Category Archives: Censorship

Faced with racism, censorship, and sexism, life for a conservative on an American college campus is harder than ever, according to students from around the country.

With few allies for them at school, conservative students have come to the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida, to tell their stories.

"It's not fun. We've been persecuted several times," Preston Parra, a 20-year-old student at the University of West Georgia said. "I actually had to take a case up to the vice president. I didnt report anyone specifically, but I was called a racial slur on campus."

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Everyone expects white conservatives to be racist, he said, but Parra, who is of Colombian descent, endures the most attacks from his campus's self-proclaimed liberals and other people of color, including the individuals who called him the slur, he said.

"They happened to actually be black. You see all the time in the media that white people are portrayed as the enemy and the most racist, but growing up as a brown kid in middle school and elementary school, I got bullied more from people of my own color or black people than I ever did by white people," Parra said. "So it's very important we see there is such a double-standard when it comes to racism. People are going around saying the N-word on the liberal side of things, but if you ever heard it on the conservative side, it is a blowup."

"I, myself, am brown. I come from a minority community, and I reported [the incident] to the vice president. I told him, 'Hey, this is going on on campus. Its got to stop.' He nominated me as chairman of the code of conduct board," he continued.

Many conservatives do not feel comfortable speaking up, but doing so can put them in positions to make change, Parra said.

Sexism is another major challenge facing conservatives, especially women, on America's campuses, according to Rachel Ress, a student at Florida Atlantic University.

Ress, 19, said she was originally slated by the school to live in the same residence as a male student.

When she explained to school officials that the arrangement made her uncomfortable, she said they said the only thing wrong with the situation was her attitude.

"I was housed initially with a boy and told that I was the problem because of my Christianity and not wanting to embrace the situation," according to Ress.

"I was like, 'I'm a girl. I want to be with girls.' I had never had an experience like that. I'm glad we sorted it out, but it was hard to be shamed for traditional values in such an untraditional setting."

Georgetown University is an example of a left-leaning school that can be unwelcoming to tradition, according to 22-year-old Andrew Alfonso.

"Theres definitely a lot of assh**** and a lot of real aggression coming from kids on more of the Left," Alfonso said. "I know one time we had a conservative speaker on campus, and a lot of kids ended up protesting that, and it got pretty ugly.

"Weve kind of been siloed," he continued. "It can definitely be difficult at times."

Inside the classroom, life doesn't get easier for conservatives, several students lamented.

"There are some times where I will want to write an essay about one thing, and then I have to hold myself back," Deanna Mancuso, a 20-year-old FAU student, said.

Censorship, whether it be imposed by professors or the students themselves, is a common denominator among America's institutions for higher learning, students agreed.

"I definitely feel at times I cant portray who I am completely because of the fear of judgment," said 19-year-old Dalia Calvillo of FAU.

"But that is something you have to deal with, and you always have to stand up for yourself."

Parra echoed Calvillo's sentiment.

"Many times, professors have tried to censor us on campus. Were not letting that happen," he said. "We're fighting against it, we're shining a light on it, and were publicizing it. Thats the key. You have to publicize all this stuff."

CPAC offers young conservatives the chance to learn about tools they can take back with them and use to make a difference at their schools and in their communities, according to Parra.

"I came to CPAC last year and took back a lot of values then," he said. "So now Im running for [state House] District 64 in Georgia, and were just doing everything we can to make sure we are preserving all the values that are important to true God-loving Americans."

Both Calvillo and Mancuso said they want to use what they learn in Orlando to become better leaders on campus.

"I hope to learn a little bit more about what it takes to be a great leader and show that at my university," Calvillo said.

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It's not just important to be a leader, Mancuso argued. A leader "has to be someone who is unapologetically who they are."

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Racism, censorship, and sexism: The price of being conservative in college - Washington Examiner

If youre fired up about book challenges and want to do one actionable thing about it that requires little more than a few minutes of time, this ones for you.

One of the several possible ways to fight book challenges is being tuned into your local school and library boards. School boards tend to be elected offices, while public library boards can either be elected or can be appointed. In the case of elections, you, as a voter and citizen of your community, can not only choose to endorse a candidate who cares about intellectual freedom, but you can run for those positions yourself. If your board utilizes the appointment system, you can submit an application for open positions.

While running for and sitting in those positions can take a lot of time, voting for those positions is part of civic duty.

Heres your action step this week: look up your local school and public library board. Who is sitting on it? How did they get there was it election or appointment? How long is their term? When do elections for open positions happen? Its likely a board seat on either may be up for spring elections in April or May this year, and/or there may be open positions during the fall election season in October or November.

If you find there are open positions coming up for election, research the candidates. What language do they use to talk about how they see themselves in the role? By now, youre likely conscious of some critical words that define those seeking to censor educators and the materials they use or have available in schools and libraries (look for words such as parental rights or oversight, among others).

