Thread by @JenniAgitator

I watched this and was very disappointed for many reasons. 1. All views weren’t in fact heard, because it was clear nobody in the discussion had read either book. I think it’s intellectually dishonest to discuss books nobody on the panel nor anyone calling in have actually read.

https://twitter.com/novanowtv/status/1466897486157688833

As one who has read both, I’d like to make some points. 1st off, all of us defending these books are routinely called, “predators,” & “groomers.” I was the victim of a 19 year old pedophile when I was 5 years old. I was groomed, then raped repeatedly. I take pedophilia seriously

I have been a decades long rape justice activist and have worked in rape crisis centers as a rape victim advocate for 26 years. There is nothing more painful or insulting, given my experience, than to be called a sex offender. This experience is important. I’ll explain

I’ll start with “Gender Queer.” First off, the author is non-binary, uses ey, eir pronouns. Your panel, including you, misgendered Maia Kobabe the entire segment. Had you read the book, you’d have known this and it might have hopefully modified your behavior.

I’m not saying your panel was intentionally causing harm, but it is harmful whether intended or not. Please, when discussing this author, use eir correct pronouns and identity. Kobabe is 30, not 43, as Langton stated. An award winning author and artist.

Kobabe is asexual. The central thesis of book was ey can live a life outside of relationships and w/out engaging in sex and that’s okay. I am an author at LGBTQ Nation and a long time ally to the community, and I learned a lot from reading the book, info a lot more need to know

The picture of the “pedophilia” was of a of Greek pottery Maia saw in a museum, the 1st time ey ever saw a depiction of a same sex coupling. Langton and everyone asserting Kobabe is some kind of sexual creep bc ey pleasured themselves is an opinion of those who’ve not read it

Kobabe explains all this. Yes, ey found the idea of same sex coupling appealing. Ey’d not had other exposure to it otherwise. That’s an argument FOR books like this, so LGBTQ teens can understand they aren’t freaks, just have a different orientation and that’s okay.

Greek pottery in art museums the world over have depictions of graphic sex scenes. Are we not going to bring children into any art museums too? There are also nudes and a lot of art that’s risqué. The pottery piece Kobabe saw was in the Oxford Museum in the UK.

There is PLENTY of sexual content in books in our HS libraries. For instance, the Game of Thrones series is carried in FCPS libraries. In that, a brother rapes his sister and has an ongoing sexual relationship w/her and children w/her. Where’s the outrage? How about Ann Rice?

The graphic of two AFABS was not actually oral sex, because one of them had on a strap-on. I’m not saying it wasn’t one of the more explicit scenes, but it was all part of Maia’s journey towards deciding to be ASEXUAL. Kobabe ends the book w/the decision to abstain from sex

Eir central thesis says, hey, NOT having sex is a perfectly acceptable and viable option for someone like em. How does that morph into porn when the central thesis of the book is saying abstaining from sex is a perfectly fine life choice?

Looking at the graphics alone, without reading why they were relevant in Maia’s journey of self-discovery is not exhibiting any kind of academic rigor or intellectual honesty.

Let’s move to Lawn Boy. The 7 pages that offend are an adult explaining being sexually assaulted at age 10 by another 10 year old. Kids do sexually assault other kids. This is COMMON. Many go many years not understanding they were sexually assaulted, which compounds trauma

86% of sexual assaults are perpetrated by someone known to the victim. rainn.org/articles/if-yo… a young person who reads this, is far more likely to come forward and seek help than those who do not understand that forced sex by someone their own age is also sexual assault

The other queer book Langton targeted now also graphically describes a sexual assault. It is difficult to read, especially for me as a survivor, but again, for those who’ve not come forward, who do not understand a violent act was committed against them, this might trigger that.

It’s hideous to imagine a child being raped. It’s more hideous for me to talk about being raped. I didn’t tell a soul about it until I was 22. Because the person who did it was clergy. I never fully understood that I wasn’t to blame. I felt I’d done something to make it happen

I came from an upper middle class home w/two parents with post-graduate degrees. We lived in Great Falls, and my parents were very attentive and involved. I was raped by a 19 year old babysitter who was in seminary to become a minister. Who wouldn’t think their child was safe?

