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US News

Teen claims she was forced to read ‘graphic, incestual sexual content’ in Honors English class

By
Ronny Reyes
Published Sep. 24, 2024, 3:28 p.m. ET

A 15-year-old student says she is leaving her North Carolina high school after she was forced to read “graphic, incestual sexual content” during her Honors English class.

Lorena Benson, a sophomore at Athens Drive High School in Raleigh, slammed the Wake County school board in a now-viral video for allowing students to read a story allegedly describing a sexual encounter between cousins as “putting a banana in a tomato,” the News & Observer reports.

“I am deeply bothered and deeply disappointed,” Benson told the school board last week. “I have decided to leave Athens Drive High School because I should not have to deal with pornographic, incestual sexual content taught to me in my classes.”

North Carolina high school student Lorena Benson, 15, claimed that she was forced to read “graphic, incestual sexual content” during her Honors English class.
North Carolina high school student Lorena Benson, 15, claimed that she was forced to read “graphic, incestual sexual content” during her Honors English class. Wake County Public Schools

Benson, whose family moved to North Carolina three months ago from the Dominican Republic, claimed the experience left her and her classmates all feeling “very uncomfortable.”

“Even after reading it again, it makes me feel very uncomfortable,” Benson said. “This graphic, incestual sexual language should not be taught in any class, much less an Honors English class.”

The district said it was reviewing Benson’s claims and that it could not discuss ongoing internal investigations.

While Benson did not state what book her class was reading, the Observer suggested it fit the description of Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel “Tomorrow Is Too Far.”

The book focuses on a sister who accidentally caused her brother’s death and the fallout that ensues, but one of the opening paragraphs includes a line of the narrator having sex with a cousin.

Benson’s speech before the school board caused a flurry of outrage from social media, with the incident highlighted by Michele Morrow, the Republican nominee for state superintendent of public instruction.

Benson said the incident caused her to decide to leave Athens Drive High School in Raleigh.
Benson said the incident caused her to decide to leave Athens Drive High School in Raleigh. Google Maps

“This must stop. We must protect our children!,” Morrow wrote on X, attacking her Democratic opponent, Mo Green.

“[He] thinks this is ok and wants to keep these sexually explicit materials available to our children,” Morrow added.

“School safety absolutely includes protecting young, developing minds from being attacked with sexually explicit material.”