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It might feel like a small step, but many small steps taken add up. The more information you know about your own community, the more youre able to be an active participant in it. The death of local news has been a tremendous detriment to so many towns, and where information used to be readily shared through those sources has fallen instead to partisan-aligned social media outlets. Were all much more responsible for our own civic education in the wake of it.

The only way the war against intellectual freedom is going to be won is by being armed with information that allows you to understand the responsibility and the power in using your voice at the poll, in the community, and at or on these local boards.

A favor to ask before diving into the roundup for the week. Once youve done this work and looked up your school and library boards and the policies around them, can you share that information? This handy form is anonymous but will help compile a resource for people across the country to be better informed. Bonus: you can use it as your personal template for this research send yourself a copy of the form for your own records.

Want to do something for the authors and books being challenged that doesnt cost money and doesnt require you to leave your couch? This set of recommended actions is great, and it acknowledges the inherent privilege in the idea buying books is the solution.

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Take One Step This Week Toward Combating Censorship: This Weeks Book Censorship News, February 25, 2022 - Book Riot

In Born on the Water, the childrens picture book accompaniment to The 1619 Project, Smiths paintings bring the cultures of West Africans to life, showing the pre-enslavement history often omitted from classrooms.

One of the things that me and Nikole talk about is theres so much rich history, and culture, and so much joy in these tribes and these people that were stolen from their land, Smith told The 74. You really have to understand all of that to understand how heavy it was, and how tragic it was We really just wanted to show that life.

From his plant-filled Los Angeles home, Smith paired Hannah-Jones and Watsons poetry with family traditions, beautiful hair, dances, imagery that evoked death and spirits. Using a digital speed-sketch style, his illustrations began as monochrome shapes and skeletons in Photoshop, impressions of how he felt after reading and internalizing their verses.

The book hit shelves last fall amid a wave of proposed state laws aimed at preventing students from learning a mythical critical race theory and divisive concepts. In at least four states, legislation attempted to ban the 1619 Project explicitly. So far, Florida has succeeded.

While a vocal minority of lawmakers and parents believe school aged children are too young to grapple with just how violence against Black people was intrinsic to the nations founding, many more yearned for the content. Born on the Water topped bestseller lists as families headed into 2022, looking for ways to talk to children about the country theyll inherit.

Smiths artistic approach seemed a natural fit. In digital paintings, he added layer after layer of color and symbols clouds modeled after picked cotton, the shape of a person sinking underwater, or a green toy tied to a tree, the only sign of life left after colonizers stole a tribe to convey anger and fear in ways young readers could feel without being traumatized by explicit violence.

Long-inspired by Nina Simone to reflect the times, hed balanced trauma and life in childrens illustrations for years, painting Tamir Rice, Elijah McClain and others killed by police.

His second book, My Hair is Poofy and Thats Ok, explored the internalized hatred young Black children develop from racism and microaggressions.

Through his work, which he describes as art as therapy, he tries to help himself and viewers heal the broken bones of society.

For them to say, we have a book about the transatlantic slave trade and slavery, and all of these very heavy things that we as Black people in America, we think about it all the time I felt like thats one of the biggest broken bones in America, he said.

Remember that these werent slaves that were taken, these were brilliant people, and they did some amazing things They knew how to design and build cities, they built this country, and thats why they were stolen, because they were brilliant and good at what they do. We just want to remind people of that, and also how much they fought and resisted and got their freedom back.

And [for] the young folks who are not Black, theres no shame in anything were saying. We want people to grow up having an accurate understanding of what happened in this country. I feel like its really not until we address all of these things openly and honestly that were gonna really grow and move forward as a nation.Nikkolas Smith

Smith blurred linear understandings of time by using symbols across generations, to help young readers understand that [ancestors] vision of the future, their wildest dreams are now embodied in us [were] having to take that mantle and move forward.

And in faces, Smith balanced the world of feelings bound up in the Black experience: from shame, when the protagonist cannot make a family tree beyond three generations, to pride, after her grandmother recounts the rich history of tribes pre-enslavement. Her hair, in Bantu knots, and clothing give reference to past generations.

Ultimately, Smith hopes his work can help the next generation of Black youth have a sense of pride. Over the next few months, hell paint scenes of Ruby Bridges, the first young person to integrate a Southern school in 1960. And next year, hell collaborate with celebrated author Timeka Fryer Brown on a picture book about the Confederate flag.

He expects both will end up on some banned lists.

All we can do is keep putting the truth out there, Smith said, and itll get into the right hands.

All paintings are illustrated by Nikkolas Smith for Born on the Water, a publication of Kokila, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers.

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Painting Black History in the Time of Censorship for Young Readers: A Conversation with Nikkolas Smith, Illustrator of 1619 Project's Born on the...

