NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE {P} EN America, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting free expression, recently released an annual report documenting “3,362 book bans affecting 1,557 unique titles” in public schools across the United States during the 2022–2023 academic year. The report says that 88 percent of book bans occurred in Republican states, and “over 40 percent of all book bans occurred in school districts in Florida.”

These statistics support what PEN America has dubbed the “Ed Scare.” The problem? PEN America’s overly broad definition of a “ban”:

PEN America defines a school book ban as any action taken against a book based on its content and as a result of parent or community challenges, administrative decisions, or in response to direct or threatened action by lawmakers or other governmental officials, that leads to a previously accessible book being either completely removed from availability to students, or where access to a book is restricted or diminished. [Emphasis added.]

PEN America clarifies the following in its methodology:

For example, if a book that was previously available to all now requires parental permission, or is restricted to a higher grade level than educators initially determined, that is a ban. In some cases, books are removed from shelves for “review,” but not returned for a weeks or months. If students cannot access the book, that is a ban. [Emphasis added.]

Although we live in fraught political times, any person with more than two brain cells knows that restricted access is not a “ban.” By PEN America’s definition, if a school made a book available only to certain students on the basis of age or grade after it was previously available to a larger subset of students, then the book has been “banned,” despite its obtainability.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the verb “ban” as “to prohibit especially by legal means” or “to prohibit the use, performance, or distribution of” something. Therefore, reading material cannot be appropriately labeled “banned” just because it is not readily available to every single student. Restricted material is not prohibited material. Similarly, barriers to access — like parental permission slips — do not mean material is prohibited. (Is alcohol “banned” because you must be 21 and show ID to buy it? Obviously not.)

But let us set aside these methodological problems for a moment. What content is included in the contraband? PEN America identifies trends in the censored themes, explaining that “hyperbolic and misleading rhetoric about ‘porn in schools’ and ‘sexually explicit,’ ‘harmful,’ and ‘age inappropriate’ materials led to the removal of thousands of books covering a range of topics and themes for young audiences.” The organization recognizes the following categories of banned books, noting that some books fall into more than one category: 1) “themes or instances of violence and physical abuse;” 2) “topics on health and wellbeing for students;” 3) “sexual experiences between characters;” 4) “characters of color or themes of race and racism;” 5) “LGBTQ+ characters or themes;” and 6) “themes of grief or death.”

These labels distort the contents being described. For example, Gender Queer: A Memoir was “banned” in 26 different instances, making it the fifth-most-banned book of the past school year, according to PEN America. Here is an excerpt:

For years my standard method of masturbation was stuffing a sock into the front of my pants and manipulating the bulge. This would evolve into hip-thrusting while thinking of my latest gay ship. . . . Memorably, I got off once while driving just by rubbing the front of my jeans and imagining getting a blow job.

Elsewhere in the book, there is a drawing of oral sex.

So, Gender Queer does describe “sexual experiences between characters” and “LGBTQ+ characters or themes.” But more specifically, it is pornographic — and it is not “hyperbolic” or “misleading rhetoric” to suggest so.

PEN America considers it an offense to restrict access to Gender Queer. But the book’s author even concedes that the material is too mature for some audiences, saying in an interview with the Washington Post: “‘Gender Queer’ is a comic, and in full color, but that doesn’t mean it’s for children. I originally wrote it for my parents, and then for older teens who were already asking these questions about themselves. I don’t recommend this book for kids!”

The relevant question is not precisely how many books are banned. Instead, the question is what materials should be available to students. We can — and should — have respectful debates about what content is appropriate for what ages. But PEN America isn’t interested in those debates. The organization tailors its methodology to produce misleading statistics in the service of disparaging Republicans, while misrepresenting the books in question to frame their objectionable content as unremarkably generic.