Judy Blume’s “Forever” was pretty much my first exposure to sex. Every girl in my elementary school had the page ear-marked where the young lovers first “did it”. From what I could tell, none of us turned out too bad as a result of reading and thoroughly discussing the book at the ages of 11 and 12. I’m sure there were non-virgins in the class, but I doubt anyone in the class actually had sex because they read “Forever”.

Yet, because of the “sex” in the book and the fact that Katherine, the young heroine (who is actually a senior in high school) goes on the pill, “Forever” still gets banned. In the aftermath of the Bush administrations abysmal failure in their abstinence-education-only program, doesn’t it make sense to have students read a book in which sex is discussed in a mature fashion by responsible teens who actually use birth control? 

“Forever” was not the only Judy Blume I read, and it definitely wasn’t the only Judy Blume book to get banned. “Are you There God, It’s Me Margaret?”, “Deenie” and “Tiger Eyes” were all banned at one point or another. Probably due to her own experiences with censorship, Judy Blume has become a vocal opponent in the anti-censorship movement. Reading Judy Blume’s perspective on censorship is amazing as she remembers her personal experiences from the 80’s:

I remember the night a woman phoned, asking if I had written Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. When I replied that I had, she called me a Communist and slammed down the phone. I never did figure out if she equated Communism with menstruation or religion...

Judy Blume believes that censorship stems from fear and that the use of fear is just another control mechanism.  The books being censored today are being censored not only because of fear of sexuality, but because of the ideas that they introduce to kids. God forbid we should allow children or teens to learn to think for themselves.  

I, myself, have a few children’s books that have been banned on my own personal bookshelves. Shel Silverstein’s “A Light in the Attic” was banned for teaching children bad behavior, as was “How to Eat Fried Worms”. Trust me, I read this book as young kid and I never once ate fried worms. Those trying to ban books seem to be in favor of stopping not only sexuality and ideas, but imagination as well.