Portal:Freedom of speech/Selected article/63

Not in Front of the Children: "Indecency," Censorship, and the Innocence of Youth is a non-fiction book by lawyer and civil libertarian Marjorie Heins (pictured) about freedom of speech and the relation of censorship to the oft-cited argument "think of the children". Ordered chronologically, the book gives a history of censorship from time periods including Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, the Middle Ages, the Meese Report, up to the present day. Heins explores whether or not children and adolescent youth are negatively impacted by exposure to media deemed inappropriate by adults, including violence and pornography. The author argues throughout the book that youths are not in danger due to sexually explicit material. Heins asserts that there is no simple tactic by which the government could censor material from children without violating the rights guaranteed to adults by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Not in Front of the Children concludes that censorship performed under the auspices of looking out for the believed negative impact on youths, actually harms these individuals through the censorship itself. Not in Front of the Children received the Eli M. Oboler Award in 2002 from the American Library Association as recognition for "Best Published Work on Intellectual Freedom".