September 2021: A blonde white woman takes the podium at a school board meeting for Lake Travis Independent School District, west of Austin, Texas. She claims that instead of speaking about a need for a second high school — the subject of the meeting — she had been “sidetracked” by something she read in a young adult novel that’s available in middle schools in the area. She was here to talk about that instead.
I’m not going to defend these cretins but for the sake of accuracy, in context isn’t that what “put it in her coin box; put it in her cornhole” is referring to?
It’s the context of the story that changes this passage. Naomi is a victim of abuse who is forced to live with her abuser. As part of this, she is moved to a new school where everyone else is white. The story jumps from viewpoint to viewpoint, and this section is from one of the white boys who fantasize about how to get in her pants, even though Naomi is just trying to survive this horrible ordeal.
So yes, it’s referring to anal sex, but it’s not in any way making it sound fun.
FWIW, it’s a beautiful book and everyone should read it. Even highschoolers.
I rather doubt that Kara Bell’s objection to the passage has much of anything to do with the voluntary/involuntary nature of the description, whether or not it is pleasurable, or whether or not it is presented favorably or unfavorably. If it’s sex stuff, she wants it gone.
By the way, any Republican who pronounces in public that they’ve never had anal sex can safely be concluded to have had buttloads of butt sex.
Well her rant specifically said, “I don’t want our kids learning about anal sex, or doing anal sex” so I think the context of the passage is vital. There’s no way to read that passage as being about something your kids will read and want to experience.
Not much danger of anyone reading that passage and thinking “Gee, that sounds like fun, think I’ll go give it a whirl.” But it’s still sex stuff, and that’s all they care about. Good sex, bad sex, voluntary sex, involuntary sex, straight sex, gay sex, group sex, solo sex. If it’s got a penis or a vagina involved, it’s right out for these people.
ETA: And that rule obviously extends to pronouns and descriptive euphemisms.
I was gonna say to this Bell lady…too late. They’re all well aware by the time they get into high school. Well before, probably. See, there’s this series of tubes called “the internet” and anal sex is among the least concerning sex acts you can find on it.
