by: Jennifer Meyer
A magazine about sex will stay where teens can find it at the Ames Public Library.
The Library Board of Trustees voted 6-1 Thursday to support Director Art Weeks’ recommendation to continue openly displaying and offering free copies of Sex, Etc. in the teen section.
Trustee Melody Warnick, however, said she agonized over the issue before casting the dissenting vote.
“It is very frank and honest in a way that teens need,” Warnick said, “but I agree with the Bannantines’ complaint … that we’re privileging this magazine over everything else that we have in the library.”
Joyce and John Bannantine presented a petition to the board last month with signatures of 118 parents with concerns about the topic and treatment of the magazine, which is written for teens by teens under the oversight of Answer, a national sexuality organization at Rutgers University.
“It is about this periodical being elevated above and beyond others,” John Bannantine said Thursday.
Sex, Etc. is displayed in a rack in the teen section with about a dozen other magazines. Ten copies for which the library pays $15 are also placed two at a time with information teens can take home without requiring sign-out.
“We’re simply asking that it would not be given preferential treatment,” said Tim Borseth, particularly since the articles can be “very difficult for some to read, offensive and biased.”
However, most of the 15 people who spoke at the board meeting attended by about 40 people disagreed.
“Libraries are not just where we keep the books, it’s where we keep the information, and we’ve believe the information at libraries is factual,” Susan Wallace, a writer and editor, said.
After reading the magazine, Wallace said, “I thought, ‘Wow, this is wonderful.’ It is peer to peer. It is professionally reviewed. I would urge you to keep this publication visible, accessible, open.”
Kate Dobson, a junior at Ames High, said cataloguing Sex, Etc. with other periodicals would make it more difficult for teens to access information they need.
“More recently than most people in this room, I went through sex education,” Dobson said. “I came home from school in fifth grade with lots of questions, and I wasn’t sure where to go for that information.”
Etta Thornburg, another young woman, said she sought out that information from romance novels, but “I don’t want kids … getting their information from romances, because quite honestly, it’s not accurate and it’s not very realistic.”
Harold Ault recalled getting information about sex through “word of mouth and the National Geographic magazine.”
“If it was called Comments on Social Interactions from Rutgers University, I don’t think people would get to it,” he said. But in response to the Bannantines’ fears that younger teens not seeking out the information could stumble upon the magazine, he said, “I had to hunt around the room to find it.”
Ray Rodriguez, a parent and sexual-health professional, said that not only do many 12-year-olds know about sex, but “many of them … engaging in sexual behavior are doing so based on myths … that Sex, Etc. and its articles do a lot to dispel.”
Tina Hopkins, who works in teen pregnancy prevention with Youth and Shelter Services, said, “It would be great if they got (accurate information) at home, but that’s not what’s happening.”
Parent Justine Dvorchak-Rodriguez told the board, “Sex, Etc. can help my daughter deal with some of the questions she may not feel comfortable talking with me.”
Trustee Sherry Meier addressed parents who asked the library to restrict access to Sex, Etc. to allow “the parents to be the parents.” She said they can do that by monitoring what their child is reading.
Trustee Al Campbell, said, “This is a library and this is about access to information.”
Trustee Harry Budd said he read two issues of the magazine, which publishes three times each year. An article in one issue made him a little uncomfortable, he said.
“Thankfully,” Budd said, “not everything in this library conforms with my beliefs and values.”
from: Ames Tribune
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