Not done yet, apparently

[rivkat]

Thoughts inspired by cryptoxin's post, among others: No doubt where you stand on Recent LJ Events depends in part on where you sit. Here's where I sit: I don't consider myself a member of HP fandom, but my primary fandom for the last few years has been Smallville.

Here are some pictures of people the narrative told us were 15:

That's the poster advertising the show, plastered everywhere in public in mid-2001. Then there's the episode "Nicodemus":



So we're supposed to desire them -- bluntly, we're supposed to fantasize about fucking them -- but we're not supposted to say that. And we're not supposed to share our fantasies, because that would be sick. Contradictory and hypocritical are words you could use about mainstream depictions of adolescent sexuality -- which is not to accuse anyone in this debate, but to point out that the American social context is, at best, confusing. And to say that I'm basically with coffeeandink; one of the things I want from fandom as a community of women is the ability to say, "hey, that emperor [or in this case, kid] isn't wearing any clothes!"

NYU law professor Amy Adler wrote a very interesting piece, The Perverse Law of Child Pornography, available here, arguing that our cultural and legal discourses about child porn contribute to the further sexualization of children. I recommend it to those interested in the theoretical side of all this.

Comments

[thisficklemob.livejournal.com]

I never watched SV, and but wasn't the actor who played Clark twenty-five at the start of the show, or something? He was playing bait; he was actually my age or older. So I didn't feel bad about noticing he was sexy, and I thought nothing of a friend thinking he was sexy. (I used the same reasoning when I felt a little oogy over noticing early Buffy was hot; SMG was of age, about 20? when she played 16.)

I actually thought the casting of Welling (and showing his body that way) was a bit preposterous. I guess they could get away with saying he's an alien to explain how old he looked, but as you say, it was their choice to sexualize him as they did.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

Yes he was 25, and it was silly then, but silly in a way reflective of our sexual screwiness (so to speak): he had to be really hot to sell the show, but the plot required a 15-year-old, and it's hard to find a real 15-year-old with a body like that -- I'm willing to bet he didn't look like that at 15, if only because of lesser access to physical trainers.