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When Vladimir Nabokov penned Lolita ... (fwd)
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From: Sandy P. Klein <spklein52@HotMail.com>
CNEWS
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http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/MediaNews/2003/01/22/14356-cp.html
Wed, January 22, 2003
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Sexualized images of children prevalent in mainstream media, not just
porn
By LORRAYNE ANTHONY
(CP) - From ads of gangly teens in underwear with come-hither looks to
the popularity of the denuding Brazilian bikini wax, the prepubescent
look is hot.
"It is a new trend and it's a bit of a revelation for me," Hugh Hefner
the founder and editor in chief of Playboy Enterprises said from the
Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles. "It began with thongs and string bikinis,
but it's turned into something a good deal more."
A decade ago, Brazilian waxes were confined to, well, Brazil. Now most
spas in Canada offer them. Flipping through any recent Playboy magazine
will reveal that although the models are as busty as ever, below the
waist there is little indication they have gone through puberty.
Beyond a trend, some are concerned that sexualized images of childhood
are no longer confined to the underbelly of child pornography but
prevalent in mainstream media.
"When you look at a grown woman who shaves (her pubic hair) that really
connotes a prepubescent look . . . there is this whole link with
fantasies of young girls," said Melanie Cishecki, executive director of
Media Watch, a non-profit organization that wants to eliminate sexism in
the media.
Images of sexy children are no longer the domain of dirty, old men in
trenchcoats.
From the moment a teenaged Brooke Shields provocatively told us nothing
gets between her and her Calvin's, the designer has used pubescent
looking models to advertise everything from underwear to perfume.
After JonBenet Ramsey was sexually assaulted and murdered after Christmas
in 1996, images of the blond-haired beauty queen were everywhere.
Television ran footage of the six-year-old's lipsticked smile while she
lowered then replaced the strap of her gown to give a glimpse of
shoulder, in an inspired imitation of a burlesque dancer.
A trip to almost any drug store in Canada will reveal hyper-bright
packaging of lipglosses and fake bellyrings for tweens.
"The point is that girls are being groomed to fulfil a role that's
something we expect for a sexualized adult, not a little girl," Cishecki
said.
"When you see young girls portrayed in a sexualized manner, it normalizes
it and people start to look at children as sexual beings," she said from
her office in Toronto. "And then you look at the incidence of child
sexual abuse and child pornography and you have to wonder whether there
is a link."
When British glam-rock star Gary Glitter was convicted of taking and
possessing pornographic images of children in 1999, his lawyer would only
say that Glitter had no idea it was illegal.
And the Who's rough boy Pete Townshend, who was arrested this month, said
he was doing research when he logged on to a child pornography Internet
site.
The child-pornography investigation that led to Townshend's arrest has
sparked investigations across Canada and around the world.
Toronto police Det.-Sgt. Paul Gillespie said, as of mid-January, police
have arrested about five per cent of the 2,329 Canadians on a U.S. Postal
Investigative Service list of people suspected of accessing child
pornography.
Marta Weber, a forensic psychologist in Mendocino, Calif., has
interviewed more than 1,000 sexual predators.
"The real pedophile arouses to sexually immature children," said Weber.
"They are overwhelmingly male and overwhelmingly heterosexual."
The Internet has been a boon to pedophiles as "the pornography stimulates
the fantasy, which drives the behaviour," said Weber, adding that it is
harder to detect and there is lots of privacy.
"There is a real tension in (North America) between freedom of expression
and protecting people," said Weber. "We are living in a culture that
certainly does exploit the budding sexuality of young people."
It's difficult to blame the Internet or perfume ads for sexualizing
children, as it's anything but unique to the past decade.
In a union that tread on many taboos, 1950s rocker Jerry Lee Lewis
married his 13-year-old cousin.
Elvis fell in love with Grade 9 student Priscilla Beaulieu, but conscious
of the 10-year age difference he waited until she turned 21 before
marrying her.
At the age of 35, rock 'n' roll great Chuck Berry was convicted in the
U.S. under the Mann Act of "transporting an underage girl across state
lines for immoral purposes." Berry served 20 months in prison.
Woody Allen met his wife Soon-yi Previn when she was eight. She was the
daughter of his girlfriend, Mia Farrow, with whom he had children. Previn
had known Allen in a stepfather role for more than a decade before they
began a sexual affair.
When Vladimir Nabokov penned Lolita, the story of a pedophile whose
criminal desires ruined lives, he probably had no idea the name of his
book would become a synonym for underage tarts.
Fashion reports often refer to sexy youthful designs as appealing to the
"Lolitas," even though, in fact, the Lolita in the book was not a slutty
temptress but a 12-year-old orphan with no choice but to participate in a
sexual relationship.
"I heard somebody say during a trial, 'Well she's 13 going on 30,' " said
Weber. "That's a very common way men have of saying she has sexual powers
and abilities.
"Over my lifetime of 50-plus years I have seen children becoming
sexualized at a younger and younger age," said Weber.
Hefner has had no letters condemning the lack of body hair on Playboy
models, and he doesn't agree with those who fear children are becoming
the sex symbols of this generation.
He points out that there was a time when North American women didn't
shave their underarms and now most strive for hairless armpits. But what
hasn't changed, Hefner said, is the North American man's sex symbol: A
beautiful, blond-haired bombshell with a girl-next-door face and all the
curves of a woman.
While most centrefolds are between 18 and 25, Miss January 2003 happened
to be 35 years old. None are ever under 18.
"The first Playmate of the month was Marilyn Monroe . . . and the most
popular one from recent years is Pamela Anderson from Canada," said
Hefner. "And, really, they are not very different . . . I mean
physically."
