Perhaps I should have borrowed a euphemism from a 1970s bodice-ripper and called it a “manroot.” Or resorted to child-friendly British slang and called it a “willy.” Euphemisms, after all, have long been used to temper sensitive subject matter and reduce the risk of extreme reactions. Instead, I called it by its anatomical name: penis. And because I wrote a frank scene where a teenage boy forces a teenage girl to perform oral sex on his, well, penis, my book, *Jesus Land*, has been banned or challenged by school boards in at least 11 states. The scene is graphic and uncomfortable to read. It’s meant to be—it describes rape. But the passage is also a mere page in a 350-page book—a passage that is being stripped of context and used by conservatives to weaponize my book against itself. When *Jesus Land* was published, in 2005, the American Library Association gave it an “Alex Award,” recognizing it as an adult book that “held special appeal for young readers” (ages 12 to 18).…