The kids are
alright
Judith Levine’s
new book calls for honest debate about children and sexuality.
She’s hit the right’s gag reflex.
BY MICHAEL BRONSKI
The Phoenix (Boston, Massachusetts), April 18, 2002
  
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Part
1
The culture-war battle sparked by the publication of Levine’s book has
serious ramifications for both civil liberties and freedom of expression.
That’s because the choked agitation triggered by Levine’s book is both a
reaction to our excessive cultural obsession with kids and sexuality and a
symptom of how unable we are, as a culture, even to begin discussing such
issues.
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Part
2
[...] the down-and-dirty tactics of Dr. Laura and the CWA have centered not
on the book, but on Levine herself (who has mentioned in interviews that as
a minor she had an affair with an older man), as well as on former surgeon
general Dr. Joycelyn Elders, who wrote the book’s foreword.
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Part
3
It is easy to ridicule right-wing sex panics because, despite their
immediate political effectiveness, they almost always turn out to be based
on lies, falsehoods, and disinformation. But they also play to real fears
and anxieties about children.
[....] Levine’s book is an invitation to public discussion — and that is
the real reason why it is being attacked by the right. It will be
interesting to see if liberals and progressives can take up the challenge
and genuinely discuss the issues she raises, or if they too are simply
incapable of delving into the most terrifying sexual experience of all:
actually talking — openly and honestly — about our sexuality.
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