Tuesday, January 25, 2005

The U.S.A.

Today I have been at work for about 4 and a half hours, and I have done absolutely nothing, save playing a word game at yahoo and reading a considerable amount of the New York Times, which I will talk about now.
First of all, I found this article about Hillary Clinton and abortion to be quite interesting. Though I have previously thought her rather doofy, she is really beginning to win me over. I think I could be really excited to cast a ballot for Ms Rodham Clinton should the time come. I was really pleased to see that even though she aimed to be conciliatory to the anti-abortion loonies, she pushed the morning after pill as an essential option.
More troublingly, this article on child molesters raises, I think, some really important and disturbing issues and reminds me why I am glad to be a girl. While sure, women molest children, fantasizing about adolescents is generally not a part of female culture. On the other hand, the ubiquitous Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's 18th birthday saw them half-naked on the covers of dozens of magazines. Thus, I suppose it isn't surprising that 21% of university males report some sexual attraction to small children and it's considered normal for men to exhibit a slightly greater sexual response to adolescents between 14-17 than to women 22+. Of course, why wouldn't they, we are so saturated with images of women that have the same body as 12 year old girls. And slightly less body hair.
So, while child molesting is absolutely appalling, it's no wonder that men place their sexual desires onto children. I'd be really curious to know about this trend through time. Is the media's infatuation with younger, thinner, and more hairless to blame? From an evolutionary standpoint, it makes little sense to lust after a 13 year old.
In any case, I will take this opportunity to acknowledge that Gabriella (Eva Longoria, who is cool) is doing it to a guy who is alledgedly 17 in Desperate Housewives, which I have recently begun watching. However, in the grand tradition of TV teenagers (particularly male ones at that-- Luke Perry anyone?) you'd have to be insane to actually believe he is 17 (he's 26 in real life).
In conclusion, the world is pretty sick.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"So, while child molesting is absolutely appalling, it's no wonder that men place their sexual desires onto children. "

Actually, all the evidence demonstrates that men who were sexually abused when children are more likely to become sexually abusive when adults. You may want to read up on the subject.