Judy Blume has always been a controversial children’s book author, which is probably a large reason for her popularity. As most Americans know, her books have been some of the most censored throughout time. Despite the censorship, most women my age can probably still recite passages from her books verbatim. (We must, we must, we must increase our busts!) In 2007, Oregon passed two laws which would have affected the sale of books such as “Forever” with sexual content to minors.

Powell’s Books, the famed Portland bookstore that takes up an entire street block, and other bookstores filed suit against the  Oregon laws related to the sale of sexually explicit material to minors. Although the law was intended to protect minors from being stalked by sexual predators, the unintended effect was that giving minors a  romance novels or a Judy Blume could be determined as criminal behavior.

“Powells and other appellants had argued in their appeal that if the laws were allowed to stand, a 17-year-old who lends her 13-year-old sister a copy of Judy Blume’s “Forever” could be arrested and prosecuted. Likewise, the plaintiffs warned, a health educator could be charged with a felony for discussing safe sex with anyone under 18.”

The Ninth Circuit Court ruled that the laws were unconstitutional; in my view, this is a victory for free speech and for the youth. It’s hard to imagine that a book that almost every woman I know read in their teens (or younger) could be criminalized and even harder still for me to picture the discussion of safe sex as illegal.  The law could have also put booksellers in jeopardy for selling books with any sexual content at all to minors.

I’m surprised that these kinds of laws could have been passed in Oregon, which is traditionally a more liberal state than many others.  The laws are something that I would have expected in Texas, Kansas, or somewhere else in the middle of the states.

As I wrote HERE, teaching teens about the consequences of sex is important- pretending that sex doesn’t exist will definitely lead to more unplanned pregnancies and teaching teens more about birth control is imperative. This can be done through school programs, health clinics, and also through books and movies.