This article cracked me up until I read it, and grew disgusted at the idiotic and misleading moralizing contained within. It's being billed as a UK store selling a pole dancing kit to children, but when you read the article it's clearly no such thing. It's a pole dancing kit, but it's not for children, who wouldn't really have any idea what it was anyway. (Unless they'd been watching recent Budweiser commercials on US TV, that is.) A quote.
The £49.97 kit comprises a chrome pole extendible to 8ft 6ins, a 'sexy dance garter' and a DVD demonstrating suggestive dance moves.
The kit, condemned as 'extremely dangerous' by family campaigners yesterday, was discovered by mother of two Karen Gallimore who was searching for Christmas gifts for her two daughters, Laura 10, and Sarah, 11. Mrs Gallimore, 33, of Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, said yesterday: "I'm no prude, but any children can go on there and see it. It's just not on."
Dr Adrian Rogers, of family campaigning group Family Focus said yesterday that the kit would "destroy children's lives". He said: "Tesco is Britain's number one chain, this is extremely dangerous. It is an open invitation to turn the youngest children on to sexual behaviour.
Dr. Rogers there can't seriously think that a nudity-free ad for a pole dance kit on a major store's website ranks in the top billion most corrupting things on the Internet, can he? Of course not; he knows how stupid this is, but this is how the religious right works to control morality and make sex seem dirty; they trot out the hoary, "Think of the children!" argument, like a scoundrel wrapping himself in the flag.
So seriously, should major department stores not sell anything that adults will like that's not appropriate for children? Perhaps we should ban lingerie, since some four year old might see lace panties and lose her innocence. Right there, beside Mum, in the Intimate Apparel section! The article mentions the damning fact that Tesco also sells a strip poker kit. For adults. The horror! (Incidentally, who the hell needs a kit to play strip poker? Are the rules too complicated or what?)
I don't know whether to be depressed or relieved that the UK has moralistic prudes as stupid as those in the US. It's nice not to be a citizen of the dumbest country in the world for a change, but then again, I like to think that other Western Nations have shed most of their religious prudery and are beyond overreacting to this sort of nonsense. Guess not.
In related news, I saw a link to this page of photos
from 1958 Playboy magazine and thought they were interesting, in a time capsule sort of way. They are NSFW, but just barely, and are interesting mostly to compare to what passes for softcore porn these days. Here's this month's (October? November?)
Playboy cyber girl, for the sake of comparison.
I don't find the 1958 models very attractive, but I don't much care for modern Playboy photos either, with their airbrushing, soft focus, and endless parades of vapid busty blondes. I do like that the 1958 women aren't all airbrushed, but their heavy, doll-style make up is pretty hideous. And I thought pretty girls ruining their looks by spackling on linebacker-thick raccoon eyes was a modern phonomena...
Labels: barbie, moralizing, playboy