Had I read “Lawn Boy” or “All Boys Aren’t Blue” as a teen, I could have maybe avoided years of untreated trauma. When one has been victimized by a pedophile, it changes one’s entire perspective. Every 6 minutes in the US, a child falls prey to a sexual predator. We can ignore it

Or we can discuss it, talk about it, read about it, understand it, and hopefully mitigate it. Teaching children about boundaries and consent are key. And in teaching those, we have to discuss what is and is not sexual assault, harassment, or misconduct.

If we’re going to remove books w/more explicit content, then Game of Thrones, Ann Rice, Stephen King and hundreds of other authors must be examined as well, not just singling out queer literature. Stacy said she’s not researching herself, just waiting for more suggestions

So in other words, she’s waiting for more people to do her research and then she’ll bombastically go after whatever others suggest. I ask you, is this an intellectually honest way to approach this? I’ve been disgusted. I’m disgusted by mobs calling the school board “predators”

She keeps saying her mother is a lesbian, that it somehow makes her behavior less queer-phobic. It doesn’t. My parents are cishet, as am I. But I’ve known and listened to enough LGBTQ people to understand why her rhetoric is so hurtful and offensive.

You compared her possible offense to being called queer-phobic to the queer people’s offense to her offensive queer-phobic rhetoric. That’s like being more offended by being called a racist than being a racist.

Calling a woman who is a survivor of a pedophile, who has spent my life fighting to protect children from violence, a groomer is beyond reproach. A man called me on my landline 3 days ago after seeing me on Twitter defending these books and told me, “you need to be raped.”

I do respect the fact that you hosted an uncensored forum where anyone could call in. I just think any panel discussing a book should be populated by people who’ve READ THE BOOK. I appreciated the LGBTQ folk who called in, but I felt they were manipulated by incomplete info

I would offer to be on a panel to defend these books, but this whole uproar isn’t really about these books. It’s about suffocating queer-phobia in this community that’s hurting and killing LGBTQ youth in FCPS

17% of FCPS kids identify as LGBTQ. Not even 1% of FCPS libraries have queer content. 50% of our LGBTQ children reported being persistently depressed, and their attempted suicide rates quadruple those of Cishet kids in this district. They’re under attack.

I am literally fearful for their lives if this rhetoric continues. I wrote a piece for LGBTQ Nation a few years ago during all the bathroom drama. lgbtqnation.com/2016/05/segreg… (this is focused on trans people)

I will end my long rant with one last comment. I am all for fighting the power and making schools better. The second more often thing I’m called is a sycophant to the school board. They were defendants in a federal lawsuit I filed w/4 other parents in Oct 2019. My son is QT.

Of QT et al v Fairfax County School Board et al. This suit we just settled will have nationwide reverberations on the educated of autistic and neurodivergent children like him. communicationfirst.org/restraint-and-…

I can assure you nobody in central office or our SB thinks I’m a sycophant. If you Google me, you will find my writings about many topics, but almost all are on defense of children against violence. I take defending children from harm very seriously and have for decades.

There is nothing wrong w/any of these books. Maybe more explicit in some places, but they all have value for different groups. For kids who may have tragically had similar violence happen to them as I. Please, your next book discussion, empanel folks who’ve read the books

Let’s have a real discussion on the real problem underlying all this, discrimination and prejudice against LGBTQ people. Every couple years, hate bubbles up in a new form, but it never dissipates, and it’s killing people. That’s why I write for LGBTQ Nation because hate hurts me

Anyone who wants to have an honest discussion about child safety, I’m open. But start name-calling, you’ll be blocked w/out comment. I have done more to protect more children from harm in my life than all these folks combined. I intend to continue that work, and won’t be daunted

(I’m not accusing anyone in this district of making phone call threatening to rape me laced w/profanity. Police said person was in MD. I just wanted to make clear that the threat I received was not from inside our county, but inspired by rhetoric of activists in this county)

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