Cheese Pizza and Censorship: She-Wolf Hunts Red Hood in Wasilla

Jackie Goforth, a registered Alaska Republican, activist, and author who has written numerous romance novels, as well as the Paranormal Romance series Vampire Assassin League under the pen name Jackie Ivie, is advocating for the Wasilla Public Library to censor the teen-appropriate book Red Hood.

Stick with me. There's "cheese pizza" and everything.

So we can better understand the fresh hell Goforth has unleashed on librarians out in the Valley, we must first define a couple of very pertinent things.

• Book banning refers to the practice of prohibiting access to certain books or written materials, typically by authorities such as governments, schools, or libraries.
• Book censorship refers to suppressing or restricting access to books or written material by authorities, institutions, or individuals.

Down The Rabbit Hole

Goforth, like the Alaska Watchman who tirelessly works to legitimize her right-wing propaganda, is a regular purveyor of misinformation. She has a long, storied history of providing public testimony at governmental meetings—sometimes driving to Anchorage from the Mat-Su Valley, where she resides.

On June 21, 2022, Goforth, an apparent 'do your own researcher,' testified in front of the Anchorage Assembly about the city's vote-by-mail system. During her testimony, she made reference to the COVID-19 "Plandemic," a word most closely associated with a trilogy of conspiracy theory films featuring Judy Mikovits, a discredited American researcher and prominent anti-vaccine activist. ⬇️

In 2016, Wikileaks published the personal emails of John Podesta, which had been hacked that same year, and thus, the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, QAnon's predecessor, was born. The Pizzagate conspiracy theory falsely claimed that Democratic officials and U.S. restaurants had been tied to a human trafficking and child sex ring. Proponents baselessly alleged Podesta's hacked emails contained code words for pedophilia and human trafficking, including the phrase "cheese pizza."

On February 6, 2020, a Twitter account bearing Goforth's pen name wrote that an email in which Podesta had expressed his desire to have a "cheese pizza" for dinner was really a secret code for "a very young (3-year-old) girl."

"PizzaGate is real. I'm now going to be ill. Again. These poor babies," the tweet continued.

That same day, Goforth shared a tweet from the now-suspended Twitter account, StormIsUponUs, which purported to be located 'somewhere in America.' The account, which had amassed a 170k-strong following, was dedicated to spreading the dangerous lies associated with the QAnon conspiracy movement, including the same tweet Goforth shared on her Twitter account, which had lifted the phrase "cheese pizza" from an unrelated child pornography case as 'proof' that Podesta was a pedophile.

Goforth spends the crux of her time in the Mat-Su Borough, advocating right-wing rhetoric that baselessly asserts books dealing with sexual themes, which she considers to be lewd and obscene, violate Alaska state criminal laws that prohibit the distribution of indecent materials to minors and the enticement of minors.

It helps to understand it this way: far-right conservatives, including a hardcore contingent of Christian nationalists and conspiracy theorists, have increasingly peddled the lie that library books containing sexual themes somehow violate state laws that prohibit the dissemination of indecent material (p0rN) to children—because having their perceived political enemies (librarians) arrested, would almost certainly be wish fulfillment.

To the best of my knowledge, there have been no such efforts to ban or censor the Bible, rife with spicy and saucy passages and its horrific depictions of rape, incest, nudity, and murder, from any Alaska school or public library.

Goforth's star power among Valley residents is undeniable. Tens of like-minded conservatives sometimes attend her activist speaking engagements, where they dream up new and inventive ways of having librarians arrested. They have even been known to cheer when a library roof caves in on the children's area. She has drawn in prominent far-right figures with her rhetoric, including Rep. David Eastman, a lifetime member of the Oathkeepers who took a photograph of himself standing next to a Hitler quote and shared a Holocaust denial website link to his Twitter account. ⬇️

Little Red Riding Hood meets book censoring she-wolf

Goforth's complaint about Red Hood and several other books being 'lewd' and obscene is not exactly a new development. Last month, she testified at an MSBSD school board meeting, where she droned incessantly and rather nonsensically about 'lewdness.' You can watch some of that testimony, overlayed with covers of the books she has written, here.

