Pedophilia is to now what “commos” were to the 50s. And as with the 50s, McCarthyist paranoia and obsession abounds. Only difference is, it ain’t reds being spied under the beds of the nation – it’s peds!

Any herd obsession is, naturally, fed off and promulgated by political leaders anxious to be seen to be banging the drum of the righteous and morally decent. With the Henson controversy barely into rigamortis after police charges of indecency were thrown out, we have a new pedo outrage to deal with: the latest Art Monthly Australia magazine features nude shots of a little girl snapped by her mother.

In one, at 4 years old, she is shown wearing her grandmother’s jewellery. In another, “perhaps the most provocative” according to a Sydney Morning Herald online report, she “lies back with her arms behind her head and her legs folded.” Interesting, the mindset of the reporter that is betrayed by this wording. Firstly, by whose judgment are any of the pictures “provocative”? Secondly, how can a 4 year old girl be provocative? That’s just not possible. Provocation requires wilful intent, which leaves only the photographer – the girl’s mother – as the guilty party. Her art critic husband, Robert Nelson, dispels that with his comment that the photos were instigated by his daughter and that “her mother saw nothing wrong with making them.”

The cover of the magazine shows the subject at 6 years old against a backdrop alluding to the work of Lewis Carroll. Here it is:

Is there anything remotely provocative about that picture? 20 years ago, before all this pedo obsession nonsense started, it could have featured on one of those tins of biscuits some old lady from England used to send your family for Christmas. But NOW…well, the pollies are scrabbling for front baying position as they decry this affont to public standards of decency. Hark at this… Continue reading Peds Under The Bed! Yesterday Henson, Today… →