"Pedophiles New Playground: How Primetime Television and Movies Are Supporting Pedophilia," by Caitlin Walters, Regent Law Juris Doctor Candidate 2011, is an excellent analysis of popular entertainment as excellent fodder for child abuse by pedophiles. After detailing some notable scenes in recent film and television, she writes,
"Primetime television and movies are making it so that pedophiles no longer have to purchase illegal pornography to fulfill their perverted desires. Pedophiles can simply turn on the television or go to the movies and see depictions of minors acting sexually or having a relationship with someone over the age of 18. These depictions could lead a pedophile to believe that it is acceptable to view children as sexual objects and acceptable for children to engage in sexual acts. Even more dangerous than a pedophile believing that children are sexual objects and that it is acceptable for adults to engage in sexual relationships with minors is that minors may start to believe that these are acceptable behaviors. It may be easy for the average viewer to only view a television show or movie that paints a minor as a sexual being for the entertainment value. However, the public needs to realize that pedophiles and minors do not have this same ability.
Society needs to decide whether the potential of high ratings and entertainment value provided by these shows is worth encouraging or supporting pedophiles and confusing and victimizing children. Section I of this paper will discuss how the media is giving pedophiles materials that they can watch privately to fulfill their desires, replacing illegal child pornography. Child pornography is a form of child abuse that presents unique dangers to the victims. This section will discuss part of the history of American court's treatment of child pornography. It will demonstrate how the line between prime time television and pornography is becoming increasingly blurry. It is disturbing to think that the types of images that a pedophile uses to satisfy their perverted desires are the same images that are shown during the largest watched time slot on television. Section II of this paper will discuss how pedophiles use child pornography to victimize children, and how different television shows and movies are making it possible for pedophiles to move away from using illegal child pornography. Pedophiles use child pornography to desensitize children to sexual acts and to give the child something to mimic. This section will discuss how the provocative scenes in movies like Little Miss Sunshine and network television shows like Glee can be used by pedophiles to seduce children. Section III of this paper will briefly question whether the increasing number of television shows and movies that sexualize children has the possibility of resulting in a greater acceptance of this type of behavior.
The media has historically desensitized society to many controversial topics. Multiple groups are fighting for recognition and support for relationships between minors and adults. Physical relationships between adults and minors are present in different shows and movies, including shows that are on "family friendly" stations like ABC Family. Research has shown that media plays an important role in adolescent sexual socialization. This role may lead to a greater acceptance of minors acting sexually, and an eventual desensitization and acceptance of sexual relationships between adults and minors."
Read the entire article
here.
I am sure a lot of people are unaware of the access some of these shows give to pedophiles. If you do not have that distorted mentality, you are likely going to see this as "no big deal." Even I didn't realize the potential for movies such as "Little Miss Sunshine" to provide pedophiles with a legal way to objectify children, but, like most other things, I feel keeping our kids from these things is the resonsibility of the parent. We live in a secular world and things are only going to get worse. It is up to families to take personal responsibility to keep their children from viewing this material and doing all we can do legally to try to keep certain things from being put on the air. What is truly sad are the children who have parents who don't care or don't have the time to tell their children these are not the things to do (have premarital sex, etc.) They are the ones that usually slip through the cracks and are the easiest prey for pedophiles.
ReplyDeleteThis is shocking. It certainly did not occur to me that mainstream media was objectifying children in such a manner that attracted pedophiles. However, in light of this article I can see the merits of that argument. I do think that the objectification of "children" has been hidden behind the mask of Hollywood's desire to seek the next "young & beautiful" star. It is apparent that actors/actresses landing the main roles in movies or tv shows are getting younger and younger. Consider the stars of shows like I love Lucy to Taxi to Fresh Prince of Bel Aire and now Hannah Montana. Perhaps it is superficial and simplistic to believe that these trends are only a result from the youth-is-beautiful perspective. It is wise to take a moment to observe the more severe effects of this trend. However, this is a difficult battle to address. After all, how would you regulate or prevent phedophiles perverting images of children in the media? Some actors that play teens are actually well over the age of 18. While others are under the age of 18 but appear much older. Moreover, for the rest of society, no one sees these shows/movies as a problem since it's subtle. Considering these variables it is difficult to come up with a briteline standard to help battle the emerging issue of mainstream media feeding pedophilia. Nonetheless, recognition and promoting awareness, as this article does, are steps in the right direction.
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