In many ways, the modern audience has grown accustomed to trusting in lies. Weve been suspending our disbelief to enjoy an evening of theatre for millenniawhether were witnessing Medea fly away on a chariot pulled by dragons or turning a blind eye to slapdash producorial edit in the latest episode ofDrag Race. What matters to a modern audience is less about the verisimilitude of the show and more the emotion of the moment, and, in the right light, an illusion can feel as true as anything.

Nicky Beers latest poetry collection,Real Phonies and Genuine Fakes, explores the transformative and necessary power of illusion. This third collection follows Beers 2015 book,The Octopus Game, which examines the fluid and elusive sea creature, among other things.Real Phoniesis a continuation of the idea that subterfuge and fakery exists in the real and natural world, but unlike our cephalopod counterpart, we obtain our disguises from this world and splice them into our identities. Octopuses are masters of camouflage, Beer explains, so camouflage and illusion were something that I was very interested in in [The Octopus Game], and I realized . . . I wanted to keep exploring concepts of deception and illusion. Fans of Beers poetry will note some significant continuity between the two worksMarlene Deitrich appears in both, for exampleas Beer moves us from the seafloor to the mainstage.

InReal Phonies, Beer immediately pulls readers into an amusement park of masquerade (the first poem entitled Drag Day at Dollywood is flush with the fabulous and claustrophobic language of impersonation). What follows is a tour of the funhouse, featuring such notable characters as Dolly Parton, Marlene Deitrich, Batman, and, briefly, David Bowie. Were invited to marvel at these people and the masks they wear in one space, and directed to consider our own masks in the next. Much like gazing into a funhouse mirror, Beers poetry is as equally fascinated with artifice as it is the distorted person underneath it, and readers are often asked to consider these twoi.e., the mask and the person underneathin conversation.

Because, from Beers perspective, our real selves are connected deeply with a myriad of false faces we employ, sometimes subconsciously, in order to live. In the same way that we choose to believe Dolly Partons iconic hair is her own, we have learned to put some trust in certain falsehoods for our own sakes. When asked if there is such a thing as a trustworthy illusion, Beer excitedly replies thatReal Phoniesis an endeavor to examine our relationship with fakery and illusion, and including, I think, self-deception. Whats the degree to which we come to depend on or trust lies that we tell ourselvesaboutourselves? And how do we depend on those lies to navigate or survive the world? Much like the octopus, we learn to disguise ourselves in certain dangerous situations, but unlike the octopus, were far more likely to deceive ourselves in the process.

As is often the case, the truth is often hidden in the details, and readers ofReal Phoniesare privy to the genuine emotions behind Beers marvelous imagery. This book is the first time Im writing explicitly about my mental illness, Beer reveals, describing her experience of performing wellness in her daily life while masking the real depression and anxiety that was causing her pain. Beers poetry captures the strangely backwards way we protect ourselves from outer scrutiny, even when we need help:

Shes been nominated for an Emmy for her portrayal of

the concerned line between your doctors eyebrows

as he listened to the giant, sodden moth trapped

between your shoulders, the ruin you carry

around with you like a speech youre always prepared

to give. (from Cathy Dies)

Beyond the desire to seem healthy and happy to the outside world,Real Phoniesspends a significant amount of time contemplating the way in which women and queer people regularly perform to live in a heteronormative, male-dominated world. In one poem, a female speaker confronts Bruce Wayne and laughs at his unoriginal idea to wear a mask in dangerous places: . . . the world is a dark alley / hiding a gun in its mouth. / It has more than enough / reasons to make you/cover your face (Dear Bruce Wayne,). For the outsider, the world is a foreign and often hostile place, and Beers poetry acknowledges these experiences with a mix of delightful humor and deep, delicate sadness.

Real Phoniesis critical of the facades we choose to believe in, sure, but underneath it all is Beers genuine love of performance and the transformative, healing power of suspending disbelief in the right moments. Like the drag queens in the opening poem Drag Day at Dollywood, Beer invites us to join the parade of pretenders for a moment and feel the fantasy (or, at least, to sit back and enjoy the show): Thousands of pairs of Dolly lungs breathe in / gasoline and grease, breathe out glitter.

Real Phonies and Genuine Fakesis available now for pre-order fromMilkweed Editions, and poetry fans in the Denver area can join Nicky Beer atbookbarfor a release party on March 8th. For more information on Nicky Beer, visitnickybeer.com.

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Nicky Beer - Must We Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves? - Lavender Magazine

In Central Florida, in a county named Polk, the The Kite Runner, a bestseller, is in quarantine.

In Flagler County, in Northeast Florida, All Boys Arent Blue, has been pulled from school library shelves.

And in Hillsborough County in the Tampa Bay area, The Bluest Eye was challenged by a parent who felt the novels explicit content was inappropriate for school-aged kids. The author: The late Toni Morrison, a Nobel Prize winner and a Pulitzer Prize winner.

