Michigan busybody thinks "The Diary Of Anne Frank Is Smut

[merrily]

And what does she read? 50 shades of grey?

[melk]

Oh ffs. I'm so embarrassed this idiot its from my neck of the woods.

[melk]

I don't remember those details when I read it in 7th grade. I think our copy did say something about certain information being edited out by her father.

But for the woman who didn't want her daughter reading about vaginas---her daughter is already 12. She's going to get her period soon, if she hasn't already. When will she consider her daughter old enough to understand basic female anatomy?

Anne Frank's father had originally heavily edited/censored the book.

[Soldevi]

Um, in Finland fifth-graders learn the basics of human anatomy and reproduction in biology classes. This involves learning the genitalia, fertilization, pregnancy, birth, menstruation, ejaculation etc. Our fifth-graders are 10-12 years old. I don't understand what this lady protests. A girl that age should know her body parts already.

[itaintmebabe]

This is my fave comment from the MSN article:

Maybe Gail wouldn't be so uppity if she discovered her own genitalia.

and I find this one really misguided:

The mother is an sex obsessed dolt--daughter no doubt will be a ignorant sex obsessed dolt, just like Mommy Dearest. Spare me these prudettes and their counter-partners.

(OK, a little pot calling the kettle black projection syndrome there regarding calling someone ignorant and using grammar like "an sex obsessed" and "a ignorant")

Yes, sometimes the apple falls close to the tree, but not if you live on a hill. Hopefully Gail's daughter will be embarrassed of her mother in a few years and discover punk rock.

[Guest]

Anne Frank's father had originally heavily edited/censored the book.

Yeah. Most of what Otto Frank edited out has never been released, FWIW. The portion of the diary that was published accounts for only 1/3 of her diary. According to Wikipedia, Otto originally included the portions about sexuality, but others edited it out. In later releases, Otto requested that it be returned.

[mockingbird]

Some of what he edited out was repetitive since Anne went back and rewrote many of her entries. There's an edition called The Critical Edition which compares her original diary, her rewrites, and her father's edited version. Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife also talks a lot about the revisions her diary went through. I think Wikipedia is right, in that book I remember him relenting on a lot of the edits after the diary was successful.

[crazyforkate]

When you consider all the horrible things Anne Frank went through, this woman would never know a real problem if it bit her on the ass.

[Buzzard]

Yeah. Most of what Otto Frank edited out has never been released, FWIW. The portion of the diary that was published accounts for only 1/3 of her diary. According to Wikipedia, Otto originally included the portions about sexuality, but others edited it out. In later releases, Otto requested that it be returned.

That makes me very sad. I want to read the entire, unedited version.

[NurseNell]

I read that book a couple of times as a kid, and I honestly can't remember anything about that part at all. Must not have screwed me up too much, because I was like "where in the book was that? I don't remember that!"

Same here. I honestly don't remember that part at all. I first read it in 6th grade. I remember her being uncomfortable with the doctor (who was a dentist I think) putting his head on her chest to listen to her lung sounds, because he had no stethoscope, when she was sick.

This is a book everyone should read.

[fundiefan]

I have and read the unedited version, which I got when we toured the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam.

The censorship of her diary comes up often. It usually goes down in flames, but someone always thinks they're special and important enough to force all to read - or, rather, not read - what they don't want to read and they get media attention because of it.

Fortunately, whether it's on school shelves or not, it always available somewhere and can be read by anyone who wants to. Including the offspring of attention whores who believe in their own superiority.

[libmomj]

[Katiebug]

Um, in Finland fifth-graders learn the basics of human anatomy and reproduction in biology classes. This involves learning the genitalia, fertilization, pregnancy, birth, menstruation, ejaculation etc. Our fifth-graders are 10-12 years old. I don't understand what this lady protests. A girl that age should know her body parts already.

When I was in public school in the U.S. we had the same curriculum in 5th and 6th grade. It was presented in a matter-of-fact way but I guarantee everyone knew the basic facts of life by the time they were 10-12 years old (with the exception of the girls who were Jehovah's Witnesses whose parents didn't give permission for them to participate). In high school we also had a required health class which included comprehensive sex ed. Not all of the U.S. is backwards in that regard.

We read "The Diary of Anne Frank" in middle school but I suspect it was the version edited/approved by Otto Frank.

This mother has embarrassed her daughter far more than would have been caused by reading some passages in a book. Do middle school girls not read Judy Blume books anymore? :lol:

[Chowder Head]

Atleast the adminstration stood behide their teacher. Alot would bow down to the parent.

[Guest]

That makes me very sad. I want to read the entire, unedited version.

I know! I read that one of the things that was very edited was the portrayal of her mother. Apparently they had a pretty difficult relationship, and Otto thought that because of that, she treated her mother unfairly. He also took out some parts that were critical of his and his wife's marriage. While on one hand, I can see him wanting to protect the image of his wife, who was not around to defend herself any longer, I really think that her writings about the topic would be relatable to so many teenage girls.

This poor girl will be embarrassed of her mother in very short order. This area is fiscally conservative due to wealth, but it is not socially conservative. I grew up one town over and had no knowledge of or exposure to religious fundamentalism. I remember being embarrassed to see a movie with my parents at that age, couldn't imagine the horror of my mother trending on Yahoo because she wanted to protect my delicate sensibilities. Congrats Gail! You've made middle school even more awkward for your daughter.

I grew up in this town as well, and I would argue that, while many people are well educated, it is quite socially conservative. While religious fundamentalism isn't prominent, religion itself is. I found that a large number of the teachers in the school system were more socially liberal, but they were always kind of tip-toeing around the parents who they knew they might get phone calls from if they crossed a line. I really hope that the administration stands behind this teacher.

