Response to the post in Wonderland's "Strange News Thread"
Starra: http://www.somebodythinkofthechildren.com/australia-bans-small-breasts/
Jason: Wow, that sends such a horrible message to women. So many impressionable young women all over the world's sense of worth and attractiveness is already falsely tied into the size of their chests. This is the absolute last thing they need. That is epic, epic fail.
Seriously, what the hell is going on down in that part of the world? Did someone dump a big box of crazy juice in the water or something?
Research indicates that Australia is DEAD SERIOUS about their anti-child pornography proceedings. We're talking to the point where the government is starting to look Orwellian with things like monitoring individuals' web activities and blocking information on the internet (remind anyone of China?). Out of the entire "free world", Australia is the one country that seems to impose censorship on a level seemingly matching communist countries in the 60s. I'm not denying that the country's intentions are good. I'd like to see the net cleansed of CP as much as anyone else would. But what Australia's doing here affects a lot more than just some sickos. As you mentioned, I highly agree with you on the point of the message this sends to women, that if you have anything less than a C-cup, you're downright illegal to look at. This is only going to reinforce that deflation of self-worth, and we can't know what will happen to Australian culture as a result.
Another thing is that, outside of bra sizes, there isn't really a "standard" as to what's too big or too small on a woman. And breast sizes and age don't always correlate as nicely as they should. I know a few friends of friends who are barely 16 who have breasts liable to give them back problems in their old age, and some friends who are close to my age who are too small for an A-cup. Something like this law doesn't really set a precedent for anything, because a lot of the teenagers you see on TV in sitcoms and other series happen to be pretty well-endowed anyways, despite the fact they're below the age of consent in 99% of the world. Banning depictions of smaller breasts isn't going to change much as far as depictions sexualizing children in the media are concerned. A lot of young girls in the media are already very well-endowed, so what's banning small breasts going to do for that situation? Nothing.
If they have to ban anything as far as depictions of breasts in the media are concerned, I think they should be going the other way around and banning depictions of people under the age of 16 with D-cups. Even though that's still wrong, at least it would do more as far as protecting children goes, since it would prevent people under the legal age of consent from being sexualized by the media.
Jason: Wow, that sends such a horrible message to women. So many impressionable young women all over the world's sense of worth and attractiveness is already falsely tied into the size of their chests. This is the absolute last thing they need. That is epic, epic fail.
Seriously, what the hell is going on down in that part of the world? Did someone dump a big box of crazy juice in the water or something?
Research indicates that Australia is DEAD SERIOUS about their anti-child pornography proceedings. We're talking to the point where the government is starting to look Orwellian with things like monitoring individuals' web activities and blocking information on the internet (remind anyone of China?). Out of the entire "free world", Australia is the one country that seems to impose censorship on a level seemingly matching communist countries in the 60s. I'm not denying that the country's intentions are good. I'd like to see the net cleansed of CP as much as anyone else would. But what Australia's doing here affects a lot more than just some sickos. As you mentioned, I highly agree with you on the point of the message this sends to women, that if you have anything less than a C-cup, you're downright illegal to look at. This is only going to reinforce that deflation of self-worth, and we can't know what will happen to Australian culture as a result.
Another thing is that, outside of bra sizes, there isn't really a "standard" as to what's too big or too small on a woman. And breast sizes and age don't always correlate as nicely as they should. I know a few friends of friends who are barely 16 who have breasts liable to give them back problems in their old age, and some friends who are close to my age who are too small for an A-cup. Something like this law doesn't really set a precedent for anything, because a lot of the teenagers you see on TV in sitcoms and other series happen to be pretty well-endowed anyways, despite the fact they're below the age of consent in 99% of the world. Banning depictions of smaller breasts isn't going to change much as far as depictions sexualizing children in the media are concerned. A lot of young girls in the media are already very well-endowed, so what's banning small breasts going to do for that situation? Nothing.
If they have to ban anything as far as depictions of breasts in the media are concerned, I think they should be going the other way around and banning depictions of people under the age of 16 with D-cups. Even though that's still wrong, at least it would do more as far as protecting children goes, since it would prevent people under the legal age of consent from being sexualized by the media.