All Boys Aren’t Blue:
Chockfull Of Literary, Artistic, And Political Value

The Miller Test

The U.S. Supreme Court has established what is known as the Miller Test, a result of three major obscenity cases: Miller v California in 1973, Smith v United States in 1977, and Pop v Illinois in 1987. It’s a litmus test for what does, and more importantly what does not constitute obscenity.

The Miller test is three-pronged, and the item in question must satisfy all three to be considered obscene:

• Whether the average person, applying contemporary adult community standards, finds that the matter, taken as a whole, appeals to prurient interests (i.e., an erotic, lascivious, abnormal, unhealthy, degrading, shameful, or morbid interest in nudity, sex, or excretion);
• Whether the average person, applying contemporary adult community standards, finds that the matter depicts or describes sexual conduct in a patently offensive way (i.e., ultimate sexual acts, normal or perverted, actual or simulated, masturbation, excretory functions, lewd exhibition of the genitals, or sado-masochistic sexual abuse); and
• Whether a reasonable person finds that the matter, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.[8]

The Florida state statute on obscenity reiterates these conditions.[9] And as noted above, the Flagler County Sheriff’s investigation found that All Boys Aren’t Blue does not violate obscenity laws, stating:

While a portion of the book may be sexual in nature and offensive to some within the community it fails the third prong of the test. Specifically, the third prong requires when taken as a whole, it be without serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.[10]

Enabling Students
To Make Intelligent Judgments

The Flagler County Sheriff’s investigation report also points out that the School Board’s guidance pertaining to instructional material states it will provide “a background of information enabling students to make intelligent judgments in their daily life.” As well as material that will “stimulate growth in ethical standards.”[11] So, let’s start there.

Johnson literally opens and closes his work with statements indicating that his intent in writing this book aligns perfectly with these mandates. Which are not only espoused by the Flagler County school board, but within educational organizations nationwide.[12]

The opening paragraphs of All Boys Aren’t Blue are:

In writing this book, I wanted to be as authentic and truthful about my experience as possible. I wanted my story to be told in totality: the good, the bad, and the things I was always too afraid to talk about publicly. This meant going to places and discussing some subjects that are often kept away from teens for fear of them being “too heavy.”

But the truth of the matter is, these things happened to me when I was a child, teenager, and young adult. So as heavy as these subjects may be, it is necessary that they are not only told, but also read by teens who may have to navigate many of these same experiences in their own lives.[13]

The work’s Afterward section bookends this sentiment with the following passage:

I released the deepest and darkest things about my past in the hopes that someone might see a reflection of themselves in the words and know that they are not alone, and they too can grow and thrive. And so that they may not make the many missteps I took along the road.[14]

The Political Value
Within All Boys Aren’t Blue

George M. Johnson attests that his life is led by Toni Morrison’s admonition, “if there’s a book that you want to read and it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” Johnson goes on to say that they followed Morrison’s sage advice, and wrote the book they wish they had been able to have as a young person struggling “to navigate a society that wasn’t built for me.”[16]

Elaborating, Johnson notes:

In writing this, though, I realized that I wasn’t just telling my story. I was telling the story of millions of queer people who never got a chance to tell theirs… It became less about being a guide and more about being the gateway for more people to find their truth and find their power to live in that truth.[17]

They further assert:

I’m always talking about how this queer community has the chance to be the blueprint. We get to set the stage for the next generation that will come up behind us. We don’t have to be so easily accepting of the norms we were forced to follow. We get to try them out and if they don’t work, create something new.[18]

Johnson also addresses the flip side of the proverbial coin. Clearly speaking to the straight, male teen that U.S. curriculums are heavily geared toward, they declare:

I hope this book will open you up to understanding the people you may have never spoken to because of their differences from you. We are not as different as you think, and all our stories matter and deserve to be celebrated and told.[19]

The Scientific/Informational Value
Within All Boys Aren’t Blue

Johnson’s work has been described as reading like a textbook in some areas. One that interviewer Petra Mayer wished she had “as a kid.”[21] Johnson acknowledges that an element of his work revolves around “sexual education:”[22]