While some advocates and lawmakers fear more books will be banned or challenged for telling the stories of LGBTQ people and racial minorities, GOP lawmakers are working to make it easier for parents and community members to weigh in and challenge books available for students in school libraries, potentially taking them off the shelves for weeks at a time or permanently.

Legislation moving through the 2022 legislative session would require that each new book or other material be open for reasonable opportunity for public comments.

That sounds okay, but maybe not. Current book bans and challenges in Florida and across the nation leave some lawmakers and activists concerned that the legislation will lead to an onslaught of removal of books relating to the experience of the LGBTQ community and certain perspectives on history, such as the Holocaust.

In a bill that passed the full House last week, district school boards must report to the Department of Education any material for which the school district received an objection to and report any material that was removed as a result of the objections. Then the department would publish a list of materials that were removed or discontinued as a result of an objection and disseminate the list to school districts for consideration in their selection procedures.

National outlets have reported increased scrutiny on what books are available in school libraries.

In Virginia, several books focused on the experience of LGBTQ teens have been pulled from school library shelves, ABC News reports.

A county in Tennessee banned a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel called Maus by Art Spiegelman from its schools. It depicts the Holocaust through anthropomorphic animals, but was removed for crude language and depictions of nudity, according to CNN.

In Missouri,The Bluest Eye by acclaimed author Toni Morrison, was banned by a local school board, Today reports. The novel tells the story of a young Black girl growing up in the Great Depression. The American Library Association placed Morrisons book in the top ten most challenged books in 2020.

Meanwhile, in Florida, George M. Johnsons book All Boys Arent Blue was pulled from Flagler County Public Schools in December, according to FlaglerLive reports.

Jason Wheeler, a communications staffer with the Northeast Florida school district, confirmed with the Phoenix that as of Monday, Johnsons book is still not available for checkout in Flagler public schools, and its not clear when it could be again, if at all.

The book relays Johnsons experience of growing up as a Black queer man.

It is very interesting, and sometimes just overwhelming to, daily, get Google Alerts of new counties, every single day, removing the book from classrooms while also getting direct messages from students and from parents who are desperately fighting to keep the book in school systems, Johnson said during a virtual press conference Monday.

The press conference was hosted by Free-Speech advocacy group PEN America. The conversation focused on various legislation that members of the LGBTQ community say work together in order to diminish the visibility of LGBTQ people in Florida schools and nationwide, including the Florida Legislatures so-called Dont Say Gay bill.

In the Polk County school district, 16 books have been pulled from middle and high schools for the time being, as district officials evaluate whether to keep them in libraries following complaints from a group called County Citizens Defending Freedom, the Ledger reported late January.

Polk communication staffer Jason Geary told the Phoenix that the 16 books are currently under review and it could be weeks before a decision is made on whether the books will return to Polk school library shelves. Meanwhile, the books are in quarantine, Geary said.

One of the books is I am Jazz, which documents the life of a young transgender girl native to South-Florida. Another is called Two Boys Kissing, which explores the experiences of young gay boys.

The books in this list are not just focused on LGBTQ issues either. Two are Toni Morrison books, The Bluest Eye and Pulitzer-prize winning Beloved.

The Kite Runner is on the list as well. It was on the the top 10 most challenged book in 2017, according to the American Library Association. The book includes sexual violence.

The Phoenix reached out to County Citizens Defending Freedom (CCDF-USA), a group describing itself on its website as an organization that provides the tools and support needed to empower citizens to defend their freedom and liberty, and place local government back into the hands of the people. As patriots have done throughout Americas history.

The group has not yet responded to the Phoenix. Heres what the national branch of County Citizens Defending Freedom said about the situation in Polk County schools, in a written statement on Jan. 31:

County Citizens Defending Freedom has received an overwhelming positive response for bringing to light content within library books available in Polk County public schools that is explicit and inappropriate for minors.

The statement continues: The family values and virtues that shape a child should be and are developed in the home, and the content found in these books stand in opposition to those very core values. Parents should have confidence in sending their children to school without worry that undesirable, even unthinkable material is available to their children in their school libraries; especially books that potentially violate Floridas decency and child protection statutes.

The current bill in the Legislature about potential book bans and censorship is HB 1467, sponsored by Republican Rep. Sam Garrison. Hes an attorney and represents part of Clay County in Northeast Florida.

What this bill is seeking to do is provide transparency to reinforce, for parents, the security and the confidence of knowing that when they drop their kids off at the local library and be comfortable of where they are. They want to encourage their kids to go to the library. We want people to be talking about libraries, Garrison said last week on the House floor.

