Libraries and pornography
Posted: Monday, November 06, 2006
Back when the Information Super Highway was brand new, I was one of those people who took his time getting to the on ramp. In other words, 10 years ago, I didn’t even own a computer which means that I was slow to learn the benefits of the Internet. I was, however, hosting a daily morning radio show back then and was scheduled to interview one Gennifer Glowers. Yes, the same Jennifer Flowers who had a fling with former President Bill Clinton.
At the time, Ms. Flowers was promoting an “adult” Web site called “Gennifer’s Girls” and I figured that I should find out something about it before our conversation. My girlfriend at the time was in grad school and since she had access to a computer at the college library, I asked her to go to the Web site to see what it was all about.
As I suspected, the content on Flowers’ Web site was not exactly family viewing and my poor girlfriend received more than a few awkward glances from passersby wondering what all this had to do with physical therapy, which she was about to receive her master’s in. Embarrassed, she quickly printed off some information that ended up being helpful to me and got out of there.
The point is this: While the majority of people who look at pornography on computers at public libraries may not be doing so for research purposes, who’s to say exactly when and if it should be off limits? Would limiting or denying access to Internet porn at public libraries be considered another form of censorship? And who gets to decide what is or is not obscene?
Before you decide that those questions are easily answered, consider what happened four years ago when former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft led a highly principled crackdown on public nudity. Ashcroft ordered an $8,000 curtain to cover a semi-nude statue at the Justice Department. The female, art-deco “Spirit of Justice” statue is located on the podium in the department’s Great Hall where news conferences are often held. Ashcroft found it offensive that one fully-exposed breast protruded from her toga. Apparently, it didn’t matter whether anyone else found it offensive or considered it art. As long as Ashcroft was offended, it had to go.
As for the question of whether computers at the Wilbur Aalfs Library in Sioux City are being used to view pornography, City Councilmen Brent Hoffman and Jason Geary are the ones who’ve expressed their concerns. While I respect their opinions as well as the fact that both men come from deeply religious backgrounds, I think that politicians ought to tread carefully when it comes to imposing their values on others. And while we may agree that hard-core porn has no place on a library computer, would any new restrictions placed on those computers prevent a teenager from viewing risque scenes from Shakespeare or other works of art?
After all, if books such as “Harry Potter,” John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” and “Forever” by Judy Bloom can be banned from some schools and public libraries, as they have been within the last five years, then access to anything that makes those in power uncomfortable could conceivably be prevented in the name of decency. And that would really be obscene.
Paul Guggenheimer is a free-lance writer and radio and TV personality from Sioux City. You can write to him in care of The Journal or at lvrcomments@hotmail.com.
At the time, Ms. Flowers was promoting an “adult” Web site called “Gennifer’s Girls” and I figured that I should find out something about it before our conversation. My girlfriend at the time was in grad school and since she had access to a computer at the college library, I asked her to go to the Web site to see what it was all about.
As I suspected, the content on Flowers’ Web site was not exactly family viewing and my poor girlfriend received more than a few awkward glances from passersby wondering what all this had to do with physical therapy, which she was about to receive her master’s in. Embarrassed, she quickly printed off some information that ended up being helpful to me and got out of there.
The point is this: While the majority of people who look at pornography on computers at public libraries may not be doing so for research purposes, who’s to say exactly when and if it should be off limits? Would limiting or denying access to Internet porn at public libraries be considered another form of censorship? And who gets to decide what is or is not obscene?
Before you decide that those questions are easily answered, consider what happened four years ago when former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft led a highly principled crackdown on public nudity. Ashcroft ordered an $8,000 curtain to cover a semi-nude statue at the Justice Department. The female, art-deco “Spirit of Justice” statue is located on the podium in the department’s Great Hall where news conferences are often held. Ashcroft found it offensive that one fully-exposed breast protruded from her toga. Apparently, it didn’t matter whether anyone else found it offensive or considered it art. As long as Ashcroft was offended, it had to go.
As for the question of whether computers at the Wilbur Aalfs Library in Sioux City are being used to view pornography, City Councilmen Brent Hoffman and Jason Geary are the ones who’ve expressed their concerns. While I respect their opinions as well as the fact that both men come from deeply religious backgrounds, I think that politicians ought to tread carefully when it comes to imposing their values on others. And while we may agree that hard-core porn has no place on a library computer, would any new restrictions placed on those computers prevent a teenager from viewing risque scenes from Shakespeare or other works of art?
After all, if books such as “Harry Potter,” John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” and “Forever” by Judy Bloom can be banned from some schools and public libraries, as they have been within the last five years, then access to anything that makes those in power uncomfortable could conceivably be prevented in the name of decency. And that would really be obscene.
Paul Guggenheimer is a free-lance writer and radio and TV personality from Sioux City. You can write to him in care of The Journal or at lvrcomments@hotmail.com.
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