“Sex Sells” Holds True at County Libraries

By Jim Day

On Monday, August 18th, in what typically are quiet, uneventful, and unattended public meetings, the St. Louis County Library Board of Trustees convened for its monthly meeting before a standing room only audience. What would draw such a crowd? One little three-letter word: Sex! Specifically, sexually explicit material now being made available to children as young as 11 years of age in the newly established Teen Sections of the various county library branches.

Many of those in attendance used the public meeting as an opportunity to voice growing community concerns about the volume of adult material being made available to minor children. In attendance were various members of the community including elected and appointed officials, attorneys, leaders of various organizations such as Citizens Against Pornography (CAP), the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families, ICare, Thrive, and numerous local parent teacher organizations, as well as parents and grandparents of children who utilize the St. Louis County Library system.

Many of those who addressed the board brought excerpts from the books containing sexually explicit material while others actually brought the books themselves with such titles as: Growing Up Gay In America by Jason Rich; Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez; The Little Black Book for Gurlz; A Book on Healthy Sexuality by Youth For Youth; and Making Sexual Decisions: The Ultimate Teenage Guide by Kris Gowen. For the sake of this report, the excerpts presented at the meeting were so incredibly explicit they cannot be printed. Under Missouri’s Sunshine Law the excerpts presented to the library board are however public record and are available for review.

At the center of the parents’ and organizations’ concerns was not only the availability of sexually graphic adult material to minor children, but the inability of parents to readily identify much of the material in question. Many of the books have unassuming titles, covers, and jacket summaries which offer no warning of their sexually graphic content. One local parent from Ellisville, Laura Kostial, held up a book entitled Alice On Her Way, by Phyllis Naylor as an example for the library board and meeting attendees. The book, which is targeted to a pre-teen audience, has an innocent-looking blonde haired, blue eyed young girl with braces on the cover. Yet, the contents of the book are very inappropriate for children.
Another similar example presented at the meeting was the book Escape from Egypt by Sonia Levitin. The story is about Exodus and is cloaked with Bible scriptures throughout yet, according to Kostial, it reads more like a Harlequin romance with a graphic rape scene in the middle of the book.

Parents aren’t alone in their concerns about the dangers of the library system exposing their children to highly sexualized material at such young ages. So are the members of St. Louis area anti-pornography groups. Currently there are four major anti-pornography groups in the St. Louis area: Citizens Against Pornography, The National Coalition for the Protection of Families and Children, Icare, and the Archdiocese’s Task Force on Pornography. The fact that there are four major anti-pornography organizations in St. Louis clearly reflects the level of community concern about obscenity issues. Representatives from three of these groups were on hand to express their group’s specific concerns about the selection practices of the St. Louis County Library system.

Carl Hendrickson, a former State Representative and township committeeman from south county, spoke on the behalf of the Citizens Against Pornography, which is an interfaith organization dedicated to educating the public on the dangers of pornography. He voiced his group’s concerns and presented copies of a petition bearing the signatures of county residents calling for the establishment of an "Adult Advisory Committee" to provide input and advice to the board "regarding the appropriateness of material for young readers." Presently the library staff relies on the input from a Teen Advisory Council made up of children between the ages of 12 and 18. As proposed by Hendrickson’s group, each of the seven St. Louis County Council members would nominate three potential members from their respective districts. The library board would then select one of the three nominees from each district to serve as the representative member from that district.

Dr. John Splinter, the St. Louis Executive Director of the Cincinnati-based National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families, spoke on behalf of his organization. One goal of the National Coalition is to educate members of the community about the dangers of pornography to families and specifically children. Dr. Splinter who holds three post-graduate degrees including a Ph.D. in family therapy, addressed the library board regarding several books currently available in the teen department of the St. Louis County Library system. According to Dr. Splinter, “These books provide detailed information teaching children how to conduct overt sexual practices including oral sex, anal sex, and tongue-to-anus sex.” He also noted that one book encourages children to explore sex with people older than they and other books encourage homosexual experimentation.

The negative effects of pornography, particularly on children, is well documented by many preeminent psychologists. One such expert is Dr. Victor Cline, Emeritus Professor of Psychology University of Utah and noted researcher and counselor in the area of pornography. The work of Dr. Cline and others show definitive relationships between the exposure of pornography and the increased rate at which children are victims of sexual violence, unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, and sexual addictions.

