BC Ferries Awash in Controversy

BC Ferries has banned the sale of The Golden Mean by Canadian author Annabel Lyon in their gift shops. While most books are challenged over content, The Golden Mean is being kept off of BC Ferries because of the cover which depicts a naked male figure whose buttocks are exposed. The ban has gained the attention of papers around the world who have picked up the story, including The Guardian in the UK and The New Yorker.

According to the Vancouver Sun, "BC Ferries has a habit of banning books that feature nudity of any kind. Stephen Vogler's Only in Whistler was banned in 2009 because it featured a historical photo of four naked female skiers viewed from the rear. Two years ago, Wreck Beach, a history of Vancouver's nude beach, was banned for similar reasons."

Deborah Marshall, a spokesperson for B.C. Ferries defended the policy, explaining that there are children in the gift shops and that they are a "family show." The suggestion that BC Ferries carry the book if there was a "belly band" hiding the photo was rejected by Random House. Books for the bookstore are chosen by a committee and according to Mitchell, "We choose to select non-controversial books in our gift shop."

Craig Spence, president of the Federation of British Columbia Writers expressed his concern, saying the ban was "an overreaction to a photo that's artistic ... are you going to stop kids from seeing Michelangelo's David? The kinds of graphic material that kids are exposed to, through advertising and other media all the time, go much farther than that, and they're not in a context that would give it the justification."

The Golden Mean is a fictional account of a young Alexander the Great during the time when Aristotle was his tutor. It has received wide acclaim and has been considered for numerous awards.

WINNER 2009 - Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize
FINALIST 2009 - Scotiabank Giller Prize
FINALIST 2009 - Governor General's Literary Awards - Fiction
FINALIST 2010 - Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book (Canada & Caribbean)
FINALIST 2010 - Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award
FINALIST 2010 - BC Book Prize's Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize
FINALIST 2010 - Canadian Booksellers Association Libris Award - Fiction Book of the Year
FINALIST 2010 - Canadian Booksellers Association Libris Award - Author of the Year

Annabel Lyon is a BC writer.

Following Up

Frank Cordelle's Bodies and Souls, a book based on the Century Project in which he photographed nude women from age 0 to 100 was featured in Oprah's March 2007 issue. We had brought you the story of the difficulty Cordelle had in getting his book published in previous posts.

Speaking of nudity...we noticed something interesting today. We have set up a banned and challenged book display in our library as a way of getting people interested in the "Banned Book Challenge." Where's Waldo, one of the display books which was challenged because there is a topless woman on the beach. Lo and behold, in our copy, the woman has evidently put on a top. I am just curious to see if any of this blog's readers have noticed whether their sunbather is topless or not.

More on Bodies and Souls

A comment on the last post by Lauren prompted me to visit yesterday's edition of East Bay Express where there is a wonderful article about Oakland photographer Frank Cordelle by Lauren Gard. The article offers some insight into why it was so difficult to find a publisher for the book. The article is excellent and there are examples of the very moving photos found in the Century Project. Gard writes,

His photos, although profoundly moving to some viewers, come as a shock to many, particularly when viewed out of context. Nude depictions of children and seniors are by nature taboo in a culture rooted in Puritanism. And most, although not all, of his subjects bear physical or mental scars, or struggle with their body image. Some are obese, anorexic, or bulimic. Some have been raped or abused. Some are afflicted with disease, while others have inflicted pain upon themselves. Desiree, nineteen, poses against a white cinderblock wall, a massive T-shaped scar dominating her chest. A year earlier, her uncle slashed her with a knife after she refused to let him have sex with her any longer. Kerry, 41, sits in profile, laughing, her unattached prosthetic legs resting beside her on the couch. Durga, 66, was given a hysterectomy in a Harlem hospital at age 31 without her consent.

According to the article, five or six women editors who considered his book were deeply moved by it and although they did not explain why they turned it down, Cordelle believes the work was too controversial. He cites the problems Barnes & Noble had in Alabama for selling Jock Sturges books. In 1998, Barnes and Noble was indicted by a grand jury for selling what they identified as "child porn." Cordelle believes this incident "fire[d] a warning shot across the bow to publishers."

Fortunately that wasn't the end of the story. In 1999, Paul Rapoport, a music professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario saw the Century Project at a conference and was so moved by it that he invited Cordelle to do a show at McMaster University. Rapoport joked that he would start his own publishing company in order to see the project in print following the response that he saw.

My goodness, all kinds of things happened. People were crying. One student came across the sixteen-year-old, Katie, the anorexic, and was just bawling her eyes out and then ran from the room. The next day she came back with her parents and a couple of friends....It's not unusual for someone to take two to three hours going around the exhibit, reading everything, and then going again.

In 2002, Rapoport got serious about his joke and began Heureka Productions which publishes naturist titles. Bodies and Souls, is their fourth book.

And incidently Barnes and Noble apparently has ordered only one copy.

I have had a day to think about the impact this publication has had so far and I find that I have been quite moved not only by the intent of the project to show the woman's body over the course of almost 100 years but also by the real people and real stories that are portrayed. Each women is one of us. These are not models whose bodies are being exploited in publications like Playboy and Penthouse. It is ironic that publishers will continue to publish these types of magazines and not the Century Project and not even see the discrepency. The women are not models whose imperfections have been photoshopped out for the sake of superficial beauty. Their bodies are not a perfect 10. They are not the bodies of people one might see nude and they evoke a strong response especially when we see the wounds of disease and the natural changes we can expect from aging. But these are obviously women who are comfortable in their bodies.

Read the story, then visit the Century Project web page.

Canada Not as Prudish as US

The Star Phoenix reports that a controversial book "deemed too risqué by American publishers" has found a publisher in Canada. Bodies and Souls: The Century Project is a collection of 98 nude portraits of women shown in chronological order from birth to almost 100 years old. The Century Project is the work of U.S. photographer Frank Cordelle. The show has been exhibited for 14 years. The images depict "real" women, not nude models and the portraits are captioned with statements -- many from the women themselves. Proponents of the project see value in showing realistic photos of women.

Why Waldo?

The presence of Where's Waldo on the list of banned books has always baffled me. Although I personally find the task of finding Waldo annoying, I don't think that is a good enough reason to keep other people from finding it in the school or local public library. Here is the reason. Instead of looking for Waldo, try looking for the topless woman instead. Remember these are cartoon people.




According to Chronology of Censorship and Anti-Censorship, it was challenged in 1989 at the Public Libraries of Saginaw, Michigan.