It is hard to know where to start when commenting on something as whoreifying as this article by Deborah Swaney. In keeping with the observations in Paul Cella's latest post here, as well as his excellent piece on Christendom Review, we note that modern man seems perfectly capable of observing what is going on around him, yet utterly incapable of processing it and knowing what to do about it. I propose that this incapacity is rooted in his view of himself as a member of a group of free and equal modern supermen, self-created through reason and will, emancipated from history and nature. Indeed our beloved Supreme Court has told us that this kind of nihilistic emancipation is the heart of liberty.
It is no surprise, then, that modern man is perfectly capable of seeing the disaster before his eyes but remains castrated and impotent in its face; castrated by his own conception of himself as a god.
Swaney observes, just as an example:
The media onslaught extends to cyberspace as well, with an explosion of kids' interactive Web sites tied to TV shows like iCarly and Hannah Montana. "They push girls to further identify with these older, more mature girls," says Levin. And that's just the nice sites: One called "Miss Bimbo" gives girls a nearly naked doll to look after and urges them to score points redeemable for plastic surgery and skimpy clothes.But what prescription emerges? The world view which informs it is in the headline of the article itself: "Girls Growing Up Too Fast". Apparently once they are a little bit older it becomes perfectly healthy for young women to, at least as a game, whore an imaginary naked woman for points redeemable for plastic surgery and skimpy clothes.
And make no mistake about the prescription. We are told to
Forget about overreacting. Sending your daughter to school in overalls, clutching your old prairie-skirted Holly Hobbie doll is like putting a giant "L" on her forehead and a "kick me" sign on her back. The idea is to help her live in the real world while preserving her innocence and honoring your family's morals.Notice that it is "your family's morals", not public standards of morality. No amount of observed and acknowledged whorification of girls just out of diapers will be permitted to infringe upon the "freedom" of adults to be whores.
Comments (8)
What a weird article. On the one hand, it seems to be acknowledging that parents are in charge and telling them to watch what their girls read, watch, and wear. On the other hand, it implies helplessness. God forbid you should just say "no" about a bare-midriff top. No, you must go out and spend your hard-earned money for the immodest shirt and then try to draw the line by telling her to "wear it only at home." Otherwise, your seven-year-old (!!!) might just rebel. (And do what, exactly?) Home schooling or other "rad" options are never considered. The heavy influence of school peers is taken as a given, with the biggest "out of the box" suggestion being to pile extra activities on top of their school schedule so they can expand their peer group and ideas of self-worth into, e.g., sports. Basically, parents are responsible, only they're mostly helpless. Ha, ha.
But honestly, this pretty much is the attitude I encounter among the parents of school-age girls, at least those who have them in public school. "What's a poor mother to do?" is more or less the attitude. Make a few gestures of authority and hope (probably vainly) to retain the child's innocence.
Posted by Lydia | December 29, 2008 3:29 PM
One of the most fabulous things about Catholic schools is the uniforms; though nowadays even some of those are shockingly immodest. I toured a Catholic high school not long ago where the girls' skirts were well above the knee. Our tour guides, a couple of the young girls who attended the school, led us up the stairs, the group of adults on the tour following behind. We were unwittingly presented with all the details of the brands and colors of their underwear. This was in the mandatory school uniform, mind you.
Posted by Zippy | December 29, 2008 4:35 PM
Dawn Eden was viciously mocked when she gave her chastity presentation at one Canadian Catholic high school. I have mercifully forgotten the name.
So there are problems there. Catholic parents themselves will have to think twice, and all the more so if the mandatory uniforms are immodest. The little I know about school uniforms (from shopping on-line and such) has usually indicated that there are various options--e.g., that the girls might have been allowed to wear uniform slacks instead of the immodest skirts _if_ they and their parents had been determined to do something different. But who knows. The parents should certainly make it clear that they aren't going to put super-short skirts on the girls, even if this means they have to find another school.
Posted by Lydia | December 29, 2008 5:24 PM
As someone who went to Catholic school grades 1-12, my anecdotal experience is - don't be so quick to assume their education will reinforce or stress proper standards of behavior or morality, much less the traditional Catholic version of such. The stories I can tell about that experience are deplorable, if educational in their own way.
I cannot help but think, when it's within the reach of a couple, that the best course of action is to homeschool children, join up with a home-schooling organization and other such groups (boy scouts, etc) for socialization, and educating them in exactly what the world is like and why the parents accept or reject what they do.
Posted by Joseph A. | December 29, 2008 7:17 PM
My kids go to Catholic school and, so far, so good. My daughter is sometimes teased for her PBS only viewing habits and she said that someone at school called her fat (she's rail-thin)but this stuff doesn't really bother her, she has, through our parenting, learned how to handle it. One huge way to protect your kids is to ditch the cable tv. I couldn't really see the Super Bowl two years ago, but that is a small price to pay. Another is to only have 1 TV and 1 computer in the house. These solutions are also a lot cheaper than Catholic school!
Posted by NasicaCato | December 29, 2008 7:58 PM
And yet society refuses to acknowledge that this behavior baits men and women who have struggles with their own sexual desires. There is a pattern here, I think:
1) Everyone is free to do as they please.
2) If your neighbor's behavior causes you serious moral issues, it is your absolute personal responsibility, not your neighbor's in any way, shape or form, to modify your lifestyle accordingly.
3) Generally speaking, you're not held accountable for most of your actions unless someone really wants to hold you accountable. A perfect example of this is how a 40 year old woman can get less than a year of probation for having sex with a 13 year old boy, and how similar crimes committed by women invariably get virtually no punishment.
No one expects people to behave with any consideration for the struggles of their neighbor.
Posted by Mike T | December 30, 2008 1:14 PM
Social autism reigns in our economic, cultural, public and personal spheres. Far too many Christians missed the meaning of I am not my brother's keeper and chose an interpretation that comported with our innate selfishness.
Posted by Kevin | December 30, 2008 2:06 PM
Careful now, Zip, somebody is bound to call you a prude.
Posted by LTL II | December 31, 2008 11:07 AM