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: In a letter he wrote to the principal, he said the book "is rife with brutality towards and mistreatment of women (and men at times), sexual scenes, and bleak depression… I can't really understand what it is my son is supposed to be learning from this fictional drivel. "I have a major problem with a curriculum book that cannot be fully read out loud in class, in front of an assembly, directly to a teacher, a parent, or, for that matter, contains attitudes and words that cannot be used by students in class discussion or hallway conversation," he argued. The Canwest News Service reported that this was the first time the novel was challenged in Atwood's native Canada. A review panel decided the book should remain in the curriculum, but the board's director of education was to have final say. 'Power of the Word'
The NCAC's goal is to prevent what they call viewpoint discrimination, or the censorship of certain materials because one or more constituents don't like or agree with the ideas presented (rather than because of an assessment of its educational or literary value). 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.