By HILLEL ITALIE and KIMBERLEE KRUESI (Associated Press)
In 2019, educators in Clayton, Missouri decided to keep illustrated copies of Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” in high school libraries without much discussion. The book is considered a classic in dystopian literature about the oppression of women, and a graphic novel version would make it more accessible to teens who struggle with reading.
However, after a law was passed in 2022 in Missouri that could make librarians face fines and even imprisonment for having sexually explicit materials on bookshelves, the Clayton district reconsidered and removed the new Atwood edition from their libraries.
Tom Bober, Clayton district’s library coordinator and president of the Missouri Association of School Librarians, explained, “There’s a depiction of a rape scene, a handmaid being forced into a sexual act. It’s just one panel in the graphic novel, but we felt it violated Missouri law.”
Book challenges and bans have increased significantly, leading to a surge in complaints from community members and conservative organizations like Moms for Liberty. Lawmakers are now considering harsher punishments such as lawsuits, heavy fines, and even imprisonment for distributing books that some people consider inappropriate.
This trend has emerged while officials are trying to define terms like “obscene” and “harmful.” Many of the disputes involve materials with themes related to race and LGBTQ+ identity, including works like Toni Morrison’s novel, “The Bluest Eye,” and Maia Kobabe’s memoir, “Gender Queer.” Although no librarian or educator has been put in prison, the threat alone has led to more self-censorship.
So far this year, more than 15 states have proposed bills to impose severe penalties on libraries or librarians.
In March, Utah passed a law that gives the state’s Attorney General the authority to enforce a new process for challenging and removing “sensitive” books from school settings. The law also establishes a panel to oversee compliance and violations.
A bill awaiting Idaho Gov. Brad Little’s approval would enable local prosecutors to press charges against public and school libraries if they don’t remove “harmful” materials from children's access.
Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, says, “The laws are designed to limit or remove legal protections that libraries have had for decades.
Since the early 1960s, schools, libraries, and museums, as well as their staff who provide materials to children, have generally been protected from costly lawsuits or potential criminal charges.
These protections started to appear as the United States dealt with issues related to obscenity, which was defined by the Supreme Court in 1973.
In the case of Miller v. California, the justices ruled 5-4 that obscene materials are not automatically protected by the First Amendment, and established three criteria for determining obscenity: whether the work, as a whole, appeals to “pruri