Three nonfiction books were recently challenged in Charleston County public libraries for inappropriate content relating to sex, with those opposed asking that they be moved to a special section where no one under 18 can read them — bringing home an extension of national and statewide discussions surrounding the relocation of books some people believe are inappropriate for children.
“Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human,” by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan; “It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health” by Robie H. Harris; and “This Book is Gay,” by Juno Dawson, have all been requested for reconsideration in the past week, according to Angela Craig, executive director of Charleston County Public Library. She said the review committee made up of library staff is reading the books.
“Let’s Talk About It” is a coming-of-age graphic novel that talks about gender, sexuality, consent and safe sex. “It’s Perfectly Normal” is about puberty as well as sex and reproduction. “This Book is Gay” is a memoir about a young person coming to terms with her sexuality and coming out.
According to the American Library Association, “Let’s Talk About It” and “This Book is Gay” were among the top 10 most challenged books of 2023.
At a Sept. 5 council meeting, County Councilman Teddie Pryor said he personally asked Craig to move “Let’s Talk About It” to the adult section because it contains explicit content. He made a similar request for four other books: “Looking for Alaska,” “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,” “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” and “All Boys Aren’t Blue.”
Pryor told The Post and Courier some of the content was so sexually explicit — including passages teaching kids how to masturbate and about sexual positions — if he were to email it to someone else, he would get charged with pornography. Some of these are award-winning books that have also been given movie or television adaptations.
While County Council has no direct say in the Charleston County Public Library’s content selection process, recent input from council members presents the question of whether they may have any sway in restricting content.
During a Sept. 10 meeting, Councilman Henry Darby gave an impassioned speech about the content children should and should not be allowed to consume after four people spoke in support of the libraries and their process for evaluating the appropriateness of books during the public comment period.
“I’m not in favor of banning books. However, you must realize that all bans are not bad,” Darby, a Democrat, said at the meeting. “We banned 15-year-olds from driving. We banned husbands from hitting their wives. This country banned slavery. This country banned child labor.
“If you want to say that I want to ban an 11-year-old from reading certain subjects, if you want to say that I want to ban an 11-year-old (from being) classified as an adult? Yes, I’m for that ban,” he continued.
Darby told The Post and Courier he would want an age reclassification so young adults would be considered between the ages of 17 and 18.
The comments come months after a proposed resolution from the Charleston County Republican Party has drawn crowds in support and in opposition of book restrictions to both library board meetings and County Council meetings.
The resolution, presented by the Charleston GOP in May, asks the library system to relocate books with sexually explicit content to restricted sections in local libraries that no one under the age of 18 can enter. Because the county Republican Party isn’t a governing body, the resolution is more of a request and cements where the party stands, according to party chair Andrew Boucher.
Library staff and the library system board have repeatedly pointed to their reconsideration form to be used by residents with concerns about certain books.
At the Aug. 13 County County meeting, three people asked council members to help relocate books with explicit content to restricted sections in libraries. On Aug. 22, more than 50 people attended a CCPL board meeting — 14 spoke in support of the library system’s process; one spoke in support the local GOP resolution.
Not just a Charleston issue
The debate surrounding accessibility to books has appeared in schools and libraries across the state. The Charleston County School Board is starting to take steps to adhere to the new state law that prevents schools from providing students with books and materials that aren’t considered age or developmentally appropriate. Meanwhile, the Greenville County School District canceled book fairs for the rest of the year because of the same law.
In February, the board of trustees for the Greenville County Library System voted on a policy to move all books discussing trans issues out of the library’s children’s section.
In Charleston, Craig said residents who take issue with a book can fill out a reconsideration request form at a local library branch to express concerns. The resident who completes the form can recommend where they think the book should go — stay where it is, be moved to the adult section or be removed completely. Once a completed form is filed, an internal committee reads the book and makes a recommendation to Craig, who has final say about what the library should do with the book.
While there are different age groups for library cards — juvenile cards for children under 12 and young adult cards for kids between 12 and 17 — Craig said none of the cards have any restricted access.
The process doesn’t change for council members.
Craig said the committee is not looking at the books Pryor requested to be moved, because they will only evaluate books if a form is filled out. She added the library doesn’t want to set a precedent of allowing people or groups to forgo the library’s process to get books removed.
Even after stating he directly asked for books to be moved, Pryor said at the Sept. 5 meeting that the council had no business making decisions for the library.
“I don’t want anybody to think that County Council is in the business of banning books because it’ll be this today, the Bible tomorrow,” Pryor said. “We’re not in that. We need folks … to go through the entire process, through the library board process.”
Craig said the library will make no changes to how it runs after the opinions most recently expressed by councilmembers, either.
At the Sept. 10 meeting, other members of County Council agreed with what Darby said at the council meeting while also encouraging any concerned residents to follow the library’s process.
Councilwoman Jenny Costa Honeycutt said she had recently taken some training from Darkness to Light — a Charleston-based national nonprofit dedicated to preventing child sexual abuse — and that it shed some light on how content can be used against children.
“The way children are groomed using materials is very intentional, and so I do think we need to be very conscientious,” Honeycutt said.
She later told The Post and Courier the training taught her if children have more knowledge than they should about adult-related subjects, it’s a sign they could be abused.
“My comments were not intended to direct the library in any direction,” Honeycutt said. “My context was more just to say this is about protecting our children.”
Rhonda Newton, CEO of Darkness to Light, said the training is geared toward five steps: learning the facts that surround child abuse, minimizing opportunities for abuse to occur, elevating voices of survivors to help make the subject easier to talk about, recognizing the signs of abuse and being able to react responsibly.
A librarian sorts books in the Charleston County Public Library system.
Mel Moore, a community advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, spoke in support of the libraries at its August board meeting, saying the accusations of books being used for grooming are dangerous, especially for the LGBTQ+ community. They said it not only has politicians pointing fingers at innocent people based on sexual orientation or gender identity, but it also obscures the real signs of child abuse. As a survivor of child sexual abuse themselves, Moore said children should be able to go to the library and seek out books where a character is going through the same thing.
“It was the library books that helped me see myself in the characters and understand that what was happening was wrong, and that’s how I knew I needed help,” they said.
Councilman Joe Boykin told The Post and Courier that County Council may be the policymakers for county government, but the library boards are the policymakers for the public libraries.
“I am satisfied that the library has a process in place that if someone — a parent or constituent or a patron of the library — has an objection or a concern, they can submit that book in question for review to have it either removed out of the library altogether or reassigned to a more age-appropriate group with those restrictions,” Boykin said.
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