Ban

• To prohibit something, traditionally through a legal or official process

A ban is a a formal or informal prohibition. It prevents people from engaging in specific activities or using certain items, often enforced by law, policy, or social pressure. Bans are powerful tools because they establish clear boundaries, unlike a restriction, they leave little to no room for negotiation. They are often controversial, especially when they touch on freedom of expression (like book bans), but they remain central to governance and social regulation.

History

The word comes from Old English and Old Norse, originally meaning "to summon, command, or curse". Over time, it evolved into its modern sense of prohibit. However, this eventually became what we know as book banning. A way to prohibit books from being accessed.

Book banning was first seen in 213 BCE China when the Chinese Emperor burned every book if it was not about agriculture, medicine, prognostication, or Qin himself. The first instance in America happened in 1852 and has not slowed down since.

Eventually there was the invention of the Comstock Laws, thus catapulting censorship and bans overall. Comstock Laws generated the idea of obscenity. Traditionally, books were banned so that people couldn't be anti-patriotic, anti-dynasty, etc. However, this introduced the idea of content being inappropriate. Obscenity used to be things like women's bodies and how they function and the push for enjoyable marital sex not used for reproduction. There has been the consistent issues revolving LGBTQ+ communities and sexual content.

Books can be banned for a multitude of reasons. However, majority of the reasons stem from the idea of obscenity. Obscenity can be anything from sexual content to LGBTQ+ content. Over the years it has become more and more systematic. It has gotten to the point that people now have an understanding that bans are apart of a much larger issue involving the dismantling of public education and backsliding democracy.

Reasons For A Ban

• LGBTQ+ Communities
• Sexual Content
• Sexual Assault
• Rape
• Anatomy and Body Functions
• Race/Racial Justice

What Is A Book Ban?

Book banning is the prohibiting of certain books by limiting their access. This is typically by the general public, by libraries, by the government, or by members of a local community or religious group. Book bans can go as far as to legally get a book banned or even resulting in book burnings. However, they can also be removed from school curriculums or libraries. This can be detrimental to publishing companies, especially if they're small. It can restrict the amount of people purchasing books causing a company to lose money.

Problems In The Publishing World

Although the banning of books is not necessarily new, the banning of books has become a way to silence minority voices. Lately people are finding this to be even more problematic than ever because of the application of the First Amendment. Book banning technically removes the idea of a freedom of speech, by directly silencing authors voices.