Lois Linton, former president of Missouri Eagle Forum and prior St. Louis County Library board member, was also on hand to represent Icare, as their new St. Louis Director. Icare is a women’s group seeking to mobilize women to rise up and stand against the sexual exploitation of children and young people. Linton stressed the right of parents to superintend what their children are checking out at the library. She also expressed concern about the growing number of children being raped, sodomized and sometimes fatally attacked either in libraries or immediately after being taken from libraries.

As recently as January of 2008, the Buder Library branch of the St. Louis Public Library system was the scene of a similarly alleged sex crime against a five year old girl. After the meeting Linton also stated that if we “do not address this issue at our county library that involves obscenity, which is not constitutionally protected speech or press (Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476 (1957)), we will never be able to address what needs to be prosecuted at a state and federal level.”

While each of the groups and individuals speaking before the library board addressed their unique concerns, there was a clear consensus that the material presented at the meeting was unquestionably inappropriate for children as young as 11. Many of the remaining meeting attendees were actually librarians and administrative staff employed by the library, however, not one came forward to offer either an explanation or defense of the material in question.

While local librarians have been relatively silent on the topic, the national level of the American Library Association (ALA) has been more vocal. Officials within the organization have been quick to publicly denounce the concerns of local parents and library patrons as a movement towards censorship.

The ALA’s response has come as a surprise to many local parents, particularly since no one has proposed any action that could in anyway be classified as legal “censorship,” which pertains to restrictions at the publication level. CAP spokesperson, Hendrickson, specifically stated his group is against censorship. Actually, no one has even asked that the material be removed from the libraries. Rather, they would like to see the books either appropriately rated or simply moved to the adult sections. Many of the representatives from these groups clearly agreed, the books should still be made available to minor children, but only at the parent’s discretion.

Several of the attendees proposed the use of a rating system similar to those used in the music, gaming, and in the television and movie industries. However, the ALA has asserted that any move to segregate the material would, in effect, be censorship and thus would abridge the children’s right to equal access of library material. This seems to directly contradict the very structure of the library system, which segregates material by age group to start with. During the meeting Charles A. Pace, who assumed the title of Director in October of 2006, even discussed some of the acquisition and review policies used to ensure the proper placement of library materials. Which begs the question, “Are they self-censoring or just applying a double standard?”

Ironically, a closer examination of the library’s catalog might lead one to question the very “segregation“ policies Pace purports to have in place. For example, there are numerous titles, such as After Hours Party Room by Morgan Burke, Life, Love and the Pursuit of Hotties by Katie Maxwell, Treacherous Love by Beatrice Sparks, Everlost by Neal Shusterman, and Truancy by Isamu Fukui that, according to the catalog, appear to be alternately placed in the adult and teen sections at the various branches. For example, After Hours Party Room appears in the teen department at the headquarters and Bridgeton branches, but yet it appears in the adult section at Cliff Cave. This inconsistent, or perhaps random or even erroneous, placement of titles, makes it difficult to determine whether the titles are actually intended for adults or children. Such practices would lead one to question the library’s placement policy, or at least whether it is being consistently adhered to.

Whether the board will succumb to the mandates of a national professional society of librarians or whether they will honor the fiduciary trust bestowed upon them by the tax payers of St. Louis County who fund the material through their ever rising real estate taxes, remains to be seen.

Clearly the degree of community concern is reflected in the level of media coverage the topic has received. For example, CAP spokesperson, Carl Hendrickson was interviewed by the Journal, the Webster Groves/South County Times, Channel 4, and McGraw Milhaven on radio station 550 AM.

The library board members offered no official comment during the meeting itself, other than to indicate they would put the matter up for consideration. An official response is anticipated at their October meeting. Library board meetings are held the third Monday of the month at 3:30 p.m. at rotating library locations. Contact the library headquarters at (314) 994-3300 for information regarding meeting dates, times, and locations.

Community input has been requested by the library board. A library board workshop has been scheduled for September 29th, at which time they will review the material and the proposed “Adult Advisory Committee.” The meeting will be held at 4 p.m. at the Lewis and Clark branch (9909 Lewis-Clark Blvd (aka Hwy. 367) north of Hwy. 70 in North County). The meeting will be open to the public, however, there will be no opportunity for public comment at this time. Instead patrons are advised to contact the library board and/or their county council representatives in advance either by phone, mail, or email.

Anyone wishing to send comments and concerns to library board members can do so by mailing them to Edith Cunnane, Library Board of Directors, St. Louis County Library, 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63131 or by emailing Lynn Beckwith Jr., at beckwithll@umsl.edu.