It’s easier to feel that all of this is not our responsibility than it is to create an environment in which we could promote mature discussion of sex. It’s easier to say that these books are inappropriate than it is to look at why and how authors write such things, what they expect of their audience, and how the events affect our knowledge and judgment of the characters. It’s easier to assume that parents would complain than it is for us to encourage a discussion of adolescent sexuality, a discussion that doesn’t assume all sex is for procreation or that everybody should find pleasure in exactly the same way. It’s easier to shoot down books because of graphic content than it is to stand up for them because they’re literature. It’s easier for me to write this essay and address the world in general than it is for me to stand firm on my home ground and advocate for these ideas against the ideas of people I have known and worked with for years.