What's kiddie porn, what's not?

Sukumar Ranganathan — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 04:34:00 GMT

Yesterday's Mumbai edition of Hindustan Times has an article on British nationals Duncan Grant and Alan Waters who were acquitted of paedophilia charges and now seem to be back working at the same shelters for street children where they are alleged to have committed their crimes. The story isn't up on their website but it is there in the epaper you can find on the site.There's a case pending against the two in the Supreme Court, but the incident probably highlights the casualness that accompanies most incidents reagrding paedophilia in India.
Sure, most people in India haven't become as aware as those in the West have when it comes to this subject.
That's not necessarily a good thing.
People in some parts of the world, however, have become paranoid about the subject.
And that's not necessarily a good thing either, especially when it comes to art.
Writer Neil Gaiman's blog recently featured a post on a ruling in Australia that, according to the post "sets a dangerous precedent, particularly for readers of adult oriented comics."
The post then goes on to refer to Lost Girls , about which Gaiman has written passionately before
I have a copy of Lost Girls, and my first column on graphic novels for Mint's weekend magazine Lounge was on that.
I don't seem to be able to find it on the livemint site though -- maybe someone has been censoring content, or maybe it just slsipped into ether because it was the first column.
For those who came in late, Lost Girls is Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie's post-modernist and very erotic take on Peter Pan's Wendy, Wizard of Oz's Dorothy, and Alice in Wonderland's Alice.
It's fun, it's erotic, and it's extremely creative.
Would that be considered child pornography in these politically correct times?
I don't know
Heck, would the first lines of one of my favourite books be considered child pornography?
"Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta."
I don't know.

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A Daily Download : Lolita

What's kiddie porn, what's not?