CNEWS
[cnews_adspace.gif]
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/MediaNews/2003/01/22/14356-cp.html
Wed, January 22, 2003
[ffffff.gif]
Sexualized images of children prevalent in mainstream media, not just
porn
By LORRAYNE ANTHONY
(CP) - From ads of gangly teens in underwear with come-hither looks to
the popularity of the denuding Brazilian bikini wax, the prepubescent
look is hot.
"It is a new trend and it's a bit of a revelation for me," Hugh Hefner
the founder and editor in chief of Playboy Enterprises said from the
Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles. "It began with thongs and string bikinis,
but it's turned into something a good deal more."
A decade ago, Brazilian waxes were confined to, well, Brazil. Now most
spas in Canada offer them. Flipping through any recent Playboy magazine
will reveal that although the models are as busty as ever, below the
waist there is little indication they have gone through puberty.
Beyond a trend, some are concerned that sexualized images of childhood
are no longer confined to the underbelly of child pornography but
prevalent in mainstream media.
"When you look at a grown woman who shaves (her pubic hair) that really
connotes a prepubescent look . . . there is this whole link with
fantasies of young girls," said Melanie Cishecki, executive director of
Media Watch, a non-profit organization that wants to eliminate sexism in
the media.
Images of sexy children are no longer the domain of dirty, old men in
trenchcoats.
From the moment a teenaged Brooke Shields provocatively told us nothing
gets between her and her Calvin's, the designer has used pubescent
looking models to advertise everything from underwear to perfume.
After JonBenet Ramsey was sexually assaulted and murdered after Christmas
in 1996, images of the blond-haired beauty queen were everywhere.
Television ran footage of the six-year-old's lipsticked smile while she
lowered then replaced the strap of her gown to give a glimpse of
shoulder, in an inspired imitation of a burlesque dancer.
A trip to almost any drug store in Canada will reveal hyper-bright
packaging of lipglosses and fake bellyrings for tweens.
"The point is that girls are being groomed to fulfil a role that's
something we expect for a sexualized adult, not a little girl," Cishecki
said.
"When you see young girls portrayed in a sexualized manner, it normalizes
it and people start to look at children as sexual beings," she said from
her office in Toronto. "And then you look at the incidence of child
sexual abuse and child pornography and you have to wonder whether there
is a link."
When British glam-rock star Gary Glitter was convicted of taking and
possessing pornographic images of children in 1999, his lawyer would only
say that Glitter had no idea it was illegal.
And the Who's rough boy Pete Townshend, who was arrested this month, said
he was doing research when he logged on to a child pornography Internet
site.
The child-pornography investigation that led to Townshend's arrest has
sparked investigations across Canada and around the world.
Toronto police Det.-Sgt. Paul Gillespie said, as of mid-January, police
have arrested about five per cent of the 2,329 Canadians on a U.S. Postal
Investigative Service list of people suspected of accessing child
pornography.
Marta Weber, a forensic psychologist in Mendocino, Calif., has
interviewed more than 1,000 sexual predators.
"The real pedophile arouses to sexually immature children," said Weber.
"They are overwhelmingly male and overwhelmingly heterosexual."
The Internet has been a boon to pedophiles as "the pornography stimulates
the fantasy, which drives the behaviour," said Weber, adding that it is
harder to detect and there is lots of privacy.
"There is a real tension in (North America) between freedom of expression
and protecting people," said Weber. "We are living in a culture that
certainly does exploit the budding sexuality of young people."
It's difficult to blame the Internet or perfume ads for sexualizing
children, as it's anything but unique to the past decade.
In a union that tread on many taboos, 1950s rocker Jerry Lee Lewis
married his 13-year-old cousin.
Elvis fell in love with Grade 9 student Priscilla Beaulieu, but conscious
of the 10-year age difference he waited until she turned 21 before
marrying her.
At the age of 35, rock 'n' roll great Chuck Berry was convicted in the
U.S. under the Mann Act of "transporting an underage girl across state
lines for immoral purposes." Berry served 20 months in prison.
Woody Allen met his wife Soon-yi Previn when she was eight. She was the
daughter of his girlfriend, Mia Farrow, with whom he had children. Previn
had known Allen in a stepfather role for more than a decade before they
began a sexual affair.
When Vladimir Nabokov penned Lolita, the story of a pedophile whose
criminal desires ruined lives, he probably had no idea the name of his
book would become a synonym for underage tarts.
Fashion reports often refer to sexy youthful designs as appealing to the
"Lolitas," even though, in fact, the Lolita in the book was not a slutty
temptress but a 12-year-old orphan with no choice but to participate in a
sexual relationship.
"I heard somebody say during a trial, 'Well she's 13 going on 30,' " said
Weber. "That's a very common way men have of saying she has sexual powers
and abilities.
"Over my lifetime of 50-plus years I have seen children becoming
sexualized at a younger and younger age," said Weber.
Hefner has had no letters condemning the lack of body hair on Playboy
models, and he doesn't agree with those who fear children are becoming
the sex symbols of this generation.
He points out that there was a time when North American women didn't
shave their underarms and now most strive for hairless armpits. But what
hasn't changed, Hefner said, is the North American man's sex symbol: A
beautiful, blond-haired bombshell with a girl-next-door face and all the
curves of a woman.
While most centrefolds are between 18 and 25, Miss January 2003 happened
to be 35 years old. None are ever under 18.
"The first Playmate of the month was Marilyn Monroe . . . and the most
popular one from recent years is Pamela Anderson from Canada," said
Hefner. "And, really, they are not very different . . . I mean
physically."