A trip to Books-A-Million in Gulf Shores ended in a call to the police for a grandmother and her grandson. Wendy Pickering, who has been at the forefront of the battle for age-appropriate content for kids in public libraries, said a book in the kid’s section at the bookstore was illegal.
As her 11-year-old grandson was looking at a Marvel Spiderman comic for his birthday, she found the graphic novel “Gender Queer,” which depicts sexual activities and nudity, gender ideologies and curse words. It shows people having sex and masturbating.
Part of the book addresses autoandrophilia, which refers to a female who is sexually aroused at the thought of being a male. The book shows a woman with a strap-on and another female going down on the woman.
The book also depicts a girl discovering how to masturbate at her desk shortly after starting her period and explains how a man can masturbate while driving.
When speaking to a store manager, Pickering claimed the book was illegal to have available for children. She cited Alabama law prohibiting the sale or display of harmful materials to minors. However, the store manager told Pickering the book was not illegal and it was not the store’s job to police children. The manager told Pickering if she didn’t leave, she would call police.
Instead, Pickering called Gulf Shores Police, who told her the matter was civil in nature. However, she filed a police report and told 1819 News she plans to press charges.
Pickering wrote a letter to the corporate office saying although she was aware of the previously planned drag queen story time at the Mobile location, she never thought she would come across porn in the kid’s section of the Gulf Shores location.
“I am completely outraged,” the letter stated. “How could you allow this to happen? How could a store that started out at a newsstand by a 14-year-old boy right here in Alabama over 100 years ago have come to this?! How many children have run across these books and similar books?”
Pickering said she will no longer take her grandson to Books-A-Million, and she wants other parents to know to pay attention to books before allowing their children to read them.
The City of Gulf Shores has not responded to a media inquiry by 1819 News.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email erica.thomas@1819news.com.
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