This may be an unusual topic to start my blog thingy off with, but it was something I read today for the first time. Today being whatever day I wrote this on, since I am presently preparing this little experiment for publication. I don’t know if you are familiar with any of the things mentioned in this article: Why Defend Freedom of Icky Speech. But Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite authors, so when I stumbled onto a link to his journal, I was eager to see what the fuss what about. Some of Gaiman’s work made me think, and some of it made me laugh, but most of it touched me in a way that I think only other authors and creators could understand. If the extent of your knowledge about Gaiman comes from the recent movie Coraline, I suggest you visit a library and see if you can find the book the movie was based on. I also recommend the Sandman series; it is art and philosophy in book form. With a touch of psychology, which happens to be one of my favorite subjects.
Anyway, in this particular piece of journalistic musing, Gaiman takes on freedom of speech and how it affects things like pornography and things of questionable artistic merit. This is a subject close to home since I spend a lot of time on the First Amendment fence. On one hand, as an author and former journalist, I believe that Freedom of Speech is our most important freedom. On the other hand, I think things like lolicon and incest are vile and should be stricken from our literary memory. However, I am always open to other perspectives and willing to alter my own if someone comes up with something logical and practical for me to consider. Mr. Gaiman has done so.
Mr. Gaiman makes the quiet yet assertive argument that indefensible and repulsive things MUST be defended under the First Amendment; otherwise, it will be impossible to defend those things which SHOULD be protected. It’s true, our justice system is a blunt instrument with no precision and no discernment. It doesn’t care if it is mowing down the Harry Potters with the Lady Chatterly’s. I still cannot bring myself to call lolicon good, but I think I will have to agree with Mr. Gaiman about why it should be defended. I suppose it’s ironic that this lesson should come to me from a man born in the UK, and not the US. And for the record, I have no problem with porn of any kind that involves consenting adults, no matter how explicit it is. That’s both freedom of expression and freedom of choice at work, there.
I have always been among the first to defend Michaelangelo’s David as art, as well as other studies of the naked human form. Perhaps, this category of artistic merit should include the naked child form, as well. I’m not the one to make that assertion. I suppose there’s a sort of raw energy in the idea, like looking at growth and creation in action. Such a metaphor has been expressed in many other ways, and I certainly think that artists should be allowed to experiment. I also think that children shouldn’t be taught to be ashamed of their own bodies, which is something that seems to be running rampant in society these days. So perhaps, art is the way to show the beauty of the naked child form.
Unfortunately, from what I’ve seen, many people, artists included, cannot differentiate for themselves the difference between beauty and sexualization. That is my “beef” with lolicon and similar forms of art. Certainly, the natural sexuality of children should be explored, BY CHILDREN. Not by adults whose goals and interests are questionable. It’s a difficult line to walk. If all adults could be trusted to be kind, gentle, compassionate, and honestly informative, we could allow free-form expression and exploration of all kinds for both adults and children. But let’s face it, human adults are selfish. They care only about their own feelings and desires. Even the urge to protect one’s own children is a natural instinct given to us by Mother Nature to preserve the gene pool. Maybe someday we’ll get there.
In the meantime, I will err on the side of Free Speech. After all, like Mr. Gaiman says, if we don’t defend the stuff we don’t agree with, there’ll be no help for us when the stuff we want to defend comes under attack. I’ve always said that the ultimate question of whether something can or should be done is whether or not it harms someone. Drawings don’t harm anyone, assuming there are no live models being forced to pose against their will. I know there are plenty of arguments about how rape, incest, and child pornography drawings can influence people’s minds, and I won’t disagree (I’ve made many of them myself). Like I said, psychology is a favorite subject. But people have to learn to have strong minds of their own. If every little naughty or violent piece of artwork makes you want to do what you see, you have problems that go beyond the reach of censorship. And if you’re spending a lot of time looking at these things and thinking about copying them, I suggest you get help. Certainly, anyone with a great deal of influence on a group of people should consider consequences and be careful about the sort of message they send to the people. But forcing them to color within the lines, so to speak, will only make people curious about what’s being hidden. The dichotomy between American desires and the American habit of hiding them has already created a confused culture of “this is bad, but it’s fun.” Perhaps, if sex and related subjects were discussed in an open, educational manner and a nurturing environment, clashes over what is and isn’t pornography would no longer be an issue. Fear comes from the unknown. We fear what MIGHT be bad, without considering whether it actually is. That’s how book burnings got started.
And I don’t know about you, but I like my Harry Potters right where they are. If keeping them there requires standing behind the lolicon artists in solidarity, then I’ll be there. At least until our justice system can be fine-tuned a bit. I suppose that’ll take a few millenia. For now, if you don’t like something, speak against it. But don’t try to bend or goad the law into shutting it down. Today it’s Marquis de Sade, tomorrow it’s Twilight. It really is a fine line, and we’re walking it with galoshes on, swinging a great, big club.
Purple's Stuff 