“Seeing Gender,” a book that teaches children that “sex work” – which is generally considered to be prostitution, but sometimes includes pornography – is just a normal job like any other, and can be used to get money to buy cross-sex hormones, is currently on the shelves of a number of libraries in Virginia, including multiple middle schools.
Seeing Gender, written by “queer author and artist” Iris Gottlieb, is an illustrated book specifically designed for teenagers, and is described on her website as an “of-the-moment investigation into how we express and understand the complexities of gender today”:
“This book is an essential tool for understanding and contributing to a necessary cultural conversation, bringing clarity and reassurance to the sometimes confusing process of navigating ones’ identity. Whether LGBTQ+, cisgender, or nonbinary, Seeing Gender is a must-read for intelligent, curious, want-to-be woke people who care about how we see and talk about gender and sexuality in the 21st century.
In a chapter entitled “Sex Work,” it teaches children that sex work, also known as prostitution, is a normal job, just like “being a store clerk, an architect, or a freelance writer,” noting that having to work for a living is an “unfortunate” thing that everyone has to do. “Sadly, sex work is generally misunderstood, judged, and criminalised,” Gottlieb continues.
Quoting the book “Meaningful Work: Transgender Experiences in the Sex Trade,” the book notes that sex work can be used to help transgender individuals pay for cross-sex hormones, or other drugs. Gottlieb goes on to write that “high-end escorts” can “pull in half a million dollars a year.”
Despite discussing sex work and other adult topics, as Moms for Liberty Loudon noted, the book is currently in the libraries of a number of schools in Virginia, including middle schools. In Loudoun County, the book is available at Mercer Middle School, Sterling Middle School and Stone Hill Middle School. It is also available at Dorothy Hamm Middle School in Arlington County.
This book is in multiple @LCPSOfficial school libraries including 3 middle schools. It tells kids that sex work is like being a store clerk or an architect. It tells kids that sex work is a way to earn money for hormones. It tells kids that sex workers can make $500k per year. pic.twitter.com/L89n3g28et
— Moms For Liberty Loudoun (@Moms4LibLoudoun) May 26, 2022
Valiant News was able to verify the information originally posted on Twitter. It is unclear in how many other school libraries the book is held, but the American Library Association did review Seeing Gender, and declared it to be a “beautiful and enlightening guide” for teenagers.
On the website that lists in which school libraries the book is held, Seeing Gender is noted as being of “adult level” interest, despite being held in middle school libraries.
Valiant News reported on Wednesday that the Arizona Department of Education has directed young children to online transgender chat groups run by Planned Parenthood linked groups and others.
