UPI: Kansans Seek To Ban Atwood Story

[Hissyspit]

http://start.earthlink.net/article/ent?guid=20050516/42881ac0_29e_67020050516-455504481

Kansans seek to ban Atwood story

OVERLAND PARK, Kan., May 16, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Two prominent Johnson County, Kan., residents want to remove a Margaret Atwood short story from Blue Valley North High School's curriculum.

Charley Morasch, an unsuccessful candidate this year for the Blue Valley School Board, and Roger Kemp, whose daughter was murdered in 2002 after an attempted rape, want the high school library to remove a literary anthology that includes Atwood's short story titled "Rape Fantasies," the Kansas City Star reported.

The work of fiction - describing some women's sexual fantasies and what they might try to do to escape a potential rapist -- is part of an anthology entitled "Literature: Structure, Sound & Sense" that is used in the school's college-level Advanced Placement courses.

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[evlbstrd]

1. I live near the Kansas state line and they always claimed to be free.

Not any more.

[knowbody0]

2. pathetic

margaret atwood reaches the soul of the reader, and so often inspires courage

[mcscajun]

3. Let's Just Throw the Baby out with the Bathwater, I guess.

One story they don't like, and a whole anthology for an AP class must get the heave-ho?

Oh my, Kansans here at DU...you have my deepest sympathies.

[pinerow]

22. I doubt they have even read Margaret Atwood...

I believe they are flustered by the title...after all...the story tries to engender some exit strategies in the event a woman finds herself in that position.

[converted_democrat]

4. I almost feel bad for the people of Kansas................

Until I figured out that they did it to themselves.

[atommom]

7. Well, SOME of them did it to the REST of us.

[Scout1071]

8. Not exactly. In fact there are many DU'ers from Kansas.

Including this one.

I completely disagree with banning books, but I am somewhat sympathetic to Roger Kemp. His daughter was senselessly and brutally raped and killed at a swimming pool near my house. Again, I completely disagree with banning the books, but don't just lump all Kansans in together as bad people. And have a little heart when it comes to Roger Kemp and his murdered daughter. It took several years to find her killer and this community was truly agonized over her murder.

[converted_democrat]

13. I apoligize if I offended you.........

My comment isn't meant to demonize Kansas. I was born and raised in the midwest too. My comment had nothing to do with Mr. Kemp, I feel for him. I'm just tired of this stuff happening in my backyard. I 'm truly scared all books will be banned, except for the Bible.

[punpirate]

17. And, if you would explain, please...

... how exactly does Margaret Atwood's story have any relation to the rape and murder of Kemp's daughter? That seems to be the point here.

I can empathize with Kemp's loss of a child. I can't sympathize with either him or the fundies seeking to ban authors simply because their subject might be rape. The story is actually a pretty sober consideration of sex and violence (despite a few comic overtones), and how power plays out in casual relationships, and how defensive (and defenseless) women feel in situations they don't understand well and over which they have little control.

It's obvious none of the offended parties have actually read, or thought about, the story they wish to ban.

And that's what gets up everybody's noses about Kansas--not that it's exclusively populated by the religious right-wing. Everyone knows it's not, but, equally, everyone knows they're the vocal minority and they are using that power to force the state, particularly the public schools, to conform to their notions of how the world must be.

If Mr. Kemp includes himself in that quest for enforced conformity, if he's aiding the religious right in its mission to make Kansans stupid and fearful and subservient to the right, he gets no points for doing so from me, regardless of tragedy in his life.

Cheers.

[lala_rawraw]

5. Oh shit... there is not enough of me...

and the me I have is sick... i feel shattered today... I spent all day getting word out to defend Newsweek for reporting the truth, and someone scooped me on the Owen story....waaaaaaaaaaa.

[Hissyspit]

9. Owen? n/t

[lala_rawraw]

10. One of the judge-o-matics

That is now at the center of the fill-up-buster fight.

[Hissyspit]

11. O.K., gotcha, lala. No there are not enough of you...

nor enough time, with this administration and these times. I know how you feel.

[atommom]

6. There's been a long, drawn-out fight in that school district over

censorship. A group of parents has been trying to have a number of books removed for various reasons. So far, they've been unsuccessful. But given the current political climate, we probably haven't heard the last of this sort of thing.

[Mythsaje]

12. Ah, Heck...

Just nod agreeably and replace that book with "The Handmaid's Tale."

:evilgrin:

After all, I think that's quite a relevent story for this day and age, if anything is.

They should LOVE that one.

:sarcasm:

[Hissyspit]

15. Sarcasm aside, it's a great idea. Or at least a good LTTE n/t

[Viva_La_Revolution]

23. I just bought that!

I read it once in JR High, but I sure didn't "get it" back then. I'm starting it today. The last half of Imperial Hubris will just have to wait.

[davidinalameda]

14. it's an AP class and it's Margaret Atwood

what neanderthals

sorry if I sound cold-blooded but banning this story is not going to bring back this guy's daughter and it's not going to prevent any future rapes

give the kids some credit to think for themselves

[atommom]

16. Here's an interesting piece about attempts at censorship in the area

and other assorted RW activities. I'm offering it not as an invitation to bash Kansas some more... ;) and not to start a fight between red and blue staters... but as a public service. We all need to keep an eye on the wingnuts in our own communities. They are very organized and very determined people.

http://redstaterabble.blogspot.com/2005/05/connecting-dots.html

[PurityOfEssence]

18. Bloody Kansas

"The Handmaid's Tale" must have their knickers in a REAL twist.

Things that don't agree with me shouldn't exist; beholdeth the soul of conservatism.

It will get much worse.

[Hissyspit]

19. kick

[dubyaD40web]

20. I hate this fucking state.

'nough said.

[tanyev]

21. Memo to self:

Order that copy of The Handmaid's Tale you've been meaning to get NOW.

[noonwitch]

24. I've never read the story, so I can't really comment on it

It may be appropriate for high school readers, it may not be. Personally, I don't think "The Handmaid's Tale" is appropriate for high school curriculum, but it's totally appropriate for college. In public schools, there has to be some sensitivity to the parents' input. There's no need to teach this particular book to the AP students, when there are plenty of classics they can read. In my AP class we read two Shakespeare plays; "Death of a Salesman"; classic poetry like Keats, Shelley, Byron, Coleridge, Wordsworth, etc.; and short stories like "A Rose For Emily".