Readers' Comments

Reader Comments on Aardvark Daily 15 January 2003
Note: the comments below are the unabridged submissions of readers and do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher.
From: Claire
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Here's a view.

Read this article, bear in mind the writer was abused as a
child by her father who also took photo's at the time. (If
you haven't read TMB before, she's rather, ah, blunt, to say
the least.)

http://www.misanthropic-bitch.com/fuckthechildren.html

As for that long list of arrests in the UK (about 1000 names
on the list handed to Scotland Yard by the FBI) not one of
them is for _creating_ such material and therefore the
people actually harming the children and thus causing the
real damage are still out there perpetrating their vileness.

It's easier (and therefore cheaper) as well as good press
for police forces to arrest anybody who might catch a
glimpse of such things - even while investigating the
criminals themselves as TMB notes in the case of the US
journalist Larry Matthews:

"...the government's stance is that the mere glance at child
porn makes one susceptible to prosecution.

The government argues that merely viewing child porn, even
if it's not for prurient interests, is worthy of 18 months
in prison..."

Surely even those who legally view such material (while
preparing a case against those arrested for posession) are
therefore being immediately corrupted and should be
prosecuted as well?

While I do not in any way endorse or condone this sort of
all-too-human vileness we should be concentrating our
efforts on stamping out the _source_  and less concerned
with generating good press.

This whole area is a mess and needs serious re-working, in
thew meantime prosecuting a bunch of raincoats isn't going
to stop it happening.  There is also too much legal
stupidity.  Why is a person legally able to have sex at the
age of 16 and yet not be able to view self-same act on video
tape until the age of 18?

From the TMB again: "... the case of a 24-year-old man
convicted of a kiddie porn-related charge for taking
sexually explicit photos of his 17-year-old girlfriend. She
was old enough to consent to sex, but not old enough to
consent to having those sexual acts photographed."

Why are we deemed old enough to have sex and the massive
responsibilty of bearing a child when we cannot yet vote?
How is that sane?

Age of consent?  What is that?  A luxury for the wealthy,
white, west.  A friend of mine from Western Africa  was
married at 13 and had her first child just before her 15th
birthday.  Now living in the UK with her family she says "It
never did any harm to any of us, that's just life and how
people react to such things is based on the society's
viewpoint.  20 years ago, you British convicted gay people
and now you say it's normal."  (She believes it is still
totally immoral and it is still a serious crime in her home
country.)

It is now very common for children as young as 13 to begin
engaging in sex whith each other before they've even sat
their first exams!  A 14 year-old boy can have sex with a 15
year-old girl 1 day before her 16th birthday and that's
legal (well legally grey at least) yet if the same 15
year-old girl has sex with a 16 year-old boy, that's illegal?

There is also a serious need to address the role of the
media as well and those who market youth to the older and
sex to the younger.  A documentary here in the UK just last
night discussed how girls as young as eight want to wear
make-up and clothes my parents wouldn't have let me out of
the house in when I was 18 let alone eight!  Marketers  and
those who would ensnare our children as a new target market
for the sake of profit have to be brought into line as well.

Well, that's my 2pence worth anyway.




From: Scott
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Pete's a good guy

"It would be nice if the mainstream media set about
answering some of these questions instead of simply rolling
out another list of the rich and famous who have been
caught with this stuff."

Though isn't it interesting that the mainstream media
failed to report that Townsend told the police he was going
to pay for access before he accessed the porn site.

All in the name of a good story, and mud like this sticks...
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