Title: Challenges and Bans of 'The Handmaid's Tale' Aren't Really Just About Sex or Profanity
Headings: Challenges and Bans of 'The Handmaid's Tale' Aren't Really Just About Sex or Profanity
Culture
Challenges and Bans of 'The Handmaid's Tale' Aren't Really Just About Sex or Profanity
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Three of many instances in which The Handmaid's Tale was banned or challenged
'Power of the Word'

Content: To that end, the NCAC offers to assist local parents, teachers and students when a book has been banned or challenged and often writes directly to the school board, superintendent or whoever is handling the controversy in a given case. Parents can request an alternate assignment for their own children, she says, and most schools will offer one as long as it doesn't interfere with other students' learning. But they cannot insist that other children be denied the opportunity to read that book. This country has a "bedrock rule that public officials can't forbid expression of idea because [people] don't like the idea." LaRue draws that logic back to the themes of the book. Those who challenge books sometimes feel that it is "saying something that is deeply morally offensive to a viewpoint that I share so it should be suppressed. And I believe that that is un-American," he says. " In fact I believe that is exactly what Handmaid's Tale is about," he adds. " What happens when you say peop