byronchild - logo

age of empowerment
we no longer are the active source of our own
experience or our own choices. Instead, we
succumb to the notion that life is a series of
product purchases that have been laid out and
whose qualities and parameters have been preestablished.
Douglas Rushkoff
Iconographic porn
By the age of eight, preteens
are watching MTV,
depicting fabrications
from music machine
companies in the form of
Britney Spears or Christina
Aguilara gyrating their hips
in school uniforms, coined
‘Lolita’ fashion, simulating sex
acts with muscle-bound hemen.
Overtly sexualised fashions
are marketed down to our young
girls cleverly preceded by toy products
such as Brat Dolls. Even if I don’t
have a TV at my house, my child’s
friends do. And chances are, there’s
little supervision over what the kids
are watching over there. In a world
where paedophilia is rife, why are our
daughters being encouraged to dress
in micro-minis, hotpants and high
heeled boots? What kind of a world
are we living in when a five-year-old
complains that she looks fat and hates
herself? It seems to be impossible to protect
our children’s innocence, and raises
questions as to what long-term effects
will come of this exposure to adult content.
Will they be able to have a healthy
and enjoyable sexual journey of discovery,
or will it be too much too early, or fraught
with insecurity and self-consciousness?
Once again it falls in the responsibility of parents. I’m outraged
that I have to educate my seven-year-old about sexuality
because she has been exposed beyond my control. Or that
I have to argue with her about wearing Lolita fashions ‘when
everyone else is doing it!’ Childhood should be protected and
it should be a political issue. Corporations marketing inappropriate
material to children should be held accountable!
byronchild 66
March 27, 2003
Boys Succumb to
Image Ideal
Popular culture has been identified
as the primary resource for young
people to learn about family life,
friendships, sexuality, health, alcohol
and other drugs, gender roles,
and many other parts of life —
what is attractive, what is cool,
what is fashionable.
TEENAGE boys are increasingly turning
to diets, food supplements and
heavy workouts as they strive to conform
to the slim and muscular body
images of popular culture and sport.
Deakin University psychology lecturer
Marita McCabe said the image of the ideal
muscular male — ‘six-pack’, cut abdominal
muscles, and the body beautiful — was the
result of the media and advertising.
‘Teenage boys try to change their body
image by dieting, taking food supplements
and exercise . . . There are adolescent boys
adopting extreme behaviours and it will
become more of a problem,’ she said,
Experts argue that the problems of body
image are compounded by the lack of recognition
among males of the media’s influence
over their perceptions of their bodies.
Dr McCabe said her studies had shown that
females were more able to recognise the
pressures over body image. (The Age)
The deepest peril of the
interface is that we may
lose touch with our inner
states; not to lose the acute
sensitivity to our bodies, the
simplest kinds of awareness
like kinaesthetic body movement,
organic discomfort, and
propriosensory activities like breathing, balance,
and shifting weight...this awareness constitutes the background
for the psychic life of the individual.
Michael Heim: The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality
A woman (or man) cannot make the culture more aware by saying
‘Change’. But she can change her own attitude to herself, thereby
causing devaluing projections to glance off. She does this by taking
back her body (and mind). By not forsaking the joy of her natural
body, by not purchasing the popular illusion that happiness is only
bestowed on those of a certain configuration or age, by not waiting
or holding back to do anything, and by taking back her real life, and
living it full bore, all stops out. This dynamic self-acceptance and
self-esteem are what begins to change attitudes in culture.
Clarrisa Pinkola Estes: Woman Who Run with the Wolves.
Notes
Pesce, Mark D. (1993): Final Amputation: Pathogenic Ontology
in Cyberspace