Two Boys Kissing
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Artist: David Levithan
Year: 2014
Date of Action: April 23, 2014
Region: North America
Location: Faquier County, Virginia
Subject: Explicit Sexuality, Political/Economic/Social Opinion, Sexual/Gender Orientation, Youth
Medium: Literature
Confronting Bodies: Virginia Faquier County Public School
Description of Artwork: Two Boys Kissing is a Young Adult novel featuring two teenage boys who set out to break the Guinness World Record for kissing and those impacted by their undertaking.
The Incident: Jessica Wilson, a parent of a student, had filled out such a request form “after reviewing the book on Amazon.com and typing in several keywords,” after which results came up with a total of 117 references to words like “kiss” and “sex.” According to the copy of her complaint form, the self-verified research allowed Wilson to conclude on the form that the number of references “equate[d] to 60 percent of the book’s contents being related to kissing or sexual content.”
The complaint form also documents that Wilson read “a majority of the book at Amazon.com,” where it is currently ranked in the top 100 bestselling books under “Literature & Fiction for Teens.” However, a registered Amazon account user is only able to read the first 45 pages of the 196 page novel. In her request form, Wilson stated, “[m]y concern is in no way related to the homosexual nature of the book. The overt sexual nature of the book is my primary concern.”
Results of Incident: The review committee met and decided to retain the book in the library with an unanimous vote.