"Goddammit, I fucking draw the line at the sexploitation of nine-year-old girls."
I do not generally issue so-called "cuss warnings"--I have this weird idea that you are all adult enough to click the "Back" button yourselves--but for this? Major cuss warning.
Not that I find it undeserved, given the subject, and not that I don't have a filthy mouth myself. And not (before anyone gets on my ass about it--though they will anyway, because intrapost disclaimers never do a damn bit of good) that I agree with every single premise in the post linked above. I don't endorse it a hunnert percent.
Then again, odds are real super-good that I agree with more of it than you think.
The subject of the post is vile, yes, but not surprising. Anyone who's read the Harlan Ellison essay entitled "Our Little Miss" could have seen this one coming.
UPDATE: It should go without saying, but you click the link included in the post linked above at your own risk.
People exaggerate too much anymore, and especially on the internet; but it's no exaggeration for me to say right now that, as a result of my foolish compulsive clicking . . . I think I'm gonna be sick.
*Because it turns out I called an entry by this very title already, unsurprisingly. "I'm crazy for recycling" sounds better than "I'm an uninspired hack," though, so that's the claim I'm staking.
Posted by Ilyka at April 19, 2006 01:25 AM in f is for feminismThe images that Twisty linked to were enough.
The "About Face" image linked to in comments is simply beyond the pale.
Posted by: Craig R. at April 19, 2006 06:22 PMI only read the entry, none of the comments.
A few things.
The "gray" area... sick as some of it may be, how do we "criminalize" it? Understand that even the innocent pics of children in swimwear in a JC Penney Sunday ad circular are clipped out and collected by pedophiles. My husband and I several years ago, scared off what we believed was a pedophile who was surrepticiously taking photos of children playing at the beach (he saw us staring at him and he hurriedly left) but he wasn't doing anything illegal. Of course, the other extreme is Sharia where we just tent the females in order to "curb" male aggression... anyone wanna go THAT way?
We are all sexual beings and while visual porn is consumed mostly by males and written porn by females ... it is still all "naughty bits" regardless of "The Patriarchy/The Matriarchy." We are just wired differently as to our "turnons". Some guys are turned on by feet. Should we ban open-toed shoes?
Sometimes the lines of what is/is not acceptable has to be a societal NOT by statute. I don't want porn criminalized, but I don't want it accessible to kids. I certainly want people to speak out about it, NOT BUY IT and generally stop consuming it. And I want to parents to grow a spine and stop buying the clothing that DOES sexualize their prepubscent kids. For every pic of a seductive 9 yearold on that site, there is a PARENT who consented to the photoshoot and signed a release.
Jaysus, when one finds fourth-grade girls picketing their school because they demand the right to wear mini-skirts and their parents are PROUD of 'em, you know government ain't gonna be able to do a thing.
It is up to us.
Posted by: Darleen at April 21, 2006 01:15 PMWell put, Darleen. In the comments the whole "how do we criminalize it without going overboard?" issue did come up, but I didn't follow the discussion too closely, because I'm more appalled that the parents of these girls would think their participation on that site was in any way, shape, or form okay. Which is why I can only say this:
It is up to us.
Is RIGHT ON.
Posted by: ilyka at April 21, 2006 01:27 PM