Read Iowa's law on age-appropriate books. It is not vague.
There is a controversy over the supposedly “vague” law requiring that school libraries contain only “age-appropriate” books. The impetus for this legislation came from parents demanding the removal of pornography from K-12 school libraries. As a 2022 Rasmussen Reports/Capitol Resource Institute poll of 1,000 adults shows, “Voters overwhelmingly oppose sexually explicit books in public school libraries.”
I was shocked to read about school staff in Indianola “scrambling” to remove “To Kill a Mockingbird” and other books based on the false proposition that the law “bans any book containing any sexual reference from its kindergarten-12th grade school libraries."
The law is crystal clear. As an attorney, I have never seen a statute which is clearer. Senate File 496 amended Iowa Code section 256.11 to provide: "Each school district shall establish a … library program that … contains only age-appropriate materials. …'Age-appropriate' does not include any material with descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act as defined in section 702.17."
The definition of "sex act" in Iowa Code section 702.17, part of the criminal code, is explicit because that code must clearly inform the public concerning what activities are crimes. Section 702.17 identifies six different types of contact between named sexual and other body parts which constitute a "sex act." Do an internet search for "Iowa code 702.17" and see for yourself.
In order to not be “age-appropriate,” a book must include a description or visual depiction of a “sex act" — for example, a finger touching or penetrating a sexual body part.
If anyone still lacks understanding, they, like the courts, may “look to dictionaries for guidance in determining the plain and ordinary meaning of a word.”
Merriam-Webster defines "description" as a "discourse intended to give a mental image of something experienced." Under this law, “description … of a sex act”, therefore refers to a “discourse intended to give a mental image” of experiencing one of the sex acts in Iowa Code section 702.17.
Indeed, the alternatives “description … of a sex act” and “visual depiction of a sex act” reinforce the conclusion that the first refers to a written discourse providing a mental image depicting a sex act and the second refers to a visual image depicting a sex act.
A mere reference to sex or a sex act would not meet the above requirements for material to not be “age-appropriate."
Examples of books that would be not be age appropriate are: “Gender Queer,” with a cartoon depiction of oral sex, “Push,” with explicit descriptions of incestuous child rape, and “A Court of Silver Flames,” which one review described as: "Lots and lots of graphic, full out erotic sex … and zero plot."
Why would anyone want these books in K-12 schools?
Allowed (obviously) under the law would be “To Kill A Mockingbird,” and other books that have sexual references, but no descriptions or visual depictions of sex acts as described by Iowa Code section 702.17.
This “vague” law is not vague at all.
Donald W. Bohlken of Indianola is an attorney and a retired administrative law judge with the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals. He worked for seven years combined at the Iowa Civil Rights Commission and Cedar Rapids Human Rights Commission as an investigator and then for 21 years as an administrative law judge at the Iowa Civil Rights Commission and the Department of Inspections and Appeals.
ANOTHER VIEW: Somehow, Iowa is making an awful law worse
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa law barring books with sex acts is not vague
