I Speak Loudly

I wanted to write this entry last night, but I found that I could not.  I was too upset.  I was too angry.  The words I needed to say were caught in the back of my throat like a spoonful of peanut butter.  So I took the night to think about it.  Now I know how to say what I need to say.

Oscar Wilde is one of my favorite authors.  I am madly in love with him, despite the fact that he is both dead and homosexual.  Wilde's books were used against him at trial.  He famously said, "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written.  That is all."  He was right.

He also said, "The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame."  Laurie Halse Anderson dared to write such a brilliant book.  Her YA novel Speak confronts controversial and scary topics, specifically that of teen rape.

Melinda, the main character, is brutalized.  She goes to a party a happy, carefree girl.  She leaves that party a broken, terrorized, victimized young woman.  She doesn't know how to talk about what happened to her.  She doesn't know how to put voice to something so horrific that words cannot compare to the pain she will eventually have to face.  Melinda is a victim of rape, and she chooses not to speak about it.  Melinda, like so many victims of rape, chooses not to tell.  Her story is moving and so very real.

And unfortunately, we live in a society where teenagers are raped and they, like Melinda, cannot speak.  They, like Melinda, do not tell.  Melinda's story resonates with those teens.  It also teaches something important, something of pain, to teens who have not had to live through something so awful.

There is an awful man out there.  His name is Dr. Wesley Scroggins.  He lives in Rebulic, Missouri.  Scroggins is a fundamentalist Christian.  He is calling Speak "soft-core pornography," and he specifically objects to two rape scenes depicted in the novel. He is fighting to have Speak removed from public schools, libraries, and curriculum.  He wants to ban this book.  I object to this on several levels.  I find Scroggins and his claims abhorrent.

First, When did rape become soft-core porn?  What kind of world are we living in that a man like Scroggins can read a rape scene that is vile in its truth and somehow see pornography?  Dr. Scroggins, you need help.  If you see porn in rape, if the scenes in Speak are turning you on, then I think you are the one with the biggest problem, and that problem does not stem from this book!

Second, banning books like Speak hurts victims.  If we don't speak against this, we become partners in shaming the victims, and make no mistake--Dr. Scroggins is placing shame on rape victims.  That is unacceptable to me.  There is no shame in being raped. The shame lies with the rapist.  I will not rape people with my words, and I will not sit quietly while a man tries to ban a book that may offer solace to those victims.

If you have had the misfortune of experiencing something truly tragic, truly awful, truly horrific then you know how very important it is to have books about those issues out there and easily accessible.  There is some kind of catharsis, some kind of relief, in reading a book and seeing yourself in the protagonist.  It provides a kind of salve for the soul when you can say, "Me too.  That happened to me too.  I felt that way too."  You can't take that away from the children and teens who need it the most.  Most rape victims never report it.  Many of those victims are under age 18.  They need this book.  They need to read it and be able to say, "Me too."  Speak gives them words where there are none. 

So we can't sit quietly while yet another important text is banned from our schools.  We can't just look the other way, and that is what Scroggins is asking us to do.  He is asking us to pretend rape doesn't happen, to sweep it under the rug because it is unpleasant, to view it as something sexually satisfying (porn!) rather than viewing it is the horrible thing it is. 

So I am Speaking Loudly and you should too.  Join the twitter feed #SpeakLoudly. Read other blogs on the subject:

Laurie Halse Anderson responds to Scroggins here (she's the author).

Veronica Roth speaks against Scroggins from a Christian perspective here.

CJ Redwine has perhaps the most moving story.  She shares her own story quite bravely here.

Janet Reid says, "Truth is not pornography."  She is right.  You can read her blog here.

We Spoke Loudly.  Will you?