The author of one of the most controversial books in America, Maia Kobabe, defended the sexually explicit graphic images in the memoir "Gender Queer" during an interview with NPR Wednesday.
"Gender Queer" has as courted major controversy among America’s parents for being in public school libraries throughout the U.S. and has been challenged for its depictions and descriptions of oral sex as well as discussions on masturbation.
The book also discusses Kobabe's journey of self discovery towards identifying outside the "gender binary."
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Kobabe said during the interview with Claire Murashima on Morning Edition that the author was surprised by the belated pushback.
"I braced myself for a little bit of that… I think what mostly surprised me was the timing of it — and then also the level of it, and then following that, the longevity of it."
Murashima pressed Kobabe on some of the extremely graphic panels in the young adult memoir.
"Let me ask you this. Some of the criticism is about how explicit the book is. There are some graphic panels where you’re describing some of your sexual encounters. Did you consider doing less graphic versions of those scenes?"
Kobabe said, "You know I really didn’t. I drew as much as I felt like I needed to tell the story that I was trying to tell and get the points across that I was trying to make."
Kobabe added that the images could have been worse.
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"And I honestly think the book is a lot explicit than it could be," Kobabe added.
"The topic of gender touches on identity… and it touches on sexuality," Kobabe continued. "And it’s hard to fully explain I think what like how a gender identity can impact every facet of life as an adult without touching at least a little bit on sexuality. And I wanted to at least not to like shy away from that."
Fox News' Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.
