Pages

Sunday, April 18, 2010

LOLITA LAND

Humbert: "She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita. Light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo...Lee...Ta."

What would Vladimir Nabokov's Professor Humbert Humbert from Lolita land make of our world today? A world where Primark sells padded bikinis to 7-year-olds and Tesco presents pole-dancing kits as playthings for budding nymphets who at night can lounge on their Woolworth's Lolita beds while mixing drinks with their Barbie cocktail set. It's a paedophile's paradise ripe for the plucking! There's even an excuse for this underage sexual preening - marketing experts call it KGOY (Kids Getting Older Younger).

Really, what would Humbert say? Would he like it or would he be turned off by little girls looking like women as much as he is perversely turned on by pre-pubescent "nymphets".

Of course we all know what Lolita herself would say. She would say, "I was a daisy fresh girl and look what you've done to me." Even if she doesn't use Nabokov's precise words, this is what she keeps saying. We just don't listen. We think she likes being Lolita in Lolita land when she was just meant to be a little girl.

5 comments:

Robin said...

I feel ya on this one. I look at little girl's clothes and toys and think, "What is going on here?" The clothes are just miniature adult clothes. And the toys make my eyes cross. I read a post recently about some of the "games" that are on Nickelodeon's website for kids and they are kiddie porn. Seriously. I haven't checked it out, but I trust the source (Writes In The City). I don't know the answer, but you're asking all the right questions...

Purple Cow said...

Well, I was hoping for some answers. Something to soothe me. Perhaps our parents also felt that they had to battle against society when they were raising us also.

Sharon said...

It is profoundly disturbing to me as well. I fought so hard for women's equality in the '70s and have become so disheartened that the value of females is being reduced to erotica. To see little girls being robbed of their childhood breaks my heart. Most of us are still sane, we just need to make our voices heard again.

Purple Cow said...

I don't know if its the video clips or internet but I'm scared. I don't know how things are in the US but this year my 10-year-old (who has restricted access to TV and only uses the PC to play chess under my supervision) was informed by her classmates regarding what oral sex is as well as the workings of brothels and strippers. She also knows about masturbation etc. I have already expressed my concern to her teacher and the other parents of the children she's being discussing these things with. I think such knowledge is too mature...but all I find is indifference (like I'm some sort of prude). I think it's way too soon for all this!!! On the other hand, they learn earlier about black holes and astrophysics and 5th grade material teaches them algebra, square roots and the relation of weight, mass and velocity (also way too soon in my books) and they are somehow handling it. Bloody scares me!!! What about this little thing that used to be known as childhood ignorance? It was bliss!

Robin said...

I dropped in to leave a comment to drop by my blog because I had left something there for you. I still hope you do that. Then I read all of the additional messages about this blog.... I think that my mother felt the same way when I was growing up and it was so much better relatively speaking. Her generation had less exposure than mine to "erotica" and mine had less than the current one. In other words, it keeps picking up speed. I have no idea how to slow it down. You can try to stop it in your house, but then they