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Vile Human
Nov. 15th, 2004 05:52 pmSo, here's a thorny one. I've completed my fanfic and I'm quite proud of it. It ended up being the deepest story I've written about coming out and gay sexuality and I'm really happy with the political context I placed it in.
It would also be child porn under proposed new child-porn laws.
Here is a description of Canada's child porn laws from a CBC site.
My story involves two 16 year old boys having gay sex. It is explicit at times and this is important to the telling of the story. I wouldn't post a bowdlerized version of it.
Under the proposed new laws, written child porn is now as illegal as photographic. The current completely undefined "artistic merit" defense for porn is being replaced by a completely undefined and even more problematic "public good" defense. The burden is on the accused to prove that his story, etc. actually creates public good.
Also, it would be illegal for me even to have written this story with no intention of ever showing it to anybody. I am already, under the proposed legislation, a child pornographer.
I'm trying to figure out in what context my story could hurt a child. Maybe if I printed it on stone and dropped it off a building...
Other funny things: an adult in Canada can legally have sex with a 16 year old as long as he or she is not in a position of authority over the child, but the age of consent seems to be different for depiction. This makes as little sense as anal sex laws having different age of consent than vaginal or oral. Also, if me and, say, Rita MacNeil got together and filmed ourselves pretending to be children having sex, we would be child pornographers. Nobody would buy said porn, but that's not the point. Actually, Rita's fans are pretty loyal...
I am so frustrated about this dangerous bullshit which cowardly politicians are using to make political hay. The existing child-porn laws are strong and clear; the new ones wander over into breach of civil liberties and create chill around discussion of important issues and dangerously infringe on artistic expression. They are completely un-Canadian, but no politician can dare to stand up against a child-porn law.
My story could empower gay youth and even be small part of a life saved if one more youth felt that what he was feeling was valid. It is also important in giving others a picture of gay youth sexuality and thus demystifying this area. Specificially, it is a shout back against the fundamentalist America who voted for Bush to stop social change. It is about the human cost of absolutism. It is about family values.
There are also specific things in it that I think are important. An adult who is trying to reach out to the youth in the story accidentally alienates him by assuming that his problem is with a girl which just causes the boy to shut up more. When you assume youth are str8, you reinforce the closet they are trapped in.
So, wouldn't it be fine if I did a kind of "degrassi" version where people talk about stuff but don't get down to the nitty-gritty? No. Worrying about being gay is partly about worrying that you'll lose family friends and opportunity and partly about what it means to suck a cock or get fucked in the ass. And it is about owning your own desires and learning to be okay with them. Degrassi can solve some of the problem, but sex education that excludes sex has pretty obvious limits. And if that's all there is, then you send the de facto message that gay sex (or sex in general) is wrong, no matter how many times you say nice things like, "when you meet the right person, you'll feel good about exploring all kinds of intimacy including walking on the beach together." Y'know, that's probably not the part that kid wants to kill himself about.
I'm mad at being a de facto vile human for having written this story. I'm also somewhat scared; but I'm madder than I am scared. Come and get me, you bastards.
It would also be child porn under proposed new child-porn laws.
Here is a description of Canada's child porn laws from a CBC site.
My story involves two 16 year old boys having gay sex. It is explicit at times and this is important to the telling of the story. I wouldn't post a bowdlerized version of it.
Under the proposed new laws, written child porn is now as illegal as photographic. The current completely undefined "artistic merit" defense for porn is being replaced by a completely undefined and even more problematic "public good" defense. The burden is on the accused to prove that his story, etc. actually creates public good.
Also, it would be illegal for me even to have written this story with no intention of ever showing it to anybody. I am already, under the proposed legislation, a child pornographer.
I'm trying to figure out in what context my story could hurt a child. Maybe if I printed it on stone and dropped it off a building...
Other funny things: an adult in Canada can legally have sex with a 16 year old as long as he or she is not in a position of authority over the child, but the age of consent seems to be different for depiction. This makes as little sense as anal sex laws having different age of consent than vaginal or oral. Also, if me and, say, Rita MacNeil got together and filmed ourselves pretending to be children having sex, we would be child pornographers. Nobody would buy said porn, but that's not the point. Actually, Rita's fans are pretty loyal...
I am so frustrated about this dangerous bullshit which cowardly politicians are using to make political hay. The existing child-porn laws are strong and clear; the new ones wander over into breach of civil liberties and create chill around discussion of important issues and dangerously infringe on artistic expression. They are completely un-Canadian, but no politician can dare to stand up against a child-porn law.
My story could empower gay youth and even be small part of a life saved if one more youth felt that what he was feeling was valid. It is also important in giving others a picture of gay youth sexuality and thus demystifying this area. Specificially, it is a shout back against the fundamentalist America who voted for Bush to stop social change. It is about the human cost of absolutism. It is about family values.
There are also specific things in it that I think are important. An adult who is trying to reach out to the youth in the story accidentally alienates him by assuming that his problem is with a girl which just causes the boy to shut up more. When you assume youth are str8, you reinforce the closet they are trapped in.
So, wouldn't it be fine if I did a kind of "degrassi" version where people talk about stuff but don't get down to the nitty-gritty? No. Worrying about being gay is partly about worrying that you'll lose family friends and opportunity and partly about what it means to suck a cock or get fucked in the ass. And it is about owning your own desires and learning to be okay with them. Degrassi can solve some of the problem, but sex education that excludes sex has pretty obvious limits. And if that's all there is, then you send the de facto message that gay sex (or sex in general) is wrong, no matter how many times you say nice things like, "when you meet the right person, you'll feel good about exploring all kinds of intimacy including walking on the beach together." Y'know, that's probably not the part that kid wants to kill himself about.
I'm mad at being a de facto vile human for having written this story. I'm also somewhat scared; but I'm madder than I am scared. Come and get me, you bastards.
