And Tango Makes Three is a children’s book that talks about two penguins, Roy and Silo, who raise a baby penguin together. The book sounds like any other children’s book, but what made it one of the most challenged books in the last decade? The two penguins are male. The fact that these two penguins are the same gender sparked countless numbers of complaints from parents all over the world, pushing for the removal of the books in their children’s school libraries. The two terministic screens of the argument are: the book is harmful to young children versus the content of the book should not be censored. The parents of the children that find the book in their schools argue that homosexually is not something to be exposed to children and that
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The article used the word harming, which is an example of a selection of a word that gives off a negative vibe. Using the word harming, it also deflects the fact that there could be a positive message that the book gives, and that it is only detrimental to society. The New York Times article raises an interesting point on how some of the religious group call homosexuals “animalistic.” Stating that being homosexual makes a human animalistic creates a feeling of discontinuity from the rest of the human race. It makes it feel like homosexual people are animals, they’re different from society and that they aren’t smart enough to realize what is normal. The parents also reason that their children are not ready to handle the heavy topic of homosexuality. With the book’s target audience of children 4 to 8, it is true that many, if not all, kids in that age group are not ready for a relationship, let alone a homosexual one. The parents say that they should get to decide when their kids are ready to learn about the homosexual lifestyle, not a book their kids can find in a library. (Suhr) As a kid, many would expect them to do things such as learning how to count. Learning about a sexual …show more content…
One god term is that homosexuality is a norm in today’s society, so restricting knowledge of it could harm society. The article from theguardian illustrates this perfectly when it states: “The problem is that these children are growing up in a society where some of their classmates are going to come from same sex couples." If we as a society decide to hide the knowledge of homosexuality from kids with two moms or two dads, the kids will believe that their parents were doing something wrong or even something unacceptable. This is further supported by the image of having the book on a restricted section of the library. Bengu Tekinalp, a professor at Drake University, says: "When my child sees the book on restricted shelves, the message is it's not OK to be different, it's not OK to be unique. (wcfcourier)" When knowledge is kept from a child, the child get curious about it. This can lead to situations where the child could bully another child that is homosexual, simply because he or she hasn’t been informed that being homosexual is accepted in our society. The last argument is about an opinion on how an ideal library should be. A parent reasoned: "My feeling is that a library is to serve an entire population," they continue, “It means you represent different families in a society, different religions, different beliefs. That's the role of a school library." (Suhr) When a book
The article used the word harming, which is an example of a selection of a word that gives off a negative vibe. Using the word harming, it also deflects the fact that there could be a positive message that the book gives, and that it is only detrimental to society. The New York Times article raises an interesting point on how some of the religious group call homosexuals “animalistic.” Stating that being homosexual makes a human animalistic creates a feeling of discontinuity from the rest of the human race. It makes it feel like homosexual people are animals, they’re different from society and that they aren’t smart enough to realize what is normal. The parents also reason that their children are not ready to handle the heavy topic of homosexuality. With the book’s target audience of children 4 to 8, it is true that many, if not all, kids in that age group are not ready for a relationship, let alone a homosexual one. The parents say that they should get to decide when their kids are ready to learn about the homosexual lifestyle, not a book their kids can find in a library. (Suhr) As a kid, many would expect them to do things such as learning how to count. Learning about a sexual …show more content…
One god term is that homosexuality is a norm in today’s society, so restricting knowledge of it could harm society. The article from theguardian illustrates this perfectly when it states: “The problem is that these children are growing up in a society where some of their classmates are going to come from same sex couples." If we as a society decide to hide the knowledge of homosexuality from kids with two moms or two dads, the kids will believe that their parents were doing something wrong or even something unacceptable. This is further supported by the image of having the book on a restricted section of the library. Bengu Tekinalp, a professor at Drake University, says: "When my child sees the book on restricted shelves, the message is it's not OK to be different, it's not OK to be unique. (wcfcourier)" When knowledge is kept from a child, the child get curious about it. This can lead to situations where the child could bully another child that is homosexual, simply because he or she hasn’t been informed that being homosexual is accepted in our society. The last argument is about an opinion on how an ideal library should be. A parent reasoned: "My feeling is that a library is to serve an entire population," they continue, “It means you represent different families in a society, different religions, different beliefs. That's the role of a school library." (Suhr) When a book