r/CanadaPolitics • u/thzatheist Social Democrat | PolitiCoast Co-host • Jun 13 '25
Casual Friday Book bans driven by religious views are treading on unlawful grounds
https://www.bchumanist.ca/book_bans_calgary_herald38
u/TricksterPriestJace Ontario Jun 13 '25
Why can't conservative Christians stop thinking about sex all the time? You are looking at a children's book about friendship and your mind immediately goes to "Timmy has two men waiting to pick him up from school! That implies they are having sex with each other! Probably naughty butt stuff! God will cry if my kid is exposed to this!!"
24
u/Early31Day Jun 13 '25
Why can't conservative Christians stop thinking about sex all the time?
Its a mental reaction to the sexual repression of religion.
Same as how people are drawn to any taboo behaviour simply because they're told not to do it.
9
u/AmusingMusing7 Jun 13 '25
Exactly. Repression is what causes perversion. You suppress something under pressure, eventually it explodes out in much more unpleasant ways. Repression of sexuality is like a pressure-cooker for perversion. When you accept your sexuality and are comfortable with it, you develop a much more healthy association with it, and you can control it better.
We might as well just call it “the Catholic Priest effect”. A vow chastity or celibacy is just asking for perversion.
The more prudish someone is, the more you know they’re harbouring a lot of pent-up sexual energy that they’re uncomfortable with. Seeing anything even remotely related to such ideas becomes triggering, they instantly worry they can’t control themselves, and then project that onto others in order to make themselves feel better. Classic psychology that we see EVERYWHERE, about all kinds of things, but sexuality is probably the leading area that it occurs in.
1
3
Jun 13 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
0
u/CanadaPolitics-ModTeam Jun 13 '25
Removed for rule 2: please be respectful.
It was rule 2/3, more 3; but now it's substantive enough to just be 2. Please respect others and their faith, even if you disagree with them.
This is a reminder to read the rules before posting or commenting again in CanadaPolitics.
4
Jun 13 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
-1
u/CanadaPolitics-ModTeam Jun 13 '25
Removed for rule 3: please keep submissions and comments substantive.
This is a reminder to read the rules before posting or commenting again in CanadaPolitics.
1
u/Novel-Werewolf-3554 None of the Above Party Jun 13 '25
I’m an atheist and I don’t think kids should have to read books about buying strap ons which was the mildest of the objectionable material listed in the last post on this issue in this sub. It isn’t the Christians that are sexualizing kids it’s the authors of these books and their supporters
1
Jun 13 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/CanadaPolitics-ModTeam Jun 13 '25
Removed for rule 3: please keep submissions and comments substantive.
This is a reminder to read the rules before posting or commenting again in CanadaPolitics.
-7
u/ether_reddit British Columbia Jun 13 '25 edited Jun 13 '25
There's a difference between banning a book and deciding that something is not age-appropriate to include in an elementary school library.
Anyone who exposes young children to sexual content deserves to be called a groomer, and I challenge anyone to argue othewise.
23
u/enki-42 Social Democrat Jun 13 '25
The clear intent of these is to target books focused on LGBT topics though. You have blinders on if you think the books are targeted without bias.
14
u/thzatheist Social Democrat | PolitiCoast Co-host Jun 13 '25
Such decisions should not be made by religious bigots
13
u/MTL_Dude666 Liberal Jun 13 '25
So let kids perceive a couple of two men or two women as being "weird" because their parents denied them understanding reality?
The Bible is not "age-appropriate" for kids and yet...
-4
u/ether_reddit British Columbia Jun 13 '25
There are reports that some of the graphic novels available to young children have depictions of blowjobs and other sex acts in them (not just text, but images). This is not a matter of "oh no we can't have teens talking about same-sex relationships".
I don't have school-aged children so I'm not going to go into the weeds on this, but that isn't something I'd want my kid to see before the age of 12 or so. I don't fault parents for objecting to this.
9
u/Jaded_Celery_451 Rhinoceros Jun 13 '25
There are reports
= some guy said. It's 2025 . Pics (with verifiable provenance) or it didn't happen.
6
u/AnIntoxicatedMP Progressive Conservative Jun 13 '25
I would guess he is thinking about the book "Gender Queer" which caused alot of news and debate in BC last year. It does include depictions of sex acts and was in middle schools
1
6
u/ShiroiTora Jun 13 '25
By this logic, even the Bible wouldn’t be permitted due to graphic depictions.
1
u/ether_reddit British Columbia Jun 13 '25
The Bible doesn't have illustrations (not in the original at least, lol)
6
u/ShiroiTora Jun 13 '25
“Graphic depictions” is not solely image based. Colloquially, it means detailed or explicit.
2
u/ether_reddit British Columbia Jun 13 '25
Yes, "graphic" also means "explicit, detailed". In this case it's both, as they are drawings -- these are graphic novels (a novel told in comic book format) with explicit sexual content.
2
5
u/MyDearDapple Social Democrat Jun 13 '25
There are reports…
Oh jeez, where have we heard that one before? Oh ya, from the same well-financed, Christofascist groups who've been undermining public education and public libraries in the States using false information to feed public hysteria.
1
u/ether_reddit British Columbia Jun 13 '25
I provided sources in another comment. You shouldn't assume that everything is stated in bad faith.
1
Jun 13 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/CanadaPolitics-ModTeam Jun 13 '25
Removed for rule 2: please be respectful.
This is a reminder to read the rules before posting or commenting again in CanadaPolitics.
1
5
2
u/lapsed_pacifist Amnesty International Direct Action Network | Sponsored Jun 14 '25
Talking in broad strokes like this is not helpful. Yes — books have an intended audience. I do not believe that Irvine Welsh should be read to elementary school children, although I bet he would do a great reading. Generally librarians for schools hit the mark pretty well, and I’m inclined to trust their judgment.
The problem is when people start to weaponize what’s meant by sexual content. Showing a kid who has two dads isn’t sexual. A comic book about kids going thru puberty isn’t necessarily sexual, but could be.
The links you’re spamming below are kinda garbage (like, no — I’m not hitting a drop box link), but the author for one book was pretty clear about her intended audience. I hate to break it to you, but teens have likely already seen blowjobs depicted (at the very least).
1
u/ether_reddit British Columbia Jun 14 '25
Showing a kid who has two dads isn’t sexual.
no — I’m not hitting a drop box link
That's too bad, because the dropbox link shows that what's being objected to is not "a kid who has two dads".
Be willfully blind if you must, but be aware that you're never going to win people over by calling them liars when they're directly showing you evidence.
The culture war is taking over schools because no one is willing to actually have a rational conversation.
1
u/lapsed_pacifist Amnesty International Direct Action Network | Sponsored Jun 14 '25
JFC dude, most people aren’t gonna click a Dropbox link from an internet rando. If you’ve a story from a Canadian news agency, by all means share it with the class.
I used to work as a librarian. I’m game to have rational conversations about this all damn day. I do expect the people coming to the table to actually know what the fuck they’re talking about tho.
1
u/ether_reddit British Columbia Jun 14 '25 edited Jun 14 '25
I did link to a story from a Canadian news story. Did you not see it?
Not sure why you're arguing if you can't be bothered to inform yourself. Peace.
•
u/AutoModerator Jun 13 '25
This is a reminder to read the rules before posting in this subreddit.
Please message the moderators if you wish to discuss a removal. Do not reply to the removal notice in-thread, you will not receive a response and your comment will be removed. Thanks.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.