 386 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:27,520 Speaker 1: Love You Man, Yeah, Manic Pixie dream because he's the catalyst, 387 00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:31,040 Speaker 1: for instance, for Paul Rudd's transformation, and while it may 388 00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:34,159 Speaker 1: not be romantic, and he kind of goes through his 389 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:36,080 Speaker 1: own transformation as well. I don't know he tends to 390 00:24:36,119 --> 00:24:40,000 Speaker 1: kind of play sort of hippie drippy dudes. Yeah, and 391 00:24:40,119 --> 00:24:42,280 Speaker 1: I love him. Yeah. If in case you're listening to 392 00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:46,200 Speaker 1: Jason Siegel, that's true. So if you are a Jason 393 00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:47,800 Speaker 1: Siegel and would like to get in touch with me, 394 00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:51,240 Speaker 1: or if you have any any thoughts you'd like to share, 395 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:54,119 Speaker 1: moms Stuff at discovery dot com is where you can 396 00:24:54,160 --> 00:24:56,920 Speaker 1: send your letters, and you can also find us on Facebook, 397 00:24:56,960 --> 00:25:00,760 Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter at Mom's Stuff podcast. And if 398 00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:03,800 Speaker 1: you would like to learn more about the history of 399 00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:06,879 Speaker 1: banning books and how people go about getting those books 400 00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:09,560 Speaker 1: off of the library shelves, you can read the article 401 00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:17,399 Speaker 1: how Our Books Banned by Kristen Conger at HowStuffWorks dot com. 402 00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:20,000 Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit 403 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:27,919 Speaker 1: HowStuffWorks dot com. Brought to you by the Reinvented twenty 404 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:30,240 Speaker 1: and twelve camera. It's ready, Are you