Anchorage Assemblyman Felix Rivera, speaking to a reporter from the Anchorage Daily News, has raised the topic of gay porn for kids as a campaign issue. As he runs for a third term on the Assembly, he said on the record that a porn-pushing book for teens, which has raised a firestorm of parental pushback across the country, should not be removed from the teen section of the library by the Anchorage Library Board, which sent the illustration-rich book to the City Attorney for legal review.
The book, “Let’s Talk About It,” has instructions on how to have gay sex, random sex, how kids can and should send pictures of themselves as sexual content through their smart phone, and the finer points of anal sex, to name a few topics.
The book’s forward dedicates the material: “To whoever needs it, whatever your age,” but the book is targeted for teens, especially those reading-deficient teens with a need for graphic depictions rather than written words, and has been in the stacks of the Teen Underground section of the Loussac Library, which is restricted to 12- to 18-year-olds.
Rivera, who is on the April 4 ballot for reelection for a seat representing Midtown, said that removing the book for review is worrisome because “It makes me concerned, frankly, about the judgment of the members of the library advisory board and their motivations.”
Rivera said Anchorage has “officially joined in a much broader way, the culture wars that have ingrained the rest of the country,” when it comes to access for these types of books for children.
In addition to “Spicy Gato” (Rivera’s social media name), another openly gay member of the Assembly, Chris Constant of downtown, has also expressed his concerns about the book being subjected to adult review, and said he isn’t sure the vote to remove the book was proper because although it passed 3-2, there were two members not present at the meeting. Neither Rivera nor Constant have children; both are up for reelection in their districts.
Last month, the chair of the Anchorage School Board prevented Anchorage parent and activist Jay McDonald from reading aloud a passage from this same book during the public testimony portion of the meeting.
Some of the issues that parents have raised with the book include:
- The book downplays sexually transmitted diseases, referring to them as “No big deal.” Many sexually transmitted infections can have life-long impacts on people, such as AIDS, HPV infection complications can include cancer and passing along the disease to an unborn child. A chlamydia infection can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, a painful infection that can destroy the female reproductive system.
- Sexting. The audience for the book is not even at the age of consent, and there can be serious long-term consequences to sending photos of yourself in compromising sexual situations through the internet, as many adults have learned the hard way. The internet is forever, and your children, grandchildren, and parents may see these photos someday. They are often used for blackmail.
- Kink. “If you think you might have a kink, look on the internet” is the advice the book is giving to 12-year-olds. The book wants children to learn more about kinky sex, some of which is dangerous and abusive. Exposing children to “kink” on the internet is an invitation them to end up abused or trafficked.
- Porn. “Pay for your porn” is the exact wording the book gives to 12-year-olds, and these children could get lured into signing up for porn subscriptions they don’t realize they’ve agreed to. There are also laws in states about exposing porn to children, and this book does not validate those concerns or laws. Porn addiction is a well-documented problem in America. Recovery Village reports that one out of every 100 U.S. adults admit to having an internet porn addiction. Most people who have a porn addiction say that porn hurts their personal relationships, the nonprofit says.
- Pregnancy. The book talks about sex as though it is risk free. It does not talk about the risk of becoming pregnant, nor does it talk about the female experience in puberty, including periods, and painful menstruation. One of the most profound and often difficult experiences for teen girls is their menstrual cycle, and the book completely ignores that experience.
The library has an extensive list of sex books for kids in the Teen Underground, and has a section for gay romance as well, which can be found at this link.
