Debilitating Repression

The following commentary makes us alternate between hope and despair regarding this culture’s ability to let go of the self-instilled fear engendered by unsubstantiated possibilities. Clearly some individuals see things clearly but the fact that this writing was necessary at all speaks to the continued existence of the rigidity that can lead to such atrocities as genocide.

Namaste,

Euroswydd, Reiki Clowne and Mort

Debilitating Repression

I’m curious how the parents who’ve banned a children’s book, “The Higher Power of Lucky” by Susan Patron—age of intended audience 9 through 12—explain to their own progeny the changes that occur in their bodies as those children approach puberty. I ask this seemingly invasive question because these same parents, in their capacity as librarians, have seen fit to ban a book that has won the Newberry Prize for Literature, one of the most prestigious awards in children’s literature, due to its mention of the word scrotum.

Evidently the only body parts suitable for this country’s children to discuss are those used in reference to edible meats. I’ll barely touch on the widely known fact that many, many cultures consider the scrotal sacs of the animals they use for food to be a gourmet delicacy.

In the United States a preponderance of the population deem it appropriate to discuss breast meat, eggs, loins and tongue-- just to mention a few anatomical features with sexual associations—within hearing of children of all ages, while giving the scrotum the cold shoulder. Fried, broiled or barbecued scrotums not being regulars on the dinner plate have rendered its mention taboo.

No wonder our children are so confused, baffled and bewildered. All other obvious body parts are freely discussed, endowed with proper names and chores. What to do about these unmentionables that while apparently inconsequential continue enlarging?

It’s common knowledge that we tend to fear that which we do not understand. Based on that premise it should come as no surprise that the children of parents who insist upon squelching knowledge of something so integral to our being as our bodies should be afraid of a book that makes mention of a scrotum. Perhaps their parents never mentioned THAT word, instead advocating avoidance, hoping all would become magically clear without having to endure the embarrassment of an explicit conversation.

I’m curious how these parents explain ballplayers constant checking and rearranging of their pelvic regions. “It’s nothing dear,” I imagine a panicked parent explaining, “he’s just making sure his seams are straight!” How to explain the disappearance of the neighbor’s dog rear end dangles? And the list goes on. Life must be a nightmare for these parents.

What on earth are these people afraid of? Knowledge, as the old saying goes, is power. Don’t these parents wish to empower their children with all the wonders and knowledge of the world? Actually prepare them for their adult lives as opposed to entangling their psyche’s with crushing conventions whose inception was the desire of a few to control the masses?

The book in question merely tells a story in which a word is used in the most innocuous of manners just the way any other anatomical feature might be mentioned. That there are people who wish to inflict the same mind numbing, life crushing mores that their parents inflicted on them only signifies their desire to punish their offspring, not the opposite.

And a final question. How can one explain—before it’s too late--the process of fathering a child if one can’t even mention the little sac that houses the testicles that produce the sperm?