Charleston City Paper Editorial Board
The South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) insists its proposed regulation banning books with “depictions of sexual conduct” from public school classrooms and libraries isn’t a book ban.
George Orwell’s Ministry of Truth would be proud.
Of course, to understand that “Ministry of Truth” reference, you have to have read Orwell’s classic dystopian novel “1984,” as many of us did in high school.
Too bad South Carolina’s next generation may not be able to say the same. Because once SCDE’s Dirty Books Unit finds out what Winston and Julia were up to when Big Brother wasn’t watching, they’ll pull the classic in a skinny minute.
And no, this is not anti-censorship hysteria. Iowa schools banned “1984,” – along with “Beloved,” “As I Lay Dying” and about 3,500 other books – under a similar law in 2023. Expect the same here if SCDE’s “sexual conduct” prohibition is allowed to go into effect as scheduled on June 25.
As Greenville children’s book author and public-school mom Jessica Khoury recently told the City Paper: “Honestly, the language in this regulation is so vague, it could be used against almost any book.”
Khoury’s right. By borrowing the definition of “sexual conduct” from the state’s obscenity law, the rule effectively outlaws the tamest of sexual depictions. Even a chaste description of, say, an old-fashioned “petting session” between two fully-clothed consenting adults would be enough to get a book thrown out.
“I was looking at a sample AP Literature exam and over half the books covered would be banned under this standard,” Charleston Democratic Rep. Spencer Wetmore said in an interview. “That’s a problem.”
Unfortunately, thanks to a legislative foul-up, that problem isn’t easy to fix.
Normally, the S.C. legislature reviews and votes on new rules within 120 days. If members don’t, the rule becomes law automatically. In this case – in what many lawmakers say was an oversight – legislators failed to act before going out of regular session on May 9.
So now, there are only two options to stop it: A two-thirds vote of the legislature or a voluntary withdrawal by state Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver.
Clearly, the second option would be simplest, which is why we’re calling on Weaver to pull the rule immediately. As in right this minute – today. She can then bring it back next January when the legislature has time to properly vet and vote on it. But Weaver is a political animal and she might be afraid of bucking her conservative base.
Otherwise, legislators must vote to block the rule when they return in special session. That, too, isn’t the easiest of things to do. But some things, including our kids’ freedom to read great books, are worth it.
To be clear, none of this is to suggest that parents, teachers, librarians, and local school boards shouldn’t exercise good judgment in deciding which books to make available to students at various grade levels. They should. It’s the unelected censors using vague, one-size-fits-all statewide standards who need to stay out of it.
No practical South Carolinian – regardless of race, creed or politics – wants to live in a state where “sexual depictions” are instantly accessible on every teenager’s phone, but the works of George Orwell or Toni Morrison or Kurt Vonnegut or Mark Twain are too lewd for school.
Charleston City Paper is an award-winning weekly newspaper in Charleston, S.C.