Jon Harris Maurer, Public Policy Director with Equality Florida, a statewide LGBTQ advocacy group, told the Phoenix:

But our fear is how we see this bill potentially being manipulated by anti-LBGTQ extremists.

Maurer noted that public comments in support of the House bill and the Senate version wanted LGBTQ materials removed from classrooms.

He continued: We know that these bills also have a chilling effect and can make schools less likely to want to have those materials that are supportive to the LGBTQ community because they dont want to face these challenges and liabilities from the anti-LGBTQ opponents who may try to use the system just to object to those materials that they dont like.

The House passed the bill 78-40, generally on party lines. Its now headed to the Senate for deliberation.

Here are some of the other components of the bill:

All elementary schools would have to publish in a searchable format a list of all materials in the school library or on a required reading list.

The bill works to integrate public participation in the material selection process for school districts, meaning that parents and community members would be more included when school districts are considering new books and instructional materials.

The bill includes meetings that must be open to the public when a district is selecting books and other materials.

During debate on HB 1467 last week, Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith of Orlando worried that more books representing members of the LGBTQ community will be targeted.

I agree with the fundamental concept that parents have the right to control what their child reads. But they do not have the right to control what other parents children are reading, Smith said. And lets be real, most of these movements to ban books in our schools, which should trouble all of us, are mostly movements to ban books about us. And by us, I mean LGBTQ Floridians, LGBTQ students, LGBTQ families.

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Amid fear and censorship, FL school districts are pulling books off shelves in public schools - Florida Phoenix

Last month, for example, the Indiana House of Representatives approved a bill not yet signed into law that would limit what teachers can say regarding race, history and politics in the states classrooms. Under the law, schools could be held liable for mentioning any one of several divisive concepts, including the idea that any individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish responsibility, or any other form of psychological distress on account of the individuals sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, national origin or political affiliation.

The bill would allow parents to allege a violation, file a complaint, sue and even collect damages (up to $1,000). It would also, in the name of transparency, create curriculum review committees for parents and require schools and teachers to post lists of material on websites for parents to inspect.

In South Carolina, lawmakers have introduced a bill known as the Freedom from Ideological Coercion and Indoctrination Act that would prohibit any state-funded institution from stating that a group or an individual, by virtue of his or her race, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, heritage, culture, religion, or political belief is inherently racist, sexist, bigoted, ignorant, biased, fragile, oppressive, or contributive to any oppression, whether consciously or unconsciously. If signed into law, this bill could make it illegal, for instance, for teachers and college professors in the state to criticize members of a white supremacist group since that affiliation might count as a political belief.

Schools that repeatedly distort or misrepresent verifiable historical facts or omit relevant and important context or advertise or promote ideologies or sociopolitical causes or organizations could face a loss of state funding, state accreditation or tax-exempt status. As for what these violations would actually look like? The bill does not say.

The most disturbing efforts to monitor schools and teachers for wrong-think involve actual surveillance. Bills introduced in Iowa and Mississippi would install classroom cameras that would stream lessons over the internet for anyone to observe. The Iowa bill, which died in committee this week, would have forced schools to place cameras in all K-12 classrooms, except for physical education and special-needs classes. Teachers and other staff members who obstructed cameras or failed to keep them in working order would face fines of up to 5 percent of their weekly pay for each infraction.

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Opinion | You Just Cant Tell the Truth About America Anymore - The New York Times

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) After Chinese subtitlers self-censored by replacing the word kill with suck in the American series Hannibal, inadvertently making suggestive dialogues, Taiwans Ministry of Culture (MOC) discussed the value of freedom by reviewing the countrys own history of censorship under authoritarianism.

In a Facebook post, the MOC wrote that while the public may find the over-censorship of Hannibal a funny topic, the incident reflects a serious issue. The freedom to use whichever word, to look back upon whichever period in history, and to create without restriction should not be subject to authoritys inspection and suppression.

The MOC added, This is a shared belief and value in Taiwan as well as our predecessors deep realization and historical experience. From the present, free standpoint, we hope that everyone can remember history without freedom and cherish what you hold in your hands."

The MOC wrote that in Taiwan, creators also lived with censored speeches and publications under authoritarianism. It mentioned the Popeye Incident of 1968 as a symbolic example, in which author Bo Yang (), who translated the Popeye the Sailor Man comics, was accused of alluding to Chiang Kai-shek () and Chiang Ching-kuo () and sentenced to prison.

Another example is the upcoming 228 Peace Memorial Day, which commemorates the painful time in history over 70 years ago that survivors dared not discuss, textbooks loathed to mention, and the government blacklisted as sensitive terms in the past, according to the MOC.

