Reply #110: You are putting words in my mouth, and I rather wish you'd stop [View All]

[fishwax]

I never said this wasn't a big deal to teach a 7-yr-old. But just because a 7-yr-old sees it, doesn't mean he is "taught" it. I said that it is not a foregone conclusion that all parents would be upset by this kind of thing, which is pretty true. The parental model I most respect and that I have seen be most effective is the one whereby parents *explain* these things, as you apparently do. Congratulations, it sounds like you take that responsibility seriously, and that is worthy of respect.

The parental model that consistently fails is the one whereby parents don't want their kids to know anything, and when anything potentially offensive comes up they don't want to talk about it, just change the channel and pretend it doesn't exist, so the kid can get all his information online or on the playground.

As far as the Coors commercial, I agree that it is degrading to women. And further, I thought that the mimed sexual violence of the super bowl show was offensive, but the nipple was no big deal. The mnf spot shows a sexual aggression by a female (itself extremely offensive concept to fundies, who don't think women should have ANY control over their sexuality), but doesn't show a woman as a victim. It seems to me that subtle (and not so subtle) violences against women are prevalent in popular culture. The proper response, in my opinion, is not to say "kids shouldn't see that!" but rather to say "violence against women should not be acceptable, and the public should be educated to reject images and themes which subtly perpetuate these offensives." Then, maybe if a man aggressively rips the shirt off of a woman, the public will be mad at the man for violating the woman, rather than mad at the woman for having her nipple exposed.

And finally ... "if it is wrong for my kids, it is wrong for the neighbor kids" ... does your neighbor get a say in that, or is that your final decision? Shall we all bow to our neighbor's will in raising our children? If your neighbor doesn't allow his children to watch movies that don't promote a Biblical worldview (I have known plenty of parents that are that way), will you assent to his standards and impose the same on your children? I'm not asking these questions to be sarcastic ... they are at the very heart of the larger question.