Mysterious woman tells school board that Scholastic book sparked porn addiction

[Nevilledog]

https://popular.info/p/mysterious-woman-tells-school-board

On November 14, a 20-year-old woman named Lanah Burkhardt appeared before the school board of the Conroe Independent School District in Texas. Burkhardt told the board that, when she was 11, she read a Scholastic book that introduced her to "a single kiss." According to Burkhardt, her exposure to this Scholastic book was directly responsible for her developing a debilitating addiction to pornography.

Burkhardt said that after reading the Scholastic book with the "single kiss," she "looked for other books that gave me pleasure." This "led to internet searches" that Burkhardt will "never forget." By the time she was 13, Burkhardt says her porn addiction left her depressed and suicidal.

Burkhardt cited her story as a reason to restrict access to Drama, a novel published by Scholastic. The book includes this image of two people kissing:



But Burkhardt went further, arguing that Conroe should remove all Scholastic books from schools and stop hosting Scholastic book fairs. These steps were necessary, Burkhardt argued, to protect children from "sexual obscenity." According to Burkhardt, "getting rid of Scholastic books and their book fairs will inevitably protect kids."

*snip*


Insane bullshit

[dalton99a]

1. WTF

This shit should be banned:

[TheBlackAdder]

38. Perhaps she sees genitalia in those Hidden Images drawings.

[Picaro]

2. Clearly mentally ill...

Public policy should not be based on the thoughts and feelings of the profoundly mentally ill.

[TheBlackAdder]

42. What are the odds that there's a predatory church member in the mix somewhere?

[viva la]

3. PRoblem is... we can have no confidence

that this school board will recognize her as a loon and politely send her on her way.

I remember in 9th grade-- in the south, in the 70s-- we were all taken to the movie theater to see Zefferelli's very sexy Romeo and Juliet. I can still sing one of the songs in that film-- it's pretty impressive for young teens-- lush, beautiful, and of course romantic and tragic.

It's sad to think so many school boards would ban that now, regressing to before early 70s US South!

[debm55]

16. I 9th grade, my class was scheduded to see the film. Some parents complained. we did not go. That was back in 1969-1970

[badhair77]

30. A local school board has a husband and wife as elected members, with a

9th grade daughter. They ran because they did not want that daughter to read Romeo and Juliet. Too wild for their family. Of course they were members of the church who had volunteers working as bodyguards for Doug Mastriano. Total freak show, but there they are in power.

[czarjak]

34. Probably cheated fair and square.

Their art of the deal?

[Freethinker65]

4. Sounds like this mysterious woman already had a disposition to deep psychological sexual addiction problems

If that book was unavailable to her, experiencing a display of passion would have eventually set off her sexual addiction. Her individual sexual addiction problems should not dictate everyone else's rights.

[Scrivener7]

5. Long past time to do a wellness check on "mysterious woman's" children.

[sakabatou]

6. I'm surprised it wasn't holding hands that did it.

Still, her story comes off as BS in order to shut down book fairs.

[debm55]

17. Agree, I was a teacher for 42 years. Troll and Scholastic both have age appropriate books or the students. Every month

out flyers that were right for my students. Books at the book fair are given their own bookcases for the age appropriate books, Either she went out of her age area or she is a liar. Likewise, monthly flyers come by age range from - every two grades have their own flyer. Example 3-4 grades in one flyer, 5-6 grade in a different flyer. If parents are that concerned they can examine the flyers, Better yet, the can volunteer as a helper at the Book Fair as they are put on by Scholastic but run by the PTA.

[Think. Again.]

7. I doubt...

...that puberty is transmitted through books.

[keithbvadu2]

8. Read the Bible like Mikey Johnson says. Might want to avoid the Song of Solomon.

[Aristus]

24. And most of the rest of the Old Testament.

Damn, man. All those massacres. All that genocide. Adultery, incest, bestiality, drunkenness, body shaming, etc, etc.

That can seriously fuck a person up.

[Buns_of_Fire]

51. All I remember is that everyone seemed to be begatting their brains out.

[bluesbassman]

9. Being in the vegetable section at HEB must give her the vapors.

Seriously though, I live near Conroe and it’s redder than red around here. This doesn’t surprise me at all.

[BlueKota]

10. These people are ridiculous and scary

First of all I am sure there were humans with overly prurient personalities long before the printing press was even invented.

Second millions of people read about or see others kissing everyday and don't become porn addicts. Just like I watched cop shop shows with violence in it and somehow managed not to become a violent individual. The individuals who scapegoat everything and everyone need to learn to accept personal responsibility.

Last but not least should kissing be banned in public or should parents nor kiss in front of their children because it might cause them to developed an unhealthy addiction to porn? These people are in need of counseling.

I have always agreed with the saying "where they burn books, they burn people." That's where the scary part comes in.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

31. Look for her to call for a ban on soap operas and tv advertisements, next.

[BlueKota]

44. It wouldn't surprise me

[Journeyman]

11. My porn addiction began when I was asked to "see Dick. See Dick and Jane." . . .

Life was never the same afterwards. I've been reading and looking ever since.

[progressoid]

22. Dick said, "Look, look. It is a huge weed plant. We can smoke a lot of weed now."

[Vinca]

12. The young woman requires a stay at a nice psychiatric hospital. This has got nothing to do with

Scholastic books. A kiss isn't porn.

[peggysue2]

13. Mysterious Woman?

How about Deranged Woman?

