Ending innocence

Australian photographer Bill Henson's exhibit in Sydney was recently shut down and raided amid charges of child porn. Henson photographed children as young as 12 in the nude.














(image from "Pretty Baby," directed by Louis Malle, courtesy of www.road-dog-productions.com)

Mankind (and emphasis on "man") has always been fascinated with young girls. I have a feeling it has to do with their innocence, their freshness, with possibility. It's no good to deny these sexual feelings toward pre-pubescent children, because they're there. Just witness the recent polygamy scandal.

However ... to acknowledge a fascination is not to legitimize it. It is at precisely this crossroads that childhood and adulthood diverge.

At some point humankind decided to elevate itself above its base urges. At some point it recognized that some urges are counterproductive, and must be disciplined and redirected. The desire for sex with children is a textbook case. (Along with murdering someone because they piss you off.)

I abhor limits on art. To censor creativity is to consign yourself to oblivion. But in this case, I think it's crossed the evolutionary line. I think the onus is on artists to find safer ways to explore this kind of sexuality than to exploit children.

Children's development -- especially the important transition into adulthood that pre-pubescence represents -- is very fragile. Children are simply not ready to integrate the mature sexual feelings that being photographed nude asks of them. Adults, on the other hand, know what they're doing. And to use these children to gratify their urges -- whether sexual or artistic -- at the cost of traumatizing children's personality development -- is willful to say the least, and obscene to say the worst.

I'm afraid I'm on the side of law and order -- more specifically, human decency -- on this one.

(hat tip: Andrew Bolt)