Eight Danish libraries still have ‘Liderlige Lolita’ (Horny Lolita) on their shelves, according to library website bibliotek.dk. The book, which is a discussion of pornography, contains 34 pages of hardcore photographs featuring mostly boys aged 5-12 that were taken by a convicted French paedophile.
Some libraries were not aware that the controversial book was available.
“It’s news to me that we have had child pornography to lend,” Peter Flodin, the head librarian at Professionshøjskolen Metropols, told Metroxpress.
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The book is also available to loan at libraries in Hvidovre and Faxe.
“I’ve never even had the book in my hand, but I have spoken with my boss about it,” said Hvidovre librarian Merete Carentius. “We believe that the pages containing child pornography have been cut out of our copy.”
“Appalling”
The Royal Library has removed its copies of ‘Liderlige Lolita’, and upon realising that it had the book in its library, the women’s support group Kvinfo pulled its two copies for immediate destruction.
“I personally think it is appalling that the book was even printed in 1980, and when the material was outlawed it should have been located and removed years ago,” said Kvinfos head Nina Groes.
“I cannot say precisely how often the books have been loaned out.”
When it was legal
Three libraries were reported in 2006 for loaning the book, which was written by Lone Backe in 1980. Shortly after its release, it became illegal to share child pornography.
“To call my book child pornography is nothing short of absurd,” the now 73-year-old Backe told Ekstra Bladet.
When Denmark became the first country in the world to legalise pornography in 1969, there were no laws prohibiting child porn. Between 1969 and 1980, magazines with titles like ‘Nymph Lovers’ and ‘Lolita Love’ were readily and legally available.
Nymph Lovers even advised its readers to “take suitable child pornography photos. Send them to us. You’ll get a lot of money for them.”
Shining a light in a very dark place
Backe said she wrote the book to reveal the ugliness of child pornography, which was legal at the time.
“I chose to focus on because it suddenly dawned on me how terrible and awful it was that it fell on the children”