[moodygirl86]

We read it in school too. We were 14 and understood the deeper point of the story. Because most of our teachers had common sense, unlike this twat. Teens are smarter than she would like to give them credit for.

[Loveday]

Atleast the adminstration stood behide their teacher. Alot would bow down to the parent.

QFT. The school system in which my husband teaches 7th grade is terrified of parents and will do anything and everything to keep them appeased and away from the media. Which means it's very difficult for a teacher in the classroom to get support from the school administration. Of course, the vast majority of parents are pretty reasonable people, but the few who aren't make life hell for teachers. And for their own kids, really--I feel so sorry for this girl in Michigan. 7th grade is just about the worst year for most kids--their hormones are going wild, peer pressure and bullying ramps up to unbelievable levels, and the last thing they want is for their parents to call attention to them by doing something like this. :?

[alwayscaffeinated]

QFT. The school system in which my husband teaches 7th grade is terrified of parents and will do anything and everything to keep them appeased and away from the media. Which means it's very difficult for a teacher in the classroom to get support from the school administration. Of course, the vast majority of parents are pretty reasonable people, but the few who aren't make life hell for teachers. And for their own kids, really--I feel so sorry for this girl in Michigan. 7th grade is just about the worst year for most kids--their hormones are going wild, peer pressure and bullying ramps up to unbelievable levels, and the last thing they want is for their parents to call attention to them by doing something like this. :?

I completely agree about this age group. How mortifying for her daughter.

[RosyDaisy]

By the time I read the book, I had already been given "the talk". My mother read the book, and wanted my sister and I to read it. There is nothing pornographic about it. What an ignorant bitch!

[mockingbird]

In middle school we read Night by Eli Wiesel instead. I read *about* Anne but I never actually sit down and read the diary until before my Holocaust history class in college. I think I checked it out in middle school but didn't finish it.

[libmomj]

I grew up in this town as well, and I would argue that, while many people are well educated, it is quite socially conservative. While religious fundamentalism isn't prominent, religion itself is. I found that a large number of the teachers in the school system were more socially liberal, but they were always kind of tip-toeing around the parents who they knew they might get phone calls from if they crossed a line. I really hope that the administration stands behind this teacher.

Meh. No question the schools are full of the most special snowflakes to ever fall from the sky. I'm sure it's a nightmare for many of teachers. The thing is, the community is generally very supportive and proud of the school system, which does trend left. If I had to describe the residents' social leanings, I would say "indifferent" as opposed to "religious" or "conservative". I currently live in a neighboring county where people actually believe what they hear in church on Sunday -- it's very different, and even that's nothing like the true conservatism found in the west side of the state. I might classify it as conservative in name only, something like, "I support traditional marriage, but if my fabulous, gay hairdresser got married, I would totally get him a gift off his registry." or "Premarital sex is bad, but I had lots of it in college, and I would get my daughter birth control or an abortion if needed."

I do hope the administration stands behind the teacher and that if it goes to the school board, they dismiss her. I think that even the parents who agree with her are less concerned about the content and more about being personally consulted regarding anything to do with MY child. It's a big school system with a good reputation, I just don't see it getting very far. Even if parents have to sign off it in the future, I think most will find it ridiculous that they are being inconvenienced because of so-and-so's mom.

[hywelis]

I'm more offended that Anne and Margot Frank died of typhus at the hands of maniacs who industrialized genocide than Gail Horaleck will ever be that her 7th grader read about vaginas.

Horaleck and dipshits like her don't deserve to wipe the dust from those girls' shoes.

You nailed it.

Also, if I had time to waste, I'd send her links to some fanfics I got my hands on over the years. That would show her smut.

Hywelis

[latraviata]

Um, in Finland fifth-graders learn the basics of human anatomy and reproduction in biology classes. This involves learning the genitalia, fertilization, pregnancy, birth, menstruation, ejaculation etc. Our fifth-graders are 10-12 years old. I don't understand what this lady protests. A girl that age should know her body parts already.

Same here, if not at a younger age.

[2xx1xy1JD]

Some people have banned it for being "a real downer"??

Well, no shit! It's not the book that's the downer. It's the reason that Anne and her family had to be in hiding, the knowledge that the diary's abrupt ending came about because the family was found by the Nazis, and the fact that only 1 out of the 8 survived. It's the fact that millions of other were also murdered, and in many cases, we don't have the same degree of insight into what they were like when they were alive. Compared to much of the other material on the Holocaust, this isn't graphic in its horror. What makes it compelling is that it's so personal. Anne had moods and ups and downs and was starting to grow into a woman. It's easy to feel a connection - and it is that connection which makes the knowledge of her death feel particularly tragic. She had started the process of becoming a woman - but wouldn't finish it, since she died before she turned 16.

You know what's a real downer? Seeing piles of shoes of victims, seeing newsreels of skeletal corpses all on top of each other, and seeing a massive mound of ashes at Majdanek. Along with the horror, it can ultimately be somewhat dehumanizing to the victims. Anne put a face to the victims.

[m0drnmoonlight]

Disclaimer: I never read Anne Frank's diary throughout all my years in school. We watched a Holocaust news reel in 8th grade that we had to have our parents sign off on because it was pretty graphic and I remember me and other kids in my class breaking down crying as we watched it.

However, I would never describe The Diary of Anne Frank as porn or smut or sexually inappropriate, especially for a middle-schooler. So she's talking about her body - the kids reading it are at that age where they're starting to discover things about their bodies as well, it isn't going to corrupt their innocent little minds.

Quoting someone else on here, if this woman wants smut, I can point her to some excellent fanfic heh.