WHAT PRICE FAME?

"Well, now I know where all the $1 bills from the Monopoly game went."

Fame was a popular movie that came out in the early 80s. I remember particularly one scene that stands out in which Irene Cara is tricked by an unscrupulous photographer and pressured into having topless pictures taken of her. Tears poured down her face as the shots were taken, tears of shame and humiliation.

There's a new Fame movie coming out, and I don't think there will be a scene like that in the movie. In a popular culture where girls post nude pictures of themselves on the internet and celebrities can build an entire career on "accidentally" released graphic photos of themselves, somehow a girl seeking a career in entertainment being ashamed at topless pictures does not ring true any longer. In just under 30 years we've gone from Irene Cara's tears to Paris Hilton and Vanessa Hudgens.

The sexualization of girls - younger and younger - is something I've posted on here before. If it isn't trashy outfits, its semi nude photos of Disney starlets or sexualized dancing. And now someone has crossed a line that really should never have been even considered. Here's the story from Gizmodo:

It rotates. It has blinking lights, a disco ball, and a pole. And it's probably one of the wrongest toys you can give to any girl. Because, unlike the USB Pole Dancer, this one is actually for kids.

At The Other McCain, we are reminded of other culturally corrosive events which push sexuality on younger and younger children:

One hesitates to ask what could possibly be worse. I'm sure the manufacturers will soon be offering a stripper accessory kit -- tramp-stamp tattoo stickers, clip-on belly-button ring, garter with play-money, mint-flavored candy Newports -- but then again, there's always the nipple-tassle T-shirt for girls.

Last year, we had the reality-TV video of Kim Kardashian's pre-teen sisters -- age 9 and 11 -- getting pole-dancing lessons. Earlier this month, there was video of Miley Cyrus's 9-year-old sister Noah pole-dancing -- in black boots and red skirt -- at a pre-party for the Teen Choice Awards.

We're told that kids are going to have sex, we're told that its natural as breathing and there's no way to stop them. We're told that the best thing to do is try to guide that rampant, uncontrollable sexual energy, the hormonal storm that drives children helplessly before it like a ship in a hurricane. Yet the effort seems to be the opposite of such statements. There's no attempt to channel or control sex among younger people, rather a deliberate, conscious, and persistent effort to push things further and further. They're setting sails in the ship, with a row over the side, trying to race faster than the hurricane.

I'm getting a bit long in the tooth, over 40 so what I remember as a child is misty, ancient past for modern kids. I remember what I thought about things 25 years before I was born - that was before WW2 for crying out loud. Yet it is shocking for me to see how much has changed in my life time, which to be honest hasn't been all that long. And while I understand the desire to make money off any demand that might exist (or be created) at some point capitalism must be tempered by virtue and ethical restraint.

Technically there's a market for suicide kits and how-too videos for Emo kids, and the movement is so obnoxious some might throw a few bucks in for investment purposes, but it would be wrong to do so. And that's the problem here. What's wrong is being not just ignored, but the very idea of wrong attacked and mocked.

And as Mark Steyn noted recently, look at what we get in exchange. We've abandoned the American principle of responsibility, individual achievement, and liberty and embraced license and sexual excess. As long as I can have my fun, who cares what I gave up? I can have sex with anyone I want, and you can't tell me no! Sure, the government takes over more and more of my life, but as long as I'm happy and gettin' some, who cares?

In the end, that sexual license, the loss of any restraint and dignity results not in a better life or greater pleasure, but more laws, more control, and less fun. The hedges which bind in liberty become a maze which controls and destroys it. Like the bank advertisement which tells a little girl she can ride the bicycle anywhere she wants... as long as its in the little box painted on the ground. Each time we lose individual virtue and ethical restraint, laws have to be imposed by government to prevent the excesses and damage it causes. Instead of internal forces and societal shame to control excess, the power of the all-present government takes over and forces us to do what is right.

In the end we all lose. This isn't about prudes and the sexually stunted turning their self-righteous noses up at kids having fun. Its about the damage done to children unable to deal with what they're pressured, encouraged, and even pushed into far before they're ready. Its about what happens to a society when all boundaries are destroyed and new ones are erected to restrict freedom. It's about liberty versus tyranny. And the moment you feel most free is sometimes the moment you're the greatest prisoner: in chains of your own childish urges and the power you've given up to protect yourself from your lusts.