Young Nudes Not so Black and White

nb; The following piece was written a few years ago in follow up to another piece I had written about an Australian photographer who was in the news for photographing people under 18 years of age.Mr.Rudd was at the time Prime Minister of Australia and had made some strong comments in the media about Mr.Henson.

In writing Child Pornography my motivation was not so much about Bill Henson and his photos as it was about beauty, freedom and innocence. I am 44 yet I still so believe that the world can be a beautiful and pure place. When I heard of Mr. Rudd’s comments I felt a deep passion to open up discussion about what had transpired.

I felt so much guilt and fear within Mr. Rudd and believed that his lack of awareness combined with his standing in the community was very damaging. I believe the majority of adults and an increasingly higher number of children and teenagers have lost or are losing faith in innocence and purity.

I do believe that the essence of people and the essence of society is and always will be pure. However on the surface we are so not thinking and living with faith and passion. We have become a society that is most motivated to appear strong and free than actually be so.

With regards to nudity and young women there is often an amazing physical beauty. Further if humility is reached the essence emanating from an aesthetically beautiful nude can be so empowering. However in today’s society images of young naked women are far more disempowering than uplifting to those who view them.

I believe that from a very young age girls are conditioned to think of their looks as a commodity. They become both competitive and protective. This is not in my opinion healthy for them or those they come into contact with. Further young boys are conditioned from a young age to be tough and strong and to avoid showing emotion. The result being control and possession from both sexes. There is no room for unity and equality in this conditioning.

When Mr. Rudd entered a strip bar in America I wonder what he was thinking. I am sure the majority of the women in this bar were far younger than he. When interviewed about the incident he seemed very apologetic and guilty. However in essence I would imagine that Mr. Rudd would have found some of these women attractive.

I believe if we are really honest with ourselves many of us would admit to finding young women attractive. I do not see anything wrong with admitting this. The problem seems to be how we handle the exposure to beauty and its powerful affect on us. I believe many humans have low self esteem and feel vulnerable around things that touch them deeply.

To my mind this is an enormous issue in society. We have so little faith in our own essence and the essence of society that we become so fearful of loss and so needy for validation, possession and protection. With regards to attractive young women the issue is even more out of hand than in most other aspects of life including money. Attractive women have become just about the biggest commodity we have. This extends to sex where there is little equality and a massive need to control.

Many of the responses to my initial piece talked about the need to protect our kid’s innocence. I believe that many of the adults angered by this event are holding little or no belief in innocence and purity as being real. Therefore they are reacting from fear and protection of something they believe their kids have but they have long ago lost.

An issue such as nudity and children is such a sensitive one and seems to have much confusion surrounding it. Surely this is providing us as a society with an opportunity to take away some of the barriers that adults seem to have in regaining a belief in their own innocence and purity and that of the world around them.

As it stands now I feel like many adults are protecting their children from what they see as a definitive about life. i.e.; That the world is not a pure place and never will be. That once you grow up you too will lose your purity so for now we are going to let you live in ignorance of how the world is.

I sincerely hope that this incident is not stored by most as confused judgment. Experience seems to have brought humans fear not freedom. If we continue to judge and condemn that which we don’t understand this will just get stronger. Already children are suffering due to our ignorance.

I so believe that if humans are prepared to search their emotions deeply and calmly communicate what they find that we can create a much more pure and honest world. A world where we would not have so much fear for what our kids will discover when they grow up.