TAMPA, FLORIDA — The latest chapter in the ongoing explicit library books saga may be disturbing for some readers.
A library book available at a K-8 public school in Tampa contains graphic illustrations of male and female genitalia, as well as Left-wing ideas talking points related to gender confusion.
Wait, What?: A Comic Book Guide to Relationships, Bodies, and Growing Up (2019) is available in the library at Pizzo K-8, part of Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS).
An online review exposing the book’s obscene content shows vivid illustrations of male and female genitalia.
“Join friends Malia, Rico, Max, Sam and Alexis as they talk about all the weird and exciting parts of growing up,” a book summary on Amazon states. “This supportive group of friends are guides for some tricky subjects. Using comics, activities and examples, they give encouragement and context for new and confusing feelings and experiences.”
Wait, What? defines gender as “basically our own internal sense not what anyone else thinks or says about it, but how we feel – of being a girl, a boy, both or neither and the unique ways we feel like or express those feelings.”
One boy character declares: “All three of us are girls because that's how we all feel and that's what we all say we are. Max is…well, whoever Max is today, because that's what they say.”
The book also teaches young readers about terms like “Gynsexual,” “Androsexual,” and “Demisexual.”
Hillsborough County Schools did not return a request for comment.
READ MORE: Another Pornographic Book Found in Tampa Area Middle Schools
LEGAL OR ILLEGAL?
Florida Statute 847 states that “An adult may not knowingly distribute to a minor on school property, or post on school property” any obscene or “harmful” materials.
The state defines these materials as images – including photographs, illustrations and videos – of “a person or portion of the human body which depicts nudity or sexual conduct, sexual excitement, sexual battery, bestiality, or sadomasochistic abuse” that is harmful to minors.
Also included in the definition are printed materials that include “explicit and detailed verbal descriptions or narrative accounts of sexual excitement, or sexual conduct and that is harmful to minors.”
Those who defend these books with sexually explicit content – like the Florida Freedom to Read Project – contend that such materials are not illegal because it ought not be deemed “harmful to minors.” Since Wait, What? is purportedly teaching developing young readers about their changing bodies, it can be described as “educational” – an argument proponents of similar books employ against charges that the book constitutes pornography.
Additionally, many of the books pushing the envelope on sex and gender have garnered national praise from prominent outlets the New York Times and won awards from the American Library Association.
In this instance, the renowned Kirkus Reviews called Wait, What? the “perfect complement to any school curriculum” and a “fun and easy-to-read guide from expert sex educators that gives readers a good basis and an age-appropriate start with sex, bodies and relationships education.”
As for the didactic portions of the book, Florida prohibits any classroom instruction on gender confusion and sexual preferences that is done outside of the district’s approved sex-ed curriculum. However, these restrictions do not apply to library books.
Parents can ask their local school district to remove a book from a library, but they are limited to one copy per challenge. In Hillsborough County, the cumbersome challenge process can take as long as seven months and must be duplicated for each individual copy.
READ MORE: Speaker Renner Investigates Obscene Books in Hillsborough County Schools