Continued here:
Taiwan Ministry of Culture responds to China's censorship of word 'kill' - Taiwan News

Rachel Brosnahan as Midge Maisel. (Courtesy of Amazon Studios)

Like other fans of Amazons The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Ill be binge-watching when the fourth season of the hit series finally drops on Friday, Feb. 18. Theres something deeply cathartic about watching the glamorous Midge Maisel battle sexism and censorship. Wielding words like poison stilettos, Maisel turns the narratives of everyday life into comedic shards that cut to the truth of self doubt, setback and triumph on the path to personal reinvention. We dont need to be a 20-something, divorced mother of two in the late 1950s to relate to her experiences as awoman battling to be heard.

I cant help but wonder if the fictional Midge Maisel was influenced by the real-life Mary Ware Dennett or what would happen if they met. Its possible that at least some of Maisels pluck and fortitude was derived from learning about women like Dennett in newspapers and magazines. Dennett wasnt a comedian, she was an activist. From 1915 through the 1930s, Dennetts pioneering battles against the U.S. governments censorship helped pave the way for the freedom of speech that Maisel both relies on and fights to expand.

Dennett was a chink in the armor of U.S. obscenity laws, a just-the-facts advocate for honesty in sex education. Unlike Maisel, who grew up in New York, Dennett was a transplant to Manhattan from Boston. Thats where their differences end, and the story of two fearless women pushing the boundaries of legal and cultural norms begins.

As young wives, Maisel and Dennett seemed to have it allthe man of their dreams, healthy children, up and coming lifestyleseverything they thought they desired. But each womans perfect world came crashing downand for both, it was about sex. Maisels man left her for his secretary. For Dennett, difficulties in childbirth left her with a painful choice: risk death if she had another child, or abstain from sexual intercourse. Abstinence proved impossible for Dennetts husband and in 1908, he scampered off to start a commune in New Hampshire.

Betrayed and humiliated, both women channeled their considerable creative energies into reinventing themselves. Maisel followed her penchant for wisecracks into a career as a standup comedian, initially doing gigs in back-alley clubs in Greenwich Village. Dennett joined the suffrage movement in Massachusetts, and was later recruited to the national headquarters in New York. Arriving in Manhattan in 1910, Dennett cut her hair and her corset, then she took a lover. Like Maisel, she found her tribe in the smoke-filled back rooms of the Village, but Dennetts group called itself Heterodoxy, a secret sorority of feminist artists, writers and reformers.

Betrayed and humiliated, both women channeled their creative energies into reinventing themselves. Maisel followed her penchant for wisecracks into a career as a standup comedian. Dennett joined the suffrage movement.

But wait. Back up, Midge Maisel might say, pausing for effect and raising an eyebrow in suspicion. Why would Mary Ware Dennett and her husband have to abstain from sex? Couldnt they use condoms?

The answer is no. In 1873, Anthony Comstock, the anti-smut crusader and head of New Yorks Suppression of Vice, succeeded in making all forms of birth control illegal after Congress passed his anti-obscenity statutes. Later known as the Comstock laws, these statutes even prohibited information about theprevention of conception by equating it with pornography. With the stroke of a pen, conversations abouthowto prevent pregnancy became illegal even between doctors and patients. Anyone found guilty could be fined up to $5,000 and sentenced to prison. Comstock himself once boasted that hed been responsible for more than 4,000 arrests and the suicides of 15 deviants.

Maisel and her friend, Lenny Bruce, may be unaware, but their arrests and battles over censorship are directly related to the laws that Dennett sought to change. By 1915, then 43-year-old Dennett realized that winning the vote for women was only one prong on the path to equality. She quit her job at suffrage headquarters and co-founded the National Birth Control League, the first organization of its kind in the U.S. Its mission was to change the Comstock laws andtransform cultural views about sex.

Although the country was beginning to wrestle with its notions about women and morality, the prevailing attitude still held that procreation, or securing the future of the species, was a womans supreme duty. The idea that women might regard sex as a creative, pleasurable and emotionally fulfilling act, was beyond their comprehension.

So strong were these social, religious and legal chokeholds on women, that even in the late 1950s, when Maisel reunites with her ex in an evening of passion, or when she falls into the arms of the dreamy doctor, shes breaking accepted norms.

With the stroke of a pen, conversations abouthowto prevent pregnancy became illegal even between doctors and patients. Comstock himself once boasted that hed been responsible for more than 4,000 arrests and the suicides of 15 deviants.

Besides wanting to change public attitudes and the law, Dennett also wanted her teenage boys to learn the facts about sex rather than be tainted by Victorian myth and misconception. Scouring the libraries for suitable books to give them but finding none, she penned her own pamphlet called,The Sex Side of Life: An Explanation for Young People.If Maisel had seen the pamphlet, she might say, Women will fix it and accessorize it!

A former professor of art, Dennett illustrated it with anatomically correct drawings. Frontal and side-view diagrams of penises, vaginas and the entire reproductive system. Dennett shared her booklet with friends who shared it with friends and so on, until eventually, it found its way into the respectableMedical Review of Reviews, winning praise and endorsements. Struggling to earn money, she began selling the pamphlet to anyone who wrote to her with a request and a quarter.