The notion that keeping vital information from people who will then learn through trial and error is a disservice to young adults everywhere. If knowledge is power, then give them the damn information. And if folks won’t do it, then I will.[23]

Johnson points out that they’re also teaching kids about not feeling guilty when sexual abuse happens. And more importantly, how to recognize sexual abuse. Speaking from experience, they contend most teens don’t even recognize that what is happening to them is abuse. They also address how to fight back against such traumas, those “you can hold on to for so very long.”[24] Johnson sums it up with the assertion:

Children still have to exist in a world full of these heavy topics, and are going to be affected by them whether they read the book or not. Having [this] book though, gives them the tools, the language, the resources and the education so that when they are having to deal with a heavy topic, they have a roadmap for how to handle it.[25]

The Literary Significance
Of All Boys Aren’t Blue

Johnson describes All Boys Aren’t Blue as a memoir-manifesto. Merging personal, coming of age storytelling with a sociopolitical manifesto, Johnson’s work has been described as “a game changer” for the young adult memoir genre.[27]

So often, a manifesto has negative connotations. We tend to only hear about them regarding people like the Unabomber, perpetrators of mass shootings, or The Communist Manifesto that was used to frighten people during the Cold War. But what is a manifesto, really?

A manifesto is a written declaration explaining the core beliefs, goals and intentions of the issuer. In this case George M. Johnson, whose memoir relates “the struggles of Black men and queer men and people who exist at the intersection of both identities.”[28]

Johnson sets up issues they’re addressing by pointing out:

Unfortunately, we are still struggling to move the conversation past an assumed identity at birth. And LGBTQIAP+ people are not just fighting for the right to self-identify and be accepted in a society that is predominantly composed of two genders – which would be the bare minimum of acceptance. We are also fighting to survive physical acts of violence. Many of us are not even surviving that.[29]

Then Johnson shifts to manifesto mode, with the statement:

I believe that the dominant society establishes an idea of what normal” is simply to suppress differences, which means that any of us who fall outside of their “normal” will eventually be oppressed.[30]

All Boys Aren’t Blue’s
Literary Merit

All Boys Aren’t Blue possesses a high degree of literary merit through its lyrical essayistic style, and the unflinching emotional vulnerability that creates deep empathy.

The book’s episodic structure mimics the impressionistic, scattered nature of memory itself. The fragmented way memories are recalled, rather than in a linear narrative. Which emphasizes the complexity of personal history and identity. Writing in this manner allows the reader to experience the significance and emotional weight of each memory.

And Johnson’s prose captures the interiority of feeling “othered” even before having the vocabulary to articulate it:

By that age [five years old] I already knew I was different, even though I didn’t have the language to explain it or maturity to understand fully what “different” meant. I wasn’t gravitating toward typical boy things, like sports, trucks, and so on. I liked baby dolls and doing hair. I could sense that the feelings I had inside of me weren’t “right” by society’s standards either…[32]

On the topic of “coming out,” Johnson writes with unfiltered frankness:

It was somewhat devastating that I had planned so long to have my moment, and was still not ready for it. We see coming-out stories all the time. Some for the better, many for the worse. What we don’t get to see is what led up to that moment. How many times a person tried to push past that barrier to get to that point.

Notice my varying confidence and discouragement throughout this chapter. Notice my confusion in how strong I was in some moments and how weak I was in others, because that is what coming out truly is. It is not a final thing. It’s something that is ever occurring.[33]

In Conclusion

All Boys Aren’t Blue is a beautifully written, empowering piece of literature. One that has changed the landscape of young adult memoirs. Unlike the policy violating pornography that book banning school board members characterize it as, Johnson’s work is chockfull of literary, artistic, and political value.

And it actually upholds the educational guidelines set forth by school boards and their supporting organizations across the country. It is indeed one of the most critical works of literature in the contemporary American cannon.