The moral panic about the sexualization of children was started by the Daily Mail and supported by the Conservative/Lib Dem government. The Mail declared the kids are being sexualized by pop music videos and clothing and that we need bans on raunchy music videos and that female pop stars like Rihanna are corrupting innocent young minds and turning young girls into sex crazed little sluts who dress like porn stars.
A lot of liberals and progressives spoke out against this uproar about sexual imagery corrupting children and many rightly made fun of the Mail decrying the poisoning influence of sexy pop stars on youngsters whilst at the same time plastering their website with pictures of the same sexy female pop stars in various raunchy poses.
After the 2010 X Factor controversy the Daily Mail was ridiculed for outrage over sexy pop stars on prime time TV while putting up pictures of the pop stars on the show gyrating away for all to see. The Mail and the moralists were made to look like idiots and hypocrites as well as prudes.
In the past right-wing moral panics about popular culture corrupting youth and destroying society’s morals was pushed back against by progressives and liberals. Mary Whitehouse’s moral crusade against “filth” was fought against by those on the Left and progressives spoke out against censorship of sexual imagery and consensual adult entertainment.
Conservative outrage about female pop stars dancing around with little clothes on mostly got mocked in the liberal media and moral panics about sexy music videos was dismissed as prudishness from uptight people who have a problem with scantily clad women.
But now there are progressives and people considering themselves to be liberals who are actually supporting and perpetuating this moral panic and working with conservatives to peddle this rubbish that children are being corrupted by sexy music videos and that female pop stars baring their flesh is a bad thing.
The ConDem Coalition’s drive against the sexualization of children and raunchy pop music videos has won support and promotion group “feminist” campaign groups and the liberal media. The Guardian gives a platform to groups like Rewind&Reframe to decry sexy pop stars gyrating around in videos and calls on regulation to censor such videos.
The language of the Daily Mail has been adopted by feminists, progressives and liberals with calls for age ratings on videos and for female pop stars to be forced to cover up. The slut shaming judgmental moral outrage about the likes of Rihanna shaking her booty on stage or on Television from right-wing Mail hacks has been taken on by “liberal” commentators in The Guardian but dressed up as concern for Rihanna and other pop stars being exploited and “objectified”.
What these liberals are saying is the same thing as right-wing hacks, that female pop stars dancing sexily wearing little or no clothing is bloody disgusted and that they should put their clothes back on and stop being so filthy, especially in front of the fragile eyes of children. But they are saying this in what appears to be a feminists and progressive way, talking about exploitation, sexism, racism and that ever popular phrase objectification.
Ban this filth has become the new mantra of feminist, but ban this filth with a progressive edge added to it. Ban this filth to save women from themselves as much as save children from being corrupted by sexyness. Ban this filth because it’s apparently sexist not because they think it’s dirty or filthy.
If Mary Whitehouse had started her crusade against “filth” today she would have done so from an apparent “feminist” stand point demanding sex and raunch be banned to save women as much as if not more to save children. Indeed Christian and conservative moralists are themselves adopting such language with groups like Mediawatch-uk not talking about objectification and exploitation etc. These groups have figured out that expressing concern for women’s rights when calling for censorship of sexuality adhers them to feminists who they trying to win support from.
Ten years ago the Mail and the Tories panic about sexualization and raunchy pop stars corrupting children would have been mocked, made fun of and debunked by liberals and progressives. But many of them are supporting this panic and calling for the same repressive censorship as the conservatives are.
The Guardian and the Daily Mail are becoming one and the same and Rewind&Reframe are little different to Mediawatch-uk but dress their prudity up as pro-women and feminism. But it’s all the side of the same coin. Ban this filth is the main call and it’s sad to see so many liberals and feminists sharing that call.
There is nothing progressive about helping to support mad moral panics started by a hypocritical and hysterical right-wing media which is hardly at the forefront of championing women’s rights. Progressives today are in bed with the enemy and right under their sheets of moral indignation. For shame!
Source:
http://mediasnoops2.wordpress.com/2013/11/11/progressives-used-to-push-back-against-moral-panics-now-they-are-working-with-conservatives-to-support-them/