Tennessee Mom Calls Book On Cervical Cancer Cells 'Pornographic'

[HuckleB]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mom-cells-book-pornographic_55ef1340e4b002d5c076c412

"A mother from Knoxville, Tennessee, believes the New York Times bestseller The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks has too much graphic information for her 15-year-old son and should not have been assigned as summer reading.

"I consider the book pornographic," Jackie Sims told WBIR-Knoxville. "There's so many ways to say things without being graphic in nature, and that's the problem I have with the book."

The book, by science writer Rebecca Skloot, details the true story of a poor black tobacco farmer whose cervical cancer cells were taken without her knowledge in 1951. The cells, which scientists referred to as HeLa, went on to become a vital tool in medicine, helping to develop the polio vaccine, in vitro fertilization and other major scientific breakthroughs. The book was published in 2011 and has won numerous awards from medical and scientific organizations.

Despite the book's success, Sims thinks it should be told in a "different way."

..."


How do people still act out against great books like this? What in the world drives them to do so?

[Jester Messiah]

1. Well, she's clearly an idiot.

Either that or she has really, really weird tastes in porn.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. great book.important story. her son will survive reading it

[Warpy]

30. Whether he survives having a nitwit for a mother is less certain.

She needs to stick to all the carnage in her bible. I'm sure she's a lot happier that way.

[PeaceNikki]

3. PeaceNikki Calls Tennessee Mom a "fucking moran".

[irisblue]

20. [phone]

[gratuitous]

4. Ewww! Cancer!

Or maybe it's "Ewww! Cervix!" Can't we just say it was rainbow sugar crystals instead of cancer cells? And instead of it being taken from that woman's ladyparts (which no good Tennessee boys ever think about until they're good and married), can't we say they grew on the underside of a tobacco leaf? Or work some Jesus into the story, somehow?

Nicely done, Jackie Sims; you're now a nationally-recognized vaporbrain.

[catrose]

5. Will somebody show her a pornographic book so that she can tell the difference in the future?

I've read the book, and anything less pornographic than the short, horrible life of Henrietta Lacks is hard to imagine. But don't help me, please.

[Solly Mack]

6. Would she have preferred - 'the unpleasant stuff on the neck of her baby oven' went on to become

a vital tool in medicine?


In another article Sims states she didn't like the part where Lacks discovered the tumor herself through self examination. Because, you know, a woman touching herself in a non-sexual way is just so dirty.

Good thing no one was masturbating.

Idiot.

I can fully understand why her son (per her claim) was so uncomfortable reading the book.

He probably thinks girls have a hoohoo and boys have a hohowilly.

[HuckleB]

8. Plus one! Thanks for the additional information on this book hater.

[Solly Mack]

9. I feel sorry for her son.

[HuckleB]

10. I can't imagine what that poor kid's life is like.

[Tree-Hugger]

12. +1 nt

[Contrary1]

15. I found my cancer by touching myself too...

How did she ever get her son potty-trained? I would hate to be this idiot's doctor.

[Solly Mack]

16. I'm positive she would object to your post.

[benld74]

7. her 15-year-old son is most likely getting HAZED by OLDER classmates thus making his life hell

at school to match the hell he has at home,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[Cal Carpenter]

11. This is a very, very good book

I think it is an excellent case to look at for all sorts of themes/issues to teach - social justice, race, class, along with the actual science and related ethics....

Highly recommend it. Pretty well written, very readable to the layperson (aka me, who is not a close friend of the hard sciences to say the least...).

Oh, and yeah, this mom is a freaking idiot. Pornographic? Holy shit. Poor kid.

[Tree-Hugger]

13. What the actual fuck?

The story is very important for several reasons, as evidenced by the well-written post above mine.

Another self-loathing imbecile teaching her child that women's bodies are shameful. I feel sorry for her kid.

[hifiguy]

14. The Derp and The Fail are with her. Big time.

[brer cat]

17. It is one of the most enlightening books I have ever read.

She needs to sit down with her son and study it. I'll bet they would learn a lot about being poor and black in America.

[HuckleB]

18. She thinks it's better for her to pretend that she read "most of it."

[brer cat]

22. Her ignorance suggests that her comprehension skills

are about zero. She must have skimmed a few pages.

[HuckleB]

24. She might have simply scanned for scary words!

I yi yi.

[Initech]

19. Excuse me a minute...

[HuckleB]

25. Any time.

I'm happy to pass the Excedrin, if you need some, too!

[SwissTony]

21. Does this woman realise that her son has access to something called

the internet? I have no personal experience, but I believe there's something called pornography available on it. I know that I, as a 15 year old boy, would have had no interest in such material.

On a more serious note, that book (of which I was only vaguely aware) sounds fascinating.

[brer cat]

23. Once I started it

I almost couldn't put it down. I highly recommend it.

[greatlaurel]

26. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is an outstanding book and should be a required read.

This poor deluded woman needs to sit down and read it instead of throwing a temper tantrum over science concepts she does not comprehend. She should be embarrassed.

Henrietta Lacks must be remembered and honored for her tremendous contribution to science. Thank you Henrietta Lacks for all the lives you helped save.

Rebecca Skloot is an outstanding writer.

For anyone who likes good science writing, Dirt:The Erosion of Civilizations by David Montgomery is another great read, by the way.

[gopiscrap]

27. She's a fucking idiot!!!

[still_one]

28. It is an amazing book, and I recommend it. The Hela cells are still being used to develop approaches

to cancer treatments and understandings about cells. It helped lead to the association between HPV and cervical cancer, and a vaccine, among other things.

"How do people still act out against great books like this?"

It is the anti-science mentality that has been given free unquestioning reign by the media outlets. From those who don't recognize climate change, to the earth is only 5000 years old, really is a sad statement on the state of education in this country.

[PatrickforO]

29. This used to be the kind of idiot we'd all laugh right back under her rock.

The fact that media are reporting on such a stupid, closed-minded and deliberately ignorant (and proud of it!) statement by an obvious religious nut is just mind boggling.

[HuckleB]

31. Well, better than having the book banned because other parents don't know about her.

[PatrickforO]

32. Well, that's true.