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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13800
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The UK has a fantastic teenage Olympic hopeful for Diving. His name is Tom Daley, he's 13, and he is a refreshingly normal and ordinary 13 year old except for his amazing talent. http://tinyurl.com/2njoz9 has some simple coverage of him. He's a sportsman, shown "at work".
Last Saturday, he made "Cover" status in the UK Daily Telegraph colour supplement. There was a picture of him, again "at work", standing on the poolside. The picture shows an athletic, aesthetically appealing, muscular child in swimming trunks, looking serious. It shows him as precisely what he is - a kid who is darned good at his sport, and deserving of recognition as such. Go Tom! I hope you do extremely well in Beijing. It's a good picture and does you justice.
Inside, there is an article about some other UK Olympic hopefuls. Tom is the top story in it, and there is another picture of him to introduce the article. But this picture is "arty". The boy is sitting in trunks on the end of a diving board, so he is, arguably "at work", but the photographic treatment makes it a "come hither" picture, as does the pose when given that treatment. And that's what concerns me.
This lad is not a pin-up, nor a sex object. He's 13. But he is being made into a pin-up. And the only audience I can spot, precisely because his form is pre-pubertal, is the paedophile audience. I find that objectionable. I was considering scanning the pictures, but I feel that would perpetuate the problem, not address the concerns. http://tinyurl.com/2wp7tw has a small version of the picture that concerns me.
Is it just the hairs on the back of my neck that are crawling, or are yours, too?
[Updated on: Wed, 02 April 2008 14:35]
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Dear Timmy,
Well I suppose Tim in charlie and Tim is an encouragement to think that way. Really I think we worry far too much about are probably innocent photographs.
Can it really be wrong to show pictures of beautiful people? Surely there isn't a way of stopping people whose desires we disapprove of from feeling those desires. If the rest of society has to restrain itself from looking at good-looking people in a vain attempt to make it harder for those we disapprove of then I think we are all worse off.
The thing we want to stop is any impact on the vulnerable young from the inappropriate desires of the wicked old. And that's not quite right - I should say any inappropriate *actions*. And that requires constant vigilance and knowing who one can trust.
We used to go on holiday (5 or 6 years running) with friends and their two children. We had two girls and they had a boy and a girl. He was stunning. They are all in their forties now. A few years ago at a garden party when I was wearing an AIDS ribbon he asked me why and I told him I am gay and about working for the AIDS charity and Stonewall. He was amazed and surprised I'd never let on when we were on holiday. [He didn't pretend he wasn't aware of his beauty.] And I had to defend him against his parents treating him (I thought) over harshly.
It turned out that he is predominantly gay and that like me he *really* wanted children. Since that garden party he has found someone who accepts him as he is and has two small children. His parents, as mine did, have cats and one of his sons is allergic to cat dandruff so he can never visit them. I do think they are awful. One of my daughters was also allergic and so I could never visit my parents.
Love,
Anthony
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marc
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Needs to get a life! |
Registered: March 2003
Messages: 4729
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Actually,,,
I am concerned too....
But not about the newspsper or tabloid pictures...
Life is great for me... Most of the time... But then I meet people online... Very few are real friends... Many say they are but know nothing of what it means... Some say they are, but are so shallow...
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13800
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It is the choice of the pictures that I find interesting. I have similar feelings about "beauty pageants".
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Dear Timmy,
I had the misfortune to stay in a holiday inn in white plains when one of those beauty pageants for toddlers was on. It was quite nauseating. I agree with you about those.
Love,
Anthony
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saben
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On fire! |
Registered: May 2003
Messages: 1537
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You think there is no market for a topless 13 year-old boy other than paedophiles?
I can think of another market that jumps right out at me... And its a market that is FAR more likely to buy magazines based on who is on the front cover, too....
Guessed it yet? 13 year-old girls!
I hope the world isn't as sinister as you imagine, Timmy.
I'm hoping that you are missing the obvious answer and I am right.
