[Authored by blairb@ix.netcom.com, Sat, 11 Jul 98 18:40:43 PDT, originally send to the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom List , with a few edits from the author] "Grim Peril For Minors" Let me describe a few stories arguably as bad or worse (and without question more accessible) than the one Michelle Yezerski [of the Citizens for the Protection of Children ] referred to in an earlier post [to the American Library Association Office of Intellectual Freedom listserve on 26 June 1998; this story was also referred to by Chris Williams in his letter to Brock Meeks . I dare not elaborate too much lest I overly shock your sensibilities or encourage the irresponsible misuse of this information. One of the worst stories involves cannibalism. As if it's not bad enough that a child molester wearing an odd outfit lures a young boy and girl with candy and cookies (a virtual training manual for pedophiles) and then threatens to cook and eat them, this story also gives explicit instructions to children on how to murder someone using an oven. Young impressionable children who read this material may be inspired to kill their parents this way the next time they're angry with them. Only someone with an extremely twisted mind would deliberately expose children to this kind of child torture filth. Another story involves bestiality between a young girl and a small hairless animal. It is well known that dangerous Salmonella bacteria can easily be spread by this kind of oral sex act, and there is also some suspicion that viral warts can be also be caught this way as well. It has recently been discovered that these animals harbor a deadly chytrid fungus (Science 281[5373]:23, 3 July 1998). If minors start imitating this sexual behavior in large numbers, we could have a major public health problem on our hands. Yet another story involves a predator who drugs a beautiful young girl into an unconscious state for a long period of time, while seven short misshapen men gather around her defenseless young body and have the opportunity to do who knows what to her day and night. Those of us with the time to worry about this sort of thing can just imagine what evil lustful thoughts must be running through their perverted little minds. (I may be conflating two different stories here - a lot of this filth contains similar elements so forgive me if my memories of this horror are a bit confused.) The story continues in the familiar pornographic rape-myth plot line, with a handsome stud, who comes along later, taking advantage of the girl's helplessness, whereupon the victim wakes up and falls in love with her abuser. She feels compelled to marry him, ostensibly for the most superficial of reasons. It's difficult to believe the final statement in the story that the marriage survived "happily ever after". Unlike most pornography to be found on the internet, which is in either image or text format but rarely both, these stories are in the form of illustrated text, giving the synergistic impact of a multimedia presentation. With their limited critical thinking skills, children have difficulty separating fantasy from reality, and are especially vulnerable to persuasion from more than one sensory channel at once. The shocking truth is that these stories can be accessed all over the country, even in the children's section of public libraries and in elementary school libraries. Not on internet terminals but right there on the lower bookshelves where young hands can reach! Most amazing of all is that these tales of horror fantasy were written over a hundred years ago. Righteous crusaders for moral standards from Anthony Comstock to Donna Rice Hughes have somehow been unsuccessful in shielding minors from their evil influence all this time. I read them when I was a child and you can see how demented I turned out. Look at the steep rise in the percentage of the population in psychotherapy since these stories were written! That addiction to this kind of horror follows the well-know pattern of escalation is proven by the fact that the only films in history to have double-digit sequels are horror films. Reading fairy tales is without doubt the gateway that gets minors started along this dreadful path. No wonder the world has been descending steadily to hell in a handbasket ever since the Victorian era.