About the same time, across the ocean in Switzerland, James Joyce began writingUlysses,one of literatures most groundbreaking novels. Its publication immediately became ensnared by censorship laws in Europe and the U.S. In an odd twist of fate, Dennetts pamphlet and Joyces novel became inextricably linkednot unlike the interwoven careers of Midge Maisel and Lenny Bruce.

Fast forward to January 1929 at a federal courthouse in Brooklyn. Now a grandmother and retired from birth control work, Dennett was indicted and arrested for sending obscene materialher sex ed pamphletthrough the mail. The lead counsel of The American Civil Liberties Union, a close friend of Dennetts, rose to her defense. Declaring her case to be on par with those of Copernicus and Darwin, he marshaled more than 30 experts in academia, religion and medicine to testify that contrary to being smut, Dennetts book was scientific and educational.

Dennett shared her booklet with friends who shared it with friends and so on, until eventually, it found its way into the respectableMedical Review of Reviews, winning praise and endorsements. Struggling to earn money, she began selling the pamphlet to anyone who wrote to her with a request and a quarter.

The prosecuting attorney countered that this woman and her booklet opens the window and beckons in all the neighbors children to corrupt them. In overly dramatic tones that one reporter called a caricature of performance, the prosecutor read passages to the jury that were taken out of context. A Methodist pastor and professor of philosophy at Yale University who was present for the trial, called the prosecutors remarks medieval fatheadism and hot air.

Yet the prosecutor convinced the all-male jury that the booklets discussion of masturbation, its illustrations, its discussions of the possible delights of sexual union, would lead our children not only into the gutter, but below the gutter and into the sewer. And he attempted to strike a note of patriotic duty in finding Dennett guilty:

If women practice birth control where will our soldiers come from in our hour of need? God help America if we havent men to defend her in that hour.

None of Dennetts experts were allowed to testify and the jury took just 45 minutes to find her guilty of obscenity. Maisel would have noted, as did Dennett, that there werent any female faces among the jurors. Her peers? Maisel would have mocked. You call this a jury of herpeers?raising another eyebrow. Women werent allowed to serve on federal juries until the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1957.

Its easy to imagine Dennetts sense of utter defeat at the hands of what she called obdurate humans. She would have agreed with Maisels dad, Abe, when he laments aloud on the subway, The greatest threat to humanity is ignorance.

Dennetts legal dream team immediately filed an appeal. By this time, public, if not political, attitudes had shifted. The nation was riveted by the trial and like Maisel, Dennett gained something of a cult following. Fundraisers were held, letter writing campaigns were launched, and petitions were sent to then President Hoover. When the press repeatedly described Dennett as a silver-haired, grandmotherly type, continually using an unflattering picture, Dennett did what Maisel would have done: She got proactive. Dennett started sending reporters photos that were more flattering along with a copy of her resume that touted an accomplished career.

During the months that followed her conviction and the appellate courts ruling, a reporter for the New YorkTelegramuncovered the truth behind the trial. The entire thing had been a sham, a government sting operation as payback for Dennetts work to change the laws. In an act that Maisel would have declared pure Comstockery, a postal inspector named C.E. Dunbar had written to Dennett under the fictitious name of Mrs. Carl A. Miles to request a copy ofThe Sex Side of Life.Dunbar had even ordered stationery printed with the fictitious womans name and address. Dennett, as she always did, mailed the requested copy, thereby setting in motion her indictment, arrest and trial.

Maisel may be famous for her brisket, but I laugh to think of the mincemeat shed make of Mr. C.E. Dunbar.

Almost one year later, in March 1930, the appellate court reversed Dennetts conviction, setting one of the most important legal precedents of the 20thcentury. While it wasnt the victory Dennett had fought to achieve, nevertheless, it created a fracture in the laws that had held captive both reproductive rights and the legal definition of obscenity for nearly 60 years.

Three years later, Dennetts attorney was back in court, battling censorship laws, this time on behalf of Random House and its right to publish JoycesUlysses.Citing Dennetts precedent-setting legal victory, the court ruled in favor of its publication along with other previously banned books in the U.S.

As for Dennett, when the Great Depression settled in, her fame receded into the shadows. At the time of her death in 1947, 23 editions published ofThe Sex Side of Lifeand it had been translated into 15 languages. Her family continued to sell it until 1964. I own a stack of yellowed copies of the pamphlet and am struck by its straightforward, common sense approach to sex educationstill a rarity today. I can imagine an episode of the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel that begins with Maisel dropping a quarter into an envelope and mailing it to Dennett.

Receiving her requested copy, Maisel might respond as she quipped in one episode, If you have underwear on, youre overdressed.

