• The Madison County school board recently banned Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, from the high school library.
• Governor Glenn Youngkin enabled such censorship last year when he signed legislation allowing parents to veto teaching materials they perceive as sexually explicit.
• The novel is inspired by biblical stories, such as Rachel and Leah turning their “handmaids” over to Jacob and then claiming the children as their own.
• The authors of the United States Constitution framed the First Amendment to prevent the homicidal uproar that had gone on in Europe for centuries.
• Attempts to control media content have come from both the left and the right, each side claiming to act in the name of the public good.
• The last English writer before the late 20th century to have totally free rein was Geoffrey Chaucer.
• Margaret Atwood suggests that the school board’s real motive may be to limit what kids can read based on religious views.
• She encourages young people to explore questions of morality and censorship, and suggests that the school board’s actions may be a way to make sex more fascinating.
Published February 12, 2023
Visit The Atlantic to read Margaret Atwood’s original post Go Ahead and Ban My Book
