Contest: Supporting books, not banning them
For those of you on Twitter, most of you may have seen the numerous #SpeakLoudly hashtags yesterday about banned books. Most notably, the tweets were addressing a rather narrow-minded associate professor of management at Missouri State University by the name of Wesley Scroggins, who is blatantly claiming that the Young Adult book "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson should be banned because of some scenes he describes as "softly pornographic", which in fact are scenes of rape. I don't know about you, but my first thought was: What the fucking hell???
Now granted, I have not read the book myself, but I have seen and blogged about the movie because I felt it was a glimpse of the very stark reality of what happens to a lot of teenage girls. As a woman, rape is a legitimate and very real fear, and anytime some moron comes out and puts the blame on the victim, or turns it into something titillating and salacious, my first reaction is that I want to them to experience firsthand exactly what it is they are ignoring. This jackass and his uninformed opinions raised my hackles, and made me more determined than ever that this book not be banned.
I'm not the first, and hopefully I won't be the last, to stand up and want to do something. So today I'm joining a long list of book lovers and believers in the freedom of speech to support these books, and to hopefully get them back on the shelves. I hope you will join me.
So for the next 2 weeks, ending at noon CST on Saturday, October 2nd, I'm going to have a contest to win a copy of this book. Or, if you've already read it and would like to read another book on the banned book list, I will buy a copy and send it to you. (You can go here for a list banned and challenged books). Contest is open to everyone. Just leave a comment.
For more ways you can help, you can visit Laurie's blog and just follow the links.
And please stop by CJ Wine's blog and read one courageous author's own account as she SPEAKS OUT against banning books. If this doesn't move you, I don't know what will.
Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read
September 25−October 2, 2010
SUPPORT BOOKS!!!!
Labels: banned books, contest, SPEAKing out
