Grasso gets a major fact wrong right off the bat. The book includes cartoon drawings of a woman masturbating and multiple women engaging in oral sex. My first challenge came well before I arrived on campus, when I learned that all first years were assigned 'Fun Home,' a graphic novel by Alison Bechdel. He says he chose not to read the book because it is, in his mind, pornography: In Grasso's 700-word op-ed about why he isn't reading Fun Home, he spends 43 words explaining what he thinks the book is about. And it kicked off a national controversy that touches on campus censorship and the definition of pornography. Students aren't graded on whether they complete it.īut his post struck a nerve because it played into a preexisting narrative that college students are hypersensitive. The reading is recommended, not required. Whether Grasso wants to read Fun Home really doesn't matter very much. I know that I’ll have to grapple with ideas I don’t agree with, even ideas that I find immoral.īut in the Bible, Jesus forbids his followers from exposing themselves to anything pornographic. I’m not even opposed to reading Freud, Marx or Darwin. I’m not opposed to reading memoirs written by LGBTQ individuals or stories containing suicide. My choice had nothing to do with the ideas presented. Here’s why I refused to read 'Fun Home'':Īfter researching the book’s content and reading a portion of it, I chose to opt out of the assignment. He expanded on his opinions in the Washington Post, with a post headlined 'I’m a Duke freshman. He said that as a Christian, he objected to the book's visual depiction of sexuality. It was released to lavish praise from critics and was recently adapted into an award-winning musical.īrian Grasso, an incoming freshman, wrote a Facebook post about why he wouldn't read it.

This year's choice was Fun Home, an acclaimed 2006 graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel.įun Home: A Family Tragicomic is a memoir about Bechdel's family that deals with, among other subjects, her sexual orientation as well as that of her father, a closeted funeral home director. Duke University, like many colleges, recommends that all incoming freshmen read the same book over the summer before they arrive.

Fun home alison