A book that was met with some protest in the US is most likely will have a much calmer reception in the UK according to the Guardian. As I wrote earlier, “And Tango Makes Three” is a children book depicting a family of penguins including gay parents. ” it shot to the top of the American Library Association’s (ALA) list of most frequently challenged books as people across the country objected to the idea of such a tale being aimed at children of its target age group of between four and eight.” The closest British equivalent of ALA, the ‘Museums, Libraries and Archives Council’ “doesn’t collect figures about [books that are challenged] because it’s rare.” Having lived in the UK allow me a few generalizations for the reasons of this relative lack of reactions (while fully aware that are such generalizations are incorrect.)
First, I found it true, that British on average are more reserved than Americans. They do not go out of their way to share their opinion. Hence they may not object to a book publicly, just because privately they disagree with it.
Also, because of the lively state of the paparazzi in the UK you may not think through, but private life is considered more private. So, homosexuality is considered a private issue. I know that his sounds similar to the more accepting kind of US conservative view. They also say that as long as homosexual behavior is kept behind walls, they don’t have a problem with it. The UK is an even more traditional society (or has been when I lived there for a year 15 years ago.) Thus in this regard it can be seen as conservative.
The article linked above has more details about the book’s future in the UK; it’s worth a read.
This entry is part of my Intellectual Freedom series.