The Little Red Schoolbook

The Little Red Schoolbook (Danish: Den Lille Røde Bog For Skoleelever; English: The Little Red Book For School Pupils) is a book written by two Danish schoolteachers, Søren Hansen and Jesper Jensen, first published in 1969. It was subject to much controversy upon its publication and was translated into many languages in the early 1970s.

The Little Red Schoolbook
Cover of the first edition
AuthorSøren Hansen, Jesper Jensen
CountryDenmark
LanguageDanish
Subjecteducation
Publication date
1969

Synopsis

The book encourages young people to question societal norms and instructs them on how to do this. Out of 200 pages, it includes 20 pages on sex and 30 on drugs, including alcohol and tobacco. Other topics included adults as "paper tigers", the duties of teachers, discipline, examinations, intelligence, and different schools.[1]

Reception

As a result of its subject matter and its targeted audience of schoolchildren, politicians in many countries criticised the book, fearing it would erode the moral fabric of society and be an invitation for anarchy in schools.[2] The LRSB was banned in France and Italy.[3]

In Switzerland, the Bernese cantonal politician Hans Martin Sutermeister led a campaign against the book. He was initially successful in temporarily blocking the introduction of the book into the country. The subsequent controversy, however, ended his political career, costing him his job as director of the schools of the Swiss capital and contributed to a split in his party, the Ring of Independents, which led to its mid-term decline.[4][5]

The book was banned in the Australian state of Queensland by the Queensland Literature Board of Review in 1972.[6] Much of the moral outrage centred around statements such as "Some girls, and a very few boys, don't masturbate. This is quite normal. It is also normal to do it." and "Sex may or may not involve strong feelings.  Strong feelings may or may not involve sex.  You don't have to go to bed with someone just because you are fond of him or her."[7] Beatrice Faust contributed to the Australian edition of The Little Red Schoolbook.[8] It was not banned in New Zealand despite some "moral outrage".[9]

United Kingdom

The book was translated into English by Berit Moore a Norwegian living in England in 1970.[10]

In the UK, Christian morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse pressed for the book to be prosecuted in a letter to the Director of Public Prosecutions, although action was already being taken. She was quoted in a Daily Telegraph article published on 29 March 1971 asserting the book "had caused 'incalculable harm' to children" in Denmark"; it "normalises the most licentious behaviour", she believed.[11] Ross McWhirter, in a letter to The Guardian, thought "the real issue" about the book was its seditious nature.[12]

The offices of the book's British publisher, Richard Handyside, were raided by the police and the eventual prosecution under the Obscene Publications Act was successful.[13] Headmistress Elizabeth Manners, a witness for the prosecution at the trial, said: "It is not true to say that masturbation for girls is harmless, since a girl who has become accustomed to the shallow satisfactions of masturbation may find it very difficult to adjust to complete intercourse. This should be checked, but I believe it to be a fact".[14] The court's decision was upheld on appeal on the basis that Handyside had not shown the public interest was served by issuing the book.[15] It reached the European Court of Human Rights in the case known as Handyside v United Kingdom. The government however allowed a second, censored edition to be published, in which some of the passages criticised in court were amended or cut.[1]

It was the subject of a BBC Radio 4 documentary in 2008 presented and produced by Jolyon Jenkins.[1] It was also discussed critically by Peter Hitchens in his 2009 book The Broken Compass: How British Politics Lost its Way.

An unexpurgated edition of the book, bar one minor cut, was published in the UK in July 2014.[13]

See also

References
  1. "The Little Red Schoolbook". In Living Memory. Series 8. Episode 1. 18 June 2008. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  2. 2005/214/1 Book, Australian Edition 'The little red schoolbook', Powerhouse Museum, Ultimo, New South Wales, Australia
  3. The Little Red Schoolbook: A handbook for under-age revolution?
  4. Klaus H. Thiele-Dohrmann, “Ruhestörung in Bern.” Die Zeit 24 July 1970 (in German)
  5. “Der SPIEGEL berichtete: Schüler-Lehrerbeziehung.” Der Spiegel 28/1970, 6 July 1970 (in German)
  6. Bruce, Joan (4 May 2017). "Little Red School Book". John Oxley Library blog, State Library of Queensland. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  7. "Little Red School Book | State Library Of Queensland". www.slq.qld.gov.au. Retrieved 27 February 2021.
  8. "The Book that Shook the World", Film Australia, 3 November 2007, SBS Television
  9. Office of Film and Literature Classification
  10. Moore, Ingrid (19 March 2012). "Berit Stueland obituary". the Guardian. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  11. Tracey, Michael; Morrison, David (1979). Whitehouse. London & Basingstoke: Macmillan. pp. 135–36. ISBN 9781349162000.
  12. Tracey & Morrison Whitehouse, p. 137. McWhirter: "The real issue is, in my submission, that the book is not only obscene, but also seditious".
  13. Moorhead, Joanna (8 July 2014). "The Little Red Schoolbook - honest about sex and the need to challenge authority". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  14. Diski, Jenni (25 July 2014). "The Little Red Schoolbook". The London Review of Books. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  15. Tracey & Morrison Whitehouse, p. 140
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