Look at this tree. I cannot make it blossom when it suits me nor make it bear fruit before its time [...] No matter what you do, that seed will grow to be a peach tree. You may wish for an apple or an orange, but you will get a peach.
Master Oogway
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13800
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13 year old girls are not generally interested in pre-pubertal boys. Their sights are set higher - 15/16/17 y/o boys.
Girls under that age are generally more interested in ponies
But my point was that the front cover was fine. It is the more "come hither" picture that is less fine
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13800
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Children should remain children. Sexualising them in pictures or in person is wrong.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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You are right Timmy, he is just an aveage looking boy who has been able to use and develop his talent. The pic isnt as suggestive as you may think. The photographer could have been more revealing had he wanted to. I think he was just making an attempt to be artsy fartsy. A couple of years ago there was a Chinese diver who was 13 at the time and had a body that wouldnt quit and the photographers made sure they took every oportunity to be as suggestive as they could get away with. Lets just hope they are more tastful with this young man.
If you stand for Freedom, but you wont stand for war, then you dont stand for anything worth fighting for.
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13800
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The small pic as presented online is not, I agree, but in the magazine it was very much more charged. It was substantially larger.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Benji
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Likes it here |
Location: USA
Registered: August 2007
Messages: 297
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Nothing shocks me anymore, and all I can see is marketing, he is already in the news for being the "youngest Diver" for Britian right? So it would only be natural that they are going to exploit as much coverage $$$$$ as they can.
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of course Marc the choir angel chimes in with his morals
oh forsooth
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Sex sells. Period. He's thirteen, and if he's still a virgin (either with boys or girls, doesn't matter) by the time he's fourteen, I'll be amazed. He knows he's being posed in a sexually alluring way, don't doubt it. We're not as innocent as you older guys all were at our age. Not with the Internet and TV and ad's telling girls to dress like sluts and boys to let their ass cracks show.
I live in a rural area, surrounded with livestock and especially horses on farms. Pre-pubescent girls look at boys both pre- and post- pubescent like we are meat in a butcher shop and could care less about ponies. All boys, of any age.
[Updated on: Wed, 02 April 2008 20:14] |
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saben
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On fire! |
Registered: May 2003
Messages: 1537
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I was thinking the same thing.
Why was Daniel Radcliffe so popular at 12 in the first Harry Potter movie?
Children have been "sexualised" if you want to put it that way, personally I'd rather say "becoming more sexually active" because it is an active thing- not something forced on them they are just passive participants in.
Look at this tree. I cannot make it blossom when it suits me nor make it bear fruit before its time [...] No matter what you do, that seed will grow to be a peach tree. You may wish for an apple or an orange, but you will get a peach.
Master Oogway
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13800
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Radcliffe is an actor. His job is to sell himself because his presence sells movies. Even so, shots of Radcliffe showed him "at work"
Daley is not there to sell sport. He's a competitor, a sportsman. But he performs his sport as near naked as makes no difference. That notwithstanding, shots of Daley "at work" should be just that, not arty farty to make him look tarty. If folk want to drool over him as a diver at work, so be it, but don't turn a 13 year old kid into a near nude pin-up.
[Updated on: Thu, 03 April 2008 08:29]
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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I have the front cover of the ST magazine right by me. Tom Daley is a well put together lad, especially for the age of 13, but in no way do I find him at all sexy. To hear him speak he sounds a well adjusted boy (as does D Radcliffe whom I do find extremely sexy).
Meat on a butcher's slab? Maybe… and just as attractive unless you're into necrophilia. But then I'm not. I just find it deadly boring.
Hugs
N
I dream of boys with big bulges in their trousers,
Never of girls with big bulges in their blouses.
…and look forward to meeting you in Cóito.
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13800
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The front cover picture is pleasingly asexual. It shows a well muscled, juvenile bodied, sportsman. It is the internal picture I question.
It is not that I find him sexy in it. I simply find that the inside picture sexualises him, something wholly unnecessary
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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No Message Body
I dream of boys with big bulges in their trousers,
Never of girls with big bulges in their blouses.
…and look forward to meeting you in Cóito.
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] 
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