Monday, August 20, 2007

We must protect the children


A man rang into Lifeline today to complain about the above image. It's from a Ryanair ad in today's paper.

He said that he was "quite disgusted." He said we must "protect not only our children but the way we view them." He described the image as "exploitative" and added that "you and I both know that there are sick people out there and that's what worries me."

--

What do you think folks? He's right of course. This is exploitative; just as Britney's video was. I have to say, the image doesn't disgust me; in fact, my first, unfortunate reaction was, wow, she's a hottie. But then, maybe I'm one of the sickos out there.

That's the problem I have with this guy. It's the whole won't-someone-think-of-the children attitude. I don't know if that picture is a danger to our kids. I'm not saying it isn't but I doubt it's a very big one. And I do know there are bigger problems. Obesity is a problem, right? The crap kids get fed at home. The lack of exercise because they're not allowed out anymore for fear of the 'sick people'.

So how come we never have anyone ringing Joe Duffy saying, "Joe, I was passing McDonald's and I looked in and there was a bunch of kids in there with their parents, all eating junk...."?

2 comments:

Jim said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jim said...

I often wonder about these guys who get all upset when they see schoolgirls dressed in this manner, and they start shouting "protect the children!" Is it because they're uncomfortable and ashamed of their own reaction? Is it because they are upset with themselves because they find the girl sexy?
There are no hard and fast rules in biology. Most men find women attractive. At what age does a girl become attractive? Anyone who can look at a girl dressed in such a manner and not think, wow, she's hot, is simply not attracted to women.
Isn't it alright to find a young girl beautiful as long as you know it's sort of look, but don't touch.
And as for those who do abuse the young, since when has it anything to do with the way the young girl dresses? Do these people think dressing girls in long skirts and baggy jumpers will somehow thwart the "sick people"?
Look at the way Japanese schoolgirls dress. And there's no outcry there. And in Holland, teenage girls walk naked about public swimming pools, and Holland doesn't have higher incidents of child abuse.
(I decided not to link to an example of the Dutch girls.)