Kiddie Porn, the Harlem Renaissance, the NRA and Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Something interesting—nay, exciting—happened this week while I was perusing over the Associated Content op/ed page. I had chosen four articles to spotlight when I noticed an unusual coincidence. Some might call it ironic, but of course that would be a complete abortion of the true definition of the term. No, it was a coincidence that sent a crack of electricity through the air. Every one of the writers I had chosen had a clout index of 1. One of the articles was the very first published here and another was only the second. I hope this exciting coincidence points to something even more thrilling: That new op/ed writers are discovering Associated Content. Although not every article I chose to spotlight is from a new writer, most of these writers are new to Associated Content, and if they keep publishing articles of such high quality we will all benefit.

Look at what Allison Tuttle accomplished with her first published article on Associated Content. Her article on MySpace.Com and how it can be considered a site offering up a certain low-level style of kiddie porn is a must-read for anyone who have kids of their own, or is just simply interested in the dangers inherent on the internet. Yes, there seems to be no end to the attacks on MySpace on this topic, but Allison digs a little deeper and investigates the psychology that drives so many of these young girls to post images of themselves in provocative poses or skimpy clothing or both. What Allison realizes that the writers of most other similar articles don’t is that these sexually-charged photos of high school and middle school students isn’t the problem itself, but rather a symptom of something much larger: low self-esteem and objectification by every aspect of American society.