Maus ban: It's complicated

On January 10, the McMinn County Board of Education in Tennessee, United States, voted to remove Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel Maus from the eighth-grade English Language Arts curriculum. They did so on the grounds of profanity and depictions of nudity. This Pulitzer Prize-winning book, which captures the life of a Holocaust survivor, is based on what Mr Spiegelman’s father — a Polish Jew — personally went through under the Nazi regime.

The Board’s decision has been widely criticised within the US and outside. While some have called it an anti-Semitic move, others have lambasted the Board for stifling artistic freedom. The outrage is understandable, given the increasing assaults on democracy across the world, but it might be helpful to gain a deeper understanding of what happened before the vote. The local dynamics tend to get obscured when news spreads like wildfire on social media.

Thankfully, an American publication called The Comics Journal (www.tcj.com) has published the unedited minutes of the Board’s meeting, “as a service to all impacted parties.” A close reading of this document reveals a nuanced picture of the discussion that took place.

Julie Goodin, a history teacher present at the meeting, said that Maus offered “a great way to depict a horrific time in history.” Ms Goodin agreed that some of the words were “objectionable” but also felt that it would be a travesty to “rob our kids of this opportunity.” “It’s hard for this generation, these kids don’t even know 9/11, they were not even born,” added Ms Goodin.

Mike Cochran, another participant, said, “We can tell them exactly what happened, but we don’t need all the nakedness and all the other stuff.” Mr Cochran liked the book. The objection has less to do with the content itself, and more to do with what is age-appropriate. Mr Cochran pointed out some “completely unnecessary” parts in the book, which includes “the dad and the son talking about when the dad lost his virginity” and “where the mom is cutting herself.”

Is this parent being a prude? Would you call this an instance of extra-legal censorship? Is this merely a parent’s concern about what the child is being exposed to at an impressionable age? How do you feel about a parent and a child having a conversation about sex? Do you think that exposure to images of self-harm might put dangerous ideas into a child’s mind?

The Board discussed the idea of redacting the words and images seen as objectionable, instead of throwing out the baby with the bath water. Scott Bennett, another participant, brought up a crucial legal point — the “fine line between what is called Fair Use under copyright laws and what is protected.” Mr Bennett pointed out that artists put their energy into a “cohesive product” so if someone “pulls a bit out of this, then that’s a copyright issue.”

These minutes are worth engaging with, thoughtfully and unhurriedly, because they unravel how adults in charge of making decisions about children’s lives justify their positions.

Nonbinary author Maia Kobabe’s book Gender Queer: A Memoir has also run into trouble. It is an illustrated personal story about identity, trauma, coming out, and self-expression. In December 2021, Matt Lavietes’s report on NBC News called it “one of the most-banned books in US.” Stacy Langton, a parent with two sons attending a high school within Fairfax County Public Schools, demanded that the book be removed from school shelves.

Is Ms Langton  homophobic and transphobic? The question is a valid one but the matter is more complex than it appears at first. In the NBC News report, Mr Lavietes pointed out that Ms Langton is not opposed to LGBTQ-affirming books being available to high schoolers. Ms Langston objects to this one because of the sexually explicit imagery in it that is not suitable for a school context.

Do these high schoolers not have access to pornography on their digital devices? Can parents monitor every moment of theirs to ensure that they remain sheltered from the adult world? Is it even wise to chastise parents who are petrified about the possibility of sexual abuse online? These questions are easy to pose and difficult to answer. Open conversations around sexuality are rarely encouraged in families because they bring up discomfort, shame, and fear of the future. Unlike teachers and counsellors, parents do not have any professional training for this.

In an institution as large as a school that has people from various social, economic, religious and cultural backgrounds, it can be hard to make clear decisions about what is appropriate and what is not. Going by the rulebook is easier said than done because such discussions are fraught with emotion and opinion. People who participate hold tightly onto what they believe in, and the purpose of coming together is often defeated. We show up to talk, not to listen.