Why Was the Book Go Ask Alice Banned ?
Question by Keith Moon: Why was the book Go Ask Alice banned ?
Because of sex and drugs ? Hell, every TV show nowadays has that, worse than in the book. I read it in health class, and I honestly think it’s a great book, I’m not sure why there’s so much controversy on it. But I don’t know if it’s really written by anonymous and if it’s fiction or not.
Best answer:
Answer by leah
Yes. That is basically why it was banned. Parents didn’t want it to influence their children in a negative way. It’s stupid I know. And I absolutely love the book, the movie not so much. It was said to be the diary of an actual teenage girl, whose psychiatrist released it. But Beatrice Sparks (the psychiatrist) has admitted to it being a hoax. She just wrote it, saying a young “patient” of hers did.
Answer by Russell E
Back in the days it was written, the “establishment” was firmly against anything to do with drugs, rock and roll or “free love”.
It was really an anti-drug cautionary tale, but, of course, those who never read it assumed it would encourage non users to try drugs or have wild sex.
When I was in High School in the mid 70’s, we had a required heath class about drug abuse. All the BS they tried to teach actually encouraged me to try a bunch of stuff.
After I tried pot the first time, I didn’t feel an urge to jump off a building, or hallucinate, or go crazy like they told you you would in class. So I wondered what else they taught us was BS as well.
I took LSD a few times, I wasn’t transported into an hallucinogenic dream world like they said. It was trippy, but not as horrible or uncontrolled as they made out. So basically, I began to believe that the adults were lying to us.
The only thing that class did was convince me to never do “downers” or inject anything like speed or heroin or cocaine. And I have never broken that. I didn’t want to become an out of control junkie.
“Anonymous” is believed to be the editor Beatrice Sparks.
It probably is “fiction” based on someone’s experiences of being addicted to stuff, probably loosely based on the experiences of one of her patients with fictional scenes added.
The bad experiences of teenage addicts was not fictional. During the Summer of Love is San Francisco, SF was overrun by hippies from all over the country. Often with no money or housing, the young female addicts were preyed upon, turned tricks for dope, lived on the streets or communal drug houses. Girls were often expected to share their bodies with anyone who wanted them in exchange for drugs or food.
The Summer of Love was not so pretty as they had hoped it would be. They became hopeless addicts, often riddled with STD’s. and living in squalid conditions.