don't stand, don't stand so, don't stand so close to me.

A few minutes ago, I was in communication law. We've been talking about indecency and obscenity, and when we discussed the internet in relation to monitoring and blocking child porn, I briefly mentioned the LJ Strikethrough deletions of rape and incest survivor communities and that Spanish Lolita discussion community. There were, of course, people who said that all instances of child porn should be completely banned, and this girl next to me said, "I don't care, even if it's fictional, it should be banned. Like in that book she [talking about me] was talking about."

I said, "You mean Lolita?" And she nodded in response and said something that blew my mind:

"I've never heard of that book."

Me (still shocked): "It's a major piece of literature. [gives brief summary of the book and mention that it's been made into two movies]"

Girl: "Well, it's still wrong, and I've still never heard of it."

WHAT.

That girl is, at the least, eighteen years old. Even if you haven't actually read it, at that age you should have at least heard about Lolita once. Shit, I'd be surprised if you hadn't heard the term "Lolita" bandied around for a tarted-up ten year old, or if you had asked somebody about "that book by Nabokov" that Sting mentions in "Don't Stand So Close to Me". YOU ARE A COLLEGE STUDENT. HOW THE HELL HAVE YOU NOT HEARD OF ONE OF THE MOST MAJOR WORKS OF LITERATURE FROM THE TWENTIETH CENTURY?!