Censorship In David Levithan's Two Boys Kissing

In both novels the protagonists are teenage boys who do not conform to society's standards and expectations. The theme of accepting one for as they are is prominent in both works and is one of the main reasons I enjoy both novels so much. Both of these books have arguments on how one perceives himself. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden believe he is invincible, like when he attacks Straightlayer on page 50 because of a girl he had feelings for. Another good argument that makes the plot convincing is the discussion back and forth between Holden and Mr. Spencer, where the teacher tells him, “do you blame me for flunking you, boy?”

One major reason books are banned is because they are not age appropriate (Common Reasons For Banning Books). Some books can be very inappropriate because they contain sexual references, or drug references that could potentially lead children to follow what they read in these books. For example, in To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, there are words used like “damn” and “whore lady” (Banned & Challenged Classics). Another main reason books are banned is due to racial issues (Common Reasons For Banning Books). Racial slurs are a big problem in books because some words can be very offensive to many different races.

The story " The Scarlet Ibis " by James Hurst starts with a young boy becoming a big brother. When his younger brother became old enough to walk but it turned out the he couldn 't walk so, he teaches him how to walk and in the end it becomes one of the reasons he dies. So, who is responsible for his death his older brother is is responsible for the death of Doodle his younger brother. How Doodle 's older brother is responsible for his death: his brother didn 't put thought into his condition, he didn 't think about his brothers feelings, and he only thought about himself. Why his brother didn 't put thought into his brothers condition.

If You Kiss A Boy is a story written by Alex Sanchez, who is openly gay and knew he was when he heard the word at the age of 13. The story is about a boy named Joe, who realizes he is gay and kisses his best friend, Jamal. Joe struggles to accept that he is gay and isn't sure who he is and is trying to find himself. He asks for input from several people and how they feel about being gay.

Throughout history, there have been many controversies concerning books causing them to either be challenged or straightforwardly banned. For a lot of these books, they are banned in certain regions due to viewer discretion, such as the case with the mature topics noted in J.D. Salinger’s, The Catcher in the Rye. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a picaresque novel by Mark Twain, however, is generally distinguished as a racist, due to diction, and for that reason one of the most challenged books of all time. Despite the negative connotation surrounding banned books, such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, their people who will argue the book's impact on the world. Ever since The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was first published in the

Also, many are outraged that books like To Kill a Mockingbird is on the banned books list because they are time-honored books. Many people believe books should be banned because their content is deemed inappropriate for younger audiences or because their content is on sensitive subjects. However, others believe it is our First Amendment right to be able to read these books and that books contain important lessons in them. Christine Hauser, writer for The New York Times, agrees that books the controversial content manner should be banned. In her article “Sex, Politics and the Banned Books of 2016” she states, “The book was removed from a school in Wisconsin because it “portrays a transgender child, and because of language, sex education and offensive viewpoints,” the association reported.”

The actor who plays Hunter said in an interview that he wears the fancy suits and carries the briefcase and Lee is like a desperate housewife (TheBacklot). In the seventh season, it turns out that Bob likes sports and does not fit into the gay stereotypes of loving musicals. Gabrielle wants to give him tickets for a musical but she recognizes that it does not make Bob happy. “Give me a beer and a college basketball game, I’m happy.” Gabrielle is shocked and says to him: “It’s like you’re not even” and Bob finishes this sentence: “a tired gay stereotype?”

Plenty of parents have succeeded in removing these subjectively distasteful books from their children’s school’s shelves and reading lists but concerns about what book banning actually does to the students who aren’t allowed to read them have arisen. Paul Ringer, author of “How Banning Books Marginalizes Children," states that, “When we say, ‘This book is inappropriate,’ we’re telling those children ‘your situation … your family … your life is inappropriate.” Banning books sends the wrong message to those who share experiences with the topic of the book and shelters the themes from students who may need them. While parental concerns and opinions about

However, despite lesbianism and gay men being of the same concept, the idea of homosexuality between men are often deemed unacceptable in sitcoms. ‘Friends’ often buffer the suspicion of homosexuality between men with homophobic comments and jokes (Iglebaek, 2000). Joyrich (1996) also stated that homosexuality between men is often feared within the frameworks of Northern Euro-American, heterosexual masculinities and buddy scenarios. This theory

An example of this is in the article “I Am Very Real” by Kurt Vonnegut “… Crowing about all the books we will sell because of the news.” This quote explains that by banning books people will buy the books wondering why they have banned. However, according to “Common Reasons for Banning Books” “Each book that is banned … is done so for the content within its pages.” This may be true, but people will still want to find out for themselves what the inappropriate content might be.

Chapter three discusses the prevalent “friends as family” metaphor and questions how widespread its use is among gay men. The chapter jumps right into the two controversial areas of family and sexuality and affirms that friends are like family. Men look at their friends as surrogates, but the type of support has evolved through the change of generations. Research from Lillian Rubin and Karen Lindsey provide a different point perspective by making us consider if the whole “Family as friends “ is just a metaphor or it is something that is literally followed in the gay community because of the rejection by blood kinship. Friends as family is just a metaphor because no matter what is said and done a blood relative continues to be a relative regardless

Sax’s “gay boys…” has an interesting form – everything is in lower case, and I interpret that to mean the silence and minority that the society is trying to force on the queer community. The poem itself is a narrative poem about a gay person who tries to self-destruct or commit suicide due to lack of acceptance. The narrator says “it is not what drove your body like a stolen car/why you abandoned it on this unreasonable ledge” (19). I loved and enjoyed the complexity of Thacker’s “A Fetus Dreams…”