Does this mean actual kissing should be banned? If you can become a porn addict by reading about a kiss, God only knows what you'd do if you saw one or actually (gulp) , , , kissed or were kissed.

Why do we give credence to crazy people, the emotionally deranged?

This is the Trump era in living color--let your nuttiest, most bizarre thoughts run wild.

[SCantiGOP]

39. There's no kissing in the sex scenes

in the Handmaid’s Tale. Maybe that is her ideal setup.

[tanyev]

14. And if only she hadn't seen that illustration in a Scholastic book,

she would have never, ever seen any other illustration, photo or video of two people kissing!

[LudwigPastorius]

15. I don't know.

Where is that guy's other hand? He could be going in for a boob honk.

[Escurumbele]

18. She has been looking for years on who to blame for her weakness towards sex, now she found Scholastic.

Scholastic has deep pockets, she should be careful to not go to far with defaming them, it could turn ugly for her.

[twodogsbarking]

19. I would keep "mysterious woman" away from children. Just a hunch.

[Johnny2X2X]

20. Deranged

These puritans are truly deranged. Their hangups about sex drive them to all sort of depravity. They're truly sick.

[Wonder Why]

21. My mathematics book made me love porn. Ban them.

[twodogsbarking]

23. Was it the six and the nine?

[Wonder Why]

26. No. Sexy words like algebra and trigonometry.

[twodogsbarking]

33. Higher math. Definitely needs censorship.

[boston bean]

41. Geometry, all those shapes and sizes. Woohoo, hubba bubba.

Last edited Wed Nov 29, 2023, 05:21 PM - Edit history (1)

[Hugin]

54. I agree...

Using a compass to draw curves is a gateway to Hell!

[JHB]

47. Don't get me started on Venn diagrams

All of that... overlapping!

[Hugin]

53. Geometry is evil...

Constructing a lens left me panting every time.

[Warpy]

25. Nobody else without her problems should be allowed to read books

because this twit alleges that reading books gave her some wort of problem?

I suspect she never read the books, she's just another pseudo Christian with a major screw loose and a need to control other people.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

46. There is no such thing as a pseudo christian

You're saying she's not a christian, because, apparently to you, only not-christians can be twisted and perverse like this.

This is officially stupid, because nobody has been more twisted and perverse about sex than christians and their religion--and all of the history of both bears that out.

Over and over and over and over and over again.

So this is *typical* of the religion, and not an anomaly.

Welcome to reality.

[Warpy]

49. The likelihood is still over 70%, especially since she thinks porn is somehow wrong.

I agree that Christianity is replete with examples of "ban anything that tempts MEEEE!" leading to laws against playing the fiddle on Sunday or kissing one's spouse in public, such people have always been regarded as extreme by sensible souls who sin in private and like it that way, enjoying temptations. The laws have rarely been enforced outside a church and usually exist now as amusing anachronisms.

The aim problems here are that it's the last hurrah of Christian millenial fever, that they feel it all slipping away as church attendance falls off and fewer and fewer people agree with them, that their children have largely rejected the silliness that started in the mid 60s as the 1000 year calendar prefix was about to tick over, and that Jebus didn't come back, after all. It's got them completely wigged out and ordinary people are afraid to cross them and politicians are loath to lose votes by telling them they're nutjobs, sit down and shut up.

Because the Tartuffian Christians are enjoying success in some states, it's tempting to think they're some kind of a majority. They're not.

As for this particular twit, someone needs to do her a favor and point her to self help groups for sex addicts so she can address the real problem (herself) without fucking up anyone else's life.

[Ocelot II]

27. "Mysterious"?

Maybe "weird" or "mentally ill" would be a better descriptor.

[Nevilledog]

28. Don't forget grifter.

She works for the company that wants to take the place of Scholastic.

[RockRaven]

29. Just based upon their speech, without looking into their background, can

anyone tell the difference between sincere nutters, grifters, and satirists anymore?

[badhair77]

32. I hope she doesn't have flashbacks if she watches

any of the Roselyn Carter funeral coverage. All those photos of the Carters on the kiss cam could do her in.

[Glorfindel]

35. Insane bullshit, indeed.

That woman needs psychiatric help!

[Blue Owl]

36. Oh FFS

[rurallib]

37. somehow I get the feeling that she picked up a few bucks for saying that

what total hogwash

[world wide wally]

40. Porn is in the eye of the beholder

[canetoad]

43. She's selling books for a competitor

https://bookriot.com/skytree-book-fairs/

Snip......As reported by Frank Strong:

Before either of them spoke [Riley Lee and Brave Books CEO Trent Talbot, CEO of Brave Books], a young woman came to the microphone to describe how reading a Scholastic book with a single kiss when she was eleven led to a pornography addiction that took her years to shake. “I don’t want Conroe ISD students to repeat what I went through because they accidentally ran upon a Scholastic book or another book that could lead them down this road,” she said, “which Drama is one of them.”

That “young woman” was Lanah Burkhardt, who just so happens to be a Public Relations Coordinator for Brave Books. You can watch the testimony below and note it was shared by SkyTree without any mention of it being an individual with ties to their company.

[Ligyron]

48. Ah HA!

Figured money might be involved somehow.

[Oneironaut]

45. The deranged Christian Taliban in this country needs mental help.

[milestogo]

50. There's kissing in porn?

Who knew?

[Buns_of_Fire]

52. Porno Madness!