[Frederica-l] First Things blog: NYT and children

[Frederica at aol.com]

There was an eye-opening article in the New Yorker yesterday, about the 
internet and exploitation of children. I am participating in a blog for "First 
Things" this month, and submitted the following post to it this morning. 

http://www.firstthings.com/

I'm continuing to spend most of my writing time on a book tentatively titled 
"The 'Lost' Gospel of Mary", about an early "gospel" recounting the life of 
the Virgin Mary from conception through the birth of Christ. There seems to be a 
lot of interest in her lately, with the major movie "The Nativity" opening on 
Dec 1. I screened and reviewed two movies -- Michel Gondry's "Science of 
Sleep" and "Hollywoodland," about the death of George Reeves. But the films don't 
open till Sept, and I can't send out the reviews till them. Hope you all are 
enjoying a comfortable end to the summer. 

***

Buried in the course of Sunday's New York Times front page story about 
pedophilia and the internet [ 
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/business/20model.html?_r=1&oref=slogin ] there was an unexpected kernel of good news. There are "a 
shrinking number of internet locations for sexual images of minors." A 
pedophile who goes by the screen name Heartfallen complained to a discussion list 
that the sources for graphic child porn are disappearing: "They've vanished. 
There is much less freedom on the internet now." 
 
The substitute, as Kurt Eichenwald's excellent story shows, is sites that 
present photos of *clothed* children -- though the clothing may be minimal. The 
assumption is that this step backward protects users and suppliers from laws 
against child porn, but a 1994 case, United States v. Knox, established that a 
scrap of fabric is not enough.Though one clothing-required site proclaims that 
it is "100% legal,"  the Knox decision notes that it's not up to the purveyor 
to decide whether or not his product is legal. "If a pedophile's personal 
opinion about the legality of sexually explicit videos was transformed into 
applicable law," the laws would be meaningless. 
 
The good news is that laws against child porn have some bite. The internet 
has appeared to be a Wild West where nobody is in charge and no justice is 
possible, but it seems that in some cases markets do respond to legal pressure. 
 
The bad news, as seen in today's followup article, [ 
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/21/technology/21pedo.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5094&en=79822c4e3a3e6773&hp&ex
=1156219200&adxnnl=0&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1156172487-Haag/d1bpWUux9l2ztotP
g ] is that discussion lists have enabled pedophiles around the world to 
connect with each other to share seduction tips, tell personal stories (real or 
imagined), and commiserate. Worse is that this context is encouraging indulgence 
in that most fundamental of American fantasies: the notion that one is a 
rebel. Our nation was founded in revolution, and advertising since the early 60's 
has brilliantly fostered consumption of mass-produced items as proof of 
resistance to mass culture. So it's no wonder that pedophiles fancy themselves brave 
rebels, fighting for the freedom of children to choose to have sex with 
adults. 
 
A number of years ago I was assigned a book chapter on Origen, the early 
Christian writer (eloquently devout, but with a some quirky semi-gnostic ideas; 
he's not St. Origen). A brilliant young man, he was assigned leadership of the 
Christian school of Alexandria while still in his teens. Foreseeing the 
likelihood that he would be teaching attractive young women, and reading "If your eye 
offend you, pluck it out" literally, he took drastic action. He regretted it 
immediately, and in a late commentary of Matthew warned against such foolish 
actions. 
 
In researching this I ran across some surprising materials -- imagine what 
happens when you type "voluntary castration" into a search engine. One thread 
that emerged, however, was the numbers of pedophiles who had followed Origen's 
example, believing it to be the only way possible to end their compulsive vice. 
One man wrote that he knew that nothing he did could ever make it up to his 
victims, but he hoped that by undergoing castration he could at least 
demonstrate the sincerity of his sorrow. An attitude of horror, despair, and 
self-hatred was common among these pedophiles. They knew something was seriously wrong. 
 
Individuals who are surrounded by a culture that views a behavior as vile are 
regularly prodded to find their way to repentance. But individuals who 
submerge into a network of similarly-minded fellows, and who come to fancy 
themselves rebels and liberators and victims of oppression, are much harder to rescue. 
It's good that there is less explicit child porn on the internet, but it 
sounds like there is more dangerous self-justification. 
 
 
********
Frederica Mathewes-Green
www.frederica.com
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