How to Explain Porn to a 5-year old: at a Feminist protest with my Daughter.
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We had a lovely date. I had an Earl Grey while Naomi had a small hot chocolate with whipped cream. It was lovely and she got her fill of love and attention.
Then it was off to the protest. Turn out was smaller than your average Mormon family. Less than 8 people with signs...not very good ones either, but ones with a clear message. Naomi (5 years old) was by far the youngest and me...well, I was the only one there with a penis.
“What are we doing papa?” asked Naomi
"We're holding a sign that says 'Boobs aren't News!' sweetie." I say holding back a chuckle.
"Why are we here?"
“We’re protesting against pornography sweetheart.”
“What’s pornography?”
“Hmmm....Well, Naomi, why do you give Papa kisses?”
“Because I love you Papa.”
“Do you think that girls should give kisses to boys who don’t love them?”
“No Papa.”
“What if a boy didn’t love you but offered to give you money, would you give him a kiss then?”
“Hmmm...I don’t think so Papa.”
“Great! (relieved) Glad to hear that sweetie. Pornography is a little bit like that. Girls give something special to boys who don’t love them for money. God hates that and it hurts both men and women. We should pray for these girls Naomi, because most of them didn't have good papas who loved them and took them out on dates.”
“Okay Papa.”
Any minister who can’t explain his theology to a five year is a charlatan and should be defrocked :)
Dads, date your daughters!
I love the way you explained it to her, I wouldn't have had a clue what to say! Very appropriately put. I hope she grows up to be an activist like her aunty Annie ;) and AMEN that she has a loving father to teach her about respect and honour and true love!
ReplyDeleteIt's so tragic that hardly anyone turned up! Perhaps it was for lack of publicity? Were there any reporters there?
Or maybe rather than pray for the girls 'whose fathers didn't take them out on dates' (woe betide you if your father died, wasn't around, or did love you regardless) perhaps we could focus on the demand rather than the supply. Perhaps we need to educate sons and pray for men who buy it. One of the particularly difficult strands of the Bible written in such patriarchal culture is how women are portrayed as sexual temptresses. Rather than looking at the male sex discourse and acquiescing with the worldview that men are lead by their penises and women are the gatekeepers of sexuality and therefore are culpable, perhaps we should say that men and women who buy pornography are the real issue here? Perhaps we should also look at the other factors that tell women their value is in their sexual attractiveness to men? Perhaps we should challenge the poverty issues surrounding why women choose to do pornography. For example the number of students entering the sex industry has grown as they try to manage money issues and sex has been devalued. I realise this is a post about getting a little girl to stand against something with her dad and that is beautiful. But pornography is not a female issue, predominantly it is male!
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