Opinion 
 Blogs 
 Blog with Claire 
 Rights carry seeds of our destruction 

Rights carry seeds of our destruction

WHAT were they thinking? I mean honestly, promoting porn on kids' back-to-school stationery.

The only place where that would be appropriate would be, er, an adult shop? Much less emblazoned on travel mugs and notebooks available to young people.

Stationery company Typo, owned by Cotton On, is responsible for a new range of questionable products. They include a travel mug with ''Porn is my Saviour'' stamped on its side, an iPhone cover with a naked woman sitting cross-legged beneath the word ''Dirty'', and notebooks with topless or naked women imitating porn mag shoots, and with phrases like ''Entertainment for Men''.

The company's statement in defence said something like, the products are targeted at uni students. Right.

Perhaps it's just another cheap marketing ploy.

They were pretty much guaranteed some media spotlight, and Typo's porn line of stationery has probably even sold out by now.

But the question I'm interested in is this: Is it right?

Is it right that pornography is glorified, normalised and even humoured? Is it right that a company like Typo brings out a line of stationery that trivialises issues like pornography and violence against women (one product features a topless woman at the centre of a bullseye) in the month before school goes back?

It's that tension between censorship and freedom of expression.

And believe it or not, the Bible has something to say about that.

''Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil,'' 1 Peter 2:16 reads (It's my new favourite verse, so get used to seeing it!).

Just because they can, doesn't mean they should.

I'm not just talking about Typo any more. Our culture grants us so many freedoms and little accountability.

The emphasis is on our right to choose rather than old-fashioned morals and ethics.

That's OK.

But it's important we recognise that and develop the wisdom to say no every now and then.

Weigh our ''right'' against its effect on our body, our spirit, our future and most importantly, its effect on others.

Porn is the issue we face this week - so how is that good for the body, for the spirit, for long-term impact on relationships and addiction and how does it honour the woman in the photo and women generally?

'''I have the right to do anything', you say - but not everything is beneficial. `I have the right to do anything' -but not everything is constructive.'' (1 Corinthians 10:23)

I fear that in time our rights will be our destruction.

Print
Increase Text Size
Decrease Text Size

comments


Date: Newest first | Oldest first
So, let's take all our rights away, and place ourselves back in the hands of the creepy old men who run the Church, hey Claire? Just like the good old days! No rights, just obedience!

It's all Gallileo's fault ...

Posted by Clownfish, 16/01/2012 10:23:47 PM, on The Examiner
Like anything, porn has it's time and place. It's fun to get a little dirty sometimes.

I do think that people spend way to much time thinking about sex, though. And these products sound pretty crass.

Posted by frozenfizz, 17/01/2012 9:23:37 AM, on The Examiner
Didn't notice in the article where it suggested 'place ourselves back in the hands of the creepy old men who run the Church'.
Posted by edesigned, 17/01/2012 9:48:14 AM, on The Examiner
Claire, I think you're right. Rights definitely will be our destruction — and already have started to be.

Look what's happened now that we've let women speak their own opinions, clearly going against the teachings of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35.

I don't think Typo has ever claimed to be selling "back to school" stationery, but good job on creating moral panic where there was no moral panic before!

Won't someone please think of the children?

Posted by Bryce, 17/01/2012 10:05:22 AM, on The Examiner
Pornography glorifies women. It is up to your own morals as to whether you interpret their choice as exploitative or dehumanising, but the fact is that porn as a rule glorifies the beauty of the female form. That is the reason it has such a market. These women choose to be a part of this business, and people choose to be consumers of that business. Tell me how you can morally justify stating that we should take those rights away from them? I end with a question. Hasn't there ALWAYS been prostitution, perhaps even moreso in much less permissive societies than our own?
Posted by shredzelle, 17/01/2012 10:24:51 AM, on The Examiner
Claire, your argument that rights should be abolished on the grounds that they may be used to justify harm contravenes the notion of a right entirely. As much as you would probably prefer it, the idea of having 'rights' does not denote that society will function as some kind of harm-free utopia.

Rights will clash, yet the nature of democracy provides for individual preferences to be taken into account, and compromise will eventually be reached on issues of harm. This is a much more effective, inclusive and relevant system than appointing the Church as arbiter of good and evil as you suggest.

Posted by Julien, 17/01/2012 10:33:34 AM, on The Examiner
STOP THE PORN!!!!! (and/or the boats/illegals)
Posted by Simon, 17/01/2012 10:41:11 AM, on The Examiner
''Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil,'' 1 Peter 2:16 .....Hey Claire, this verse should be passed onto the thousands of priests that have engaged in child rape and the bishops/popes etc covering up those crimes.

"I fear that in time our rights will be our destruction. " I agree wholeheartedly with your sentiment !

Why it is a right to believe in patent unreality such as any religion is beyond me. Religion and its unfathomable, unconscionable righteousness will be our destruction. Those of us who develop wisdom do say NO to religion and other obvious harms !

Posted by Neil C, 17/01/2012 11:58:11 AM, on The Examiner
Where is my nanny ?

Where is my nanny ?

LOL

Posted by PB, 17/01/2012 1:12:14 PM, on The Examiner
More wars have been started over religion than porn. Jus' sayin'.
Posted by anon, 17/01/2012 1:26:07 PM, on The Examiner
1 | 2 | 3  |  next >
Claire van Ryn's column KEEPING THE FAITH appears in The Examiner every Monday. You can blog with Claire from 10am every Tuesday

Most popular articles




The Examiner Newspaper







Weather brought to you by:

Weatherzone

Classifieds

Front Page

Current Issue
Privacy Policy | Conditions of Use | Advertising Terms | Copyright © 2012. Fairfax Media.
 SEND...
 SAVE...
 SHARE...