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If the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Met the Dynamic Mrs. DennettSex Ed And Censorship Would Be So 20th Century - Ms. Magazine

Even if you aren't interested in film history, or giallo-inspired surrealism, maybe this will sell you: "Censor" moves at a clip, delivering a weird and dreamy punch of a horror film in a scant 84 minutes. A bloody history lesson? In less than 90 minutes? I personally couldn't hit "play" faster.

Of course, Bailey-Bond does more than deliver the worlds weirdest history lesson. Within those 84 minutes (a truly amazing number that every movie should strive for), she puts the audience into the mind of Enid, a person who wouldn't want you to be seeing the very movie you're watching, and thenBailey-Bond breaks it wide open, exposing Enid's most base motivations. It's fun to imagine what Enid would censor from "Censor." Would the axe scene make it in? The gory reveal? The scene with the sleazy producerDoug Smart (played in a perfectly smarmy way by Michael Smiley, who also kills it in "Kill List")?

While Enid might not appreciate the content of her own movie especially the ending, which manages to deliver a gruesome final spook, I think she would at least find some appreciation in the artistry of "Censor." Bailey-Bond gets the fuzzy, Lite-Brite tone of those '80s direct-to-video films just right and they slide into the movie like butter, offsetting Enid's claustrophobic and buttoned-up world. And when Enid's life starts to unspool, the style of those nasties spills right into her life, punctuating her day with slashes of blood red lighting and paranoia-filled long takes. "Censor" also knows right when to dial up the sound, giving you every squelch and slurp when an axe hits a body. It's like watching the horror version of synchronized swimming: everything comes together beautifully and feels like more than the sum of its parts.

Enid's struggle to separate truth from fiction is the bloody, beating heart of "Censor" a heart that's lit by the fuzz of never ending TV static. As she eschews all of the trappings of her job (and supposedly her own morals), to confront her own horrifying past, she gives in to every monstrous instinct. For Enid, the only way out is through, so she becomes the subject of one of the horror films she hates, and in doing so, proves the worth of her profession. After all, Enid has seen more horror films than anyone, so when they cause her to hurt and maim, aren't they to blame after all? Wasn't she right to be afraid? Or was it keeping her emotions, her fears and hopes buttoned up and locked away that drove her mad? Either way, it's a nightmare that unfolds into a deeper, weirder nightmare that makes you wonder ... how much of you is made up of what you consume? After all, you are what you eat.

The rest is here:
The Daily Stream: Horror Seeps Through The Screen In Censor - /Film

What is Censorship?Censorship is the act of altering, adjusting, editing, or banning of media resulting from the presumption that its content is perceived to be objectionable, incendiary, illicit, or immoral by the presiding governmental body of a specific country or nation or a private institution. The ideology and methodology of Censorship varies greatly on both domestic and international levels, as well as public and private institutions. Governmental Censorship

Governmental Censorship takes place in the event that the content, subject matter, or intent latent within an individual form of media is considered to exist in contrast with preexisting statutory regulations and legislation. In many cases, the censorship of media will be analogous with corollary laws in existence. For example, in countries or nations in which specific actions or activities are prohibited, media containing that nature of presumed illegal subject matter may be subject to Censorship. However, the mere mention of such subject matter will not always result in censorship; the following methods of classification are typically enacted with regard to a governmentally-instituted statutory Censorship:Censorship within the Public SectorThe public sector is defined as any setting in which individuals of all ages inhabit that comply with legal statutes of accepted morality and proper behavior; this differs by locale the nature of the public sector is defined with regard to the nature of the respective form of media and its adherence to legislation:The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) sanctioned by the federal government of the United States in order to regulate the activity taking place in the public setting-based mediaCensorship and IntentWith regard to Censorship, intent is legally defined as the intended result for which one hopes as a result of their participation in the release or authorship of media; typically, proponents for individual censorship will be required to prove that the intent latent within the media in question was enacted knowingly and deliberately in any lack of adherence to legislationCensorship and Privacy

With Regard to censorship, privacy is a state in which an individual is free to act according to their respective discretion with regard to legal or lawful behavior; however, regardless of the private sector, the adherence to legislation and legality is requiredPrivate and Institutional Censorship

Private institutions retain the right to censor media which they may find objectionable; this is due to the fact that the participants in private or independent institutions are defined as willing participants. As a result, upon joining or participating in a private institution, the individuals concede to adhere to applicable regulations:

In many cases, the party responsible for an institutions funding may reserve the right to regulate the censorship of media undertakenThe modernization of censorship laws within the United States, the Federal Government will rarely call for specific, nationalized Censorship unless the content is agreed to be detrimental to the public wellbeing; in contrast, an interest group may choose to censor media that they feel may either deter or contradict their respective ideologies

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Understanding Censorship - Censorship - LAWS.com