Judith Levine, author and journalist, recently wrote a new and controversial book, Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Kids From Sex. Levine brought her book to several publishing companies before the University of Minnesota Press decided to take it on, which should not be surprising.

The U of M Press saw the book as iffy at first, so it assigned an eight-person editorial staff to review the material. It took two years for them to assess the book and make some adjustments here and there before finally releasing it in April.

Levine has written about sex, gender and families for over two decades now, but none of her past books, articles and essays have generated the controversy that Harmful to Minors has. Some of her previous books include My Enemy, My Love: Women, Men and the Dilemmas of Gender and Helping Your Child Lose Weight the Healthy Way. She has come a long way to advocating aggressive sexual education in school and pedophilia. Levine’s main argument is that as a society, we attempt to scare children away from sex, but it’s not helping them at all. “Harmful to Minors launches from two negatives: sex is not ipso facto harmful to minors; and America’s drive from sex is protecting them from nothing,” Levine writes in her introduction. “Instead, often it is harming them.”

In an interview with the U of M Press, Levine was asked, “How can protection be harmful to minors?” to which she responded: “My book says that sexuality is a fact of life, and a potentially wonderful part of growing at all stages of their lives.” She claimed that, “It’s not sex itself that is harmful to children, but the conditions under which they might express themselves sexually that can leave them vulnerable to harms like HIV, unwanted pregnancy, or sexual violence.”

Levine’s book also raises the issue of sexual consent. Not only does she state that the age of consent should be lowered, but she also claims that an adult should not be punished for having sexual relations with young teens.

Many understand why it took so long for Harmful to Minors to reach bookstores, but why it even had a chance to be sold is a mystery to pro-family advocates. Robert Knight, director of Concerned Women for America’s Culture and Family Institute in Washington, D.C., deemed the book “very evil,” and said, “The University of Minnesota should admit its mistake and scrap the book.” Tim Pawlently, majority leader of the Minnesota House of Representatives, branded the book “trash.”

Levine claims American parents are hysterical about the possibilities of children being molested by pedophiles, and says they are more likely to be hit by a car, be exposed to HIV or suffer a serious sports related injury.

Although millions upon millions of people do not like the idea of this book being published, Harmful to Minors has risen as high as number 16 on amazon.com’s rundown of top sellers, leading U of M Press to print another run of the book.