(Article originally posted on Anime News Network on September 9, 2024.)
The Brevard Public Schools Board in Florida banned the first volume of Shō Harusono's Sasaki and Miyano boys-love manga from the district's school libraries during a board meeting on August 27.
A person in the district challenged the book's inclusion in the schools' libraries on the grounds that "sexual orientation should not be encouraged, suggested, or implanted" in the youth.
Yen Press publishes the series in English and describes the story:
It all started like a typical old-school boys' love plotline - bad-boy senior meets adorably awkward underclassman, one of them falls in love, and so on and so forth. But although Miyano is a self-proclaimed boys' love expert, he hasn't quite realized…he's in one himself. Which means it's up to Sasaki to make sure their story has a happily ever after…!
The complaint also included concerns children would be "exposed to age-inappropriate, obscene, explicit content" and that there was "no value in making homosexual books available at school." The book is rated for T for Teens.
The complainant suggested other manga to replace the series such as Chainsaw Man, To Your Eternity, and The Seven Deadly Sins among others.
Board Chair Megan Wright objected to the book's content due to its focus on a romantic relationship, as well as the Japanese reading format of reading the book from right-to-left.
The district's Book Review Committee had previously recommended to keep the book after determining that the book did not violate Florida's Statute 847.012, but the board voted 3-to-2 in favor of banning the book.
14 comments
Whoops, the text from “The complaint…” onwards should not be indented that way. It should be in line with “Yen Press…” Could someone please fix it?
Anyway, here’s a Xwitter link to the documents proposing the book ban. These were posted by Jennifer Jenkins, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from Brevard County who “defeated the co-founder of Moms for Liberty in a district Donald Trump won by double digits”, according to her website .
Heterosexual is also a sexual orientation even if you twist yourself into knots trying to claim it’s the “default” setting, so I guess ban everything where a man and a woman go on dates or so much as hold hands. Might as well ban the words mother and father, husband and wife, and any mention of the nuclear family too because that’s also acknowledging sexuality and the act of reproduction itself which might implant and encourage the idea of looking for boyfriends or girlfriends. And seriously, the reading format? THAT is fucking grounds for censorship? Any knowledge that written language has different conventions in the world and despite you believing your children will read ten novel’s worth of filth purely of their own mental invention into a children’s story about two male penguins adopting another penguin you think your kids’ minds are at the same time so painfully underdeveloped that they will short circuit just trying to make sense of the right-to-left reading format?
If it were sexually explicit, I could kinda understand it being banned, but as far as I can tell, it’s totally not. From the Wikipedia article on the manga:
The story unfolds as a gentle, character-driven exploration of self-discovery, friendship, and the slow realization of mutual affection between the two boys.
That doesn’t really sound too bad to me!
…so you’ll be banning a certain manga that features a hetero sexual relationship with Keiichi Morisato.
And Belldandy: who is a Norse Goddess?
I bet “Ah! My Goddess” isn’t banned in schools in Scandinavian countries. Nor, I imagine, “Loveless”.
But as that is a mild form of BL manga by Yun Kouga, I imagine that’s on your ‘banned’ list too. But that’s okay. Viz Media make that available in e-book form. And one can stream a certain anime series via not only Crunchyroll but Amazon: “Gundam 00″. Kouga did the character designs for that.
Including one of the Gundam Meisters: Tieria Erde.
Oh, you’ll love that character! [/Doug Piranha-levels of sarcasm]
@TheKingOfRhye #241708
I’ve only read volumes 1-3, but I know the most explicit Sasaki and Miyano gets is a kiss. Heartstopper is more explicit than that, and that’s a work that only implies the lead couple had sex. And yet that work’s PG enough to be shown to teenagers and young adults!
And yes, it’s actually a very heartwarming and light-hearted story. The only reason someone’d call for a ban on it is because they think gayness is too much for children’s eyes. Which is such a stupid thing to think. Queer people exist, and denying it out of feelings of offense is just pathetic.
Board Chair Megan Wright objected to the book's content due to […] the Japanese reading format of reading the book from right-to-left.
…Wut?
Look, as sad as it is, the homophobia is nothing new. Fundies do as fundies do, unfortunatly. But since effin’ when is a Japanese reading format grounds for censorship even by their inane standards!?
If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go deliberately piss these bigots off by reading some ecchi manga myself. Maybe Monster Musume’s infamous “farm arc”…?
EDIT: also,
other manga to replace the series such as Chainsaw Man
Yeah, thing is, Chainsaw Man is a LOT more bloody, gory, and graphical than whatever they’re trying to boycott is. But hey, at least it does not have two boys kissing each other afaik…
@Timjer #241711
And Seven Deadly Sins has the male lead, Meliodas, grope, harass, and otherwise be a creep to the female lead Elizabeth; yet it’s just waved aside as funny hijinks. By contrast, Sasaki respects Miyano’s consent throughout. So this ban is just barely-masked homophobia and xenophobia at work.
"sexual orientation should not be encouraged, suggested, or implanted"
Does it include heterosexuality?
as well as the Japanese reading format of reading the book from right-to-left
So, even discovring that other languages have other rules, and taking the opportunity to discover that other societies have differing standards is bad. That, in some places, writing is done right-to-left or top-to-bottom.
@TheKingOfRhye #241708
Sounds a lot better than most of the trash romances I’ve forced myself to read through. Like two thirds of them are about a spouse (more often the woman than not) dissatisfied with a cold (rarely in an abusive sense, those that go that angle tend to morph into psychological thrillers rather than romances) but comfortable marriage finding a spark in an exciting new stranger that feels like love all over again but the main conflict is that they’re too comfortable in the trappings of their marriage and wary of social consequence to actually break it off. It usually tries to boil it down to duty vs passions but it tends to come down to comfort and convenience vs actually making a drastic change not addressing that the risk and taboo more than the relationship itself are what’s really igniting the cold spark. Often (but not always) the marriage in contention was a matter of expectation rather than a real attraction that fizzled out. The latter tend to be more human and interesting but the underlying problem still remains. The remaining third often aren’t much better, some engineered contrivances of disapproval or social disparity. As a straight man I find it actually kind of insulting that the most engaging and human romances have been from the perspective of mlm and wlw stories. Even outright porn has often shown more thought on that front.
@MixMasterMikaeus #241714
Naw, he’s “reclaiming masculinity” and despite being ancient is indulging “natural youthful curiosity” that doesn’t take that newfangled woke consent into account that if you object is an attack on men. I feel like I need a shower saying that even in a mocking tone.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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