Red Hood is described as being a dark, engrossing, blood-drenched tale of the familiar threats to female power—and one girl's journey to regain it. The five-star book is written by Printz Honor winner Elana K. Arnold.

Importantly, Red Hood is labeled age-appropriate for teens aged 14-17 and is currently correctly categorized in the Wasilla Public Library's young adult section. Despite this, Goforth baselessly and illogically claims that the themes contained in the novel somehow violate an Alaska statute prohibiting the distribution of obscene material to individuals under 16 years of age.

Because of this misguided interpretation of Alaska law, Goforth is pushing for the Wasilla Public Library to relocate the book to the adult section. On its face, it seems an innocuous request but takes on a more concerning tone when you realize that Goforth is essentially trying to force the library into hiding the book from teenagers—a la, an act of book censorship.

Now, to be clear, yes, Red Hood has some violence in it, and yes, blood, too. The protagonist kills rapists, and there are werewolves. The book's descriptions are pretty tame—short and to the point, and arguably nothing more descriptive than what teens see on the CW—think Vampire Diaries and MTVs Teen Wolf.

The novel also contains one depiction of drug and alcohol use that took place at a high school party, but the protagonist does not partake. The book's profanity is nothing more than you'd hear coming out of student's mouths in a school hallway.

As for the "lewd" sexual content in Red Hood that Gofoth claims would subject librarians to arrest—there are two first-time sexual scenes involving high school seniors. There is a separate scene depicting an attempted rape that was dealt with swiftly by the book's protagonist.

In a November 8th letter to Mayor Glenda Ledford about the challenge filed against Red Hood and...other...things, Goforth's arguments in support of censoring the book devolved to a point where she took a swipe at American Library Association (ALA) President, Emily Drabinski, whom she referred to as being a "Lesbian Marxist." Indeed, Drabinski does identify as a Marxist and has adamantly refused to hide her political opinions, but let's be honest; it's not like she violently attacked the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overthrow a presidential election and to stop the peaceful transition of power.

Goforth's mention of the ALA president was likely a regurgitation of rhetoric espoused by GOP lawmakers in several states who have called for defunding the American Library Association because of Drabinski's sexual identity and political beliefs.

In her letter, Goforth also rather incredibly claimed that Red Hood and "many other books" served as child grooming tools—intended to normalize sexual themes with the intent of preparing children to be preyed upon by...wait for it...pedophiles.

Considering the subjects that Goforth speaks about during her activist events, the testimony she gives at government meetings, and the content she has previously interacted with on social media—

This all tracks...right?

During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, conspiracy theorists, including QAnon, actively opposed vaccines and mask-wearing—later shifting their focus towards launching attacks on Critical Race Theory, propagating disgusting false claims that Democrats, progressives, librarians, teachers, elected officials, and LGBTQ people and their allies were "groomers" angling to sexually abuse children.

While I've tried hard to put 2020-2022 out of my mind, I recall the insanity sounding something like this:

• Save the children from masks!
• Save the children from vaccines!
• Save the children from Critical Race Theory!
• Save the children from groomers!

And now, the same conspiracy theorists masquerading as so-called 'concerned parents' and activists are working hand in hand with extremist organizations like Moms for Liberty, screaming, 'Save the children from libraries!'

At the end of the day, Goforth's argument that Red Hood is lewd and obscene and thus should be recategorized is utter nonsense. While some might object to the themes contained in the book, they have no right to dictate what other people and their family members read any more than one individual should be allowed to pressure librarians into improperly recategorizing a book—especially when their efforts are politically motivated and almost certainly fueled by and based on a belief system rooted in dangerous cheese pizzas.

Remember: If you don't like it, don't read it.