There has been quite a fuss over a booklet distributed April 30th to high school students in Brookline, Massachusetts, called The Little Black Book. Frankly, I didn't pay much attention to it. After all, any attempt to teach tolerance in schools, especially where it concerns the LGBT community, results in hysteria. This seemed just another example.

I was wrong.

Having read a few excerpts from The Little Black Book, I've concluded the hysteria... no, the outrage... was entirely justified.

The booklet has been described as pornography. Having seen real pornography, I wouldn't go that far, but it does contain a few photos of an erect penis and uses language that I can't use on this website.

A statement released by the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts (AAC) says the booklet is intended for young gay men between the ages of 18 and 29 and that it was mistakenly displayed and made available for distribution at a recent conference for GLBT youth held at Brookline High School. AAC was not a participant in the conference and did not authorize the display or distribution of the brochure, both of which violated their protocol and that of GLSEN, the host agency.

However tasteless, The Little Black Book could be considered somewhat appropriate for the targeted age group.

It is very inappropriate for school kids, even high school kids.

The section titled "The Handy-Dandy Condom Guide" gives about half a dozen reasons to use a condom. Among them are No HIV! and No STDs! In reality, condoms are 80-90% effective in preventing HIV & STDs. A more accurate heading would have been Only 1 in 5 Gets HIV!, but what kind of selling point is that?

The third reason given for using condoms is No Dookie On Your Noodle! To paraphrase this part in language more suitable here, it means keeping oneself clean from one's partner's bodily waste. Yuck.

On the other hand, that tidbit may serve to encourage the kids to put off certain activities...

I tend to believe the agencies involved when they say the booklet was distributed without authorization. I can even give them the benefit of the doubt and say the reason they all initially denied that The Little Black Book was given to school kids was that they were simply unaware that this had occurred.

However, somebody had to have to have put that book out there.

And I believe somebody ought to take responsibilty for it. At the very least, misguided volunteers need to be educated in what kinds of material are appropriate for school kids. Schools and conference organizers should be checking out what kinds of material are being presented at their functions.

Either that, or we have to conclude that maybe the homophobes are right in opposing these kinds of events.

You can read these excerpts from The Little Black Book online at http://www.article8.org/docs/news_events/glsen_043005/black_book/black_book_inside.htm.
But be warned, even I found it offensive, and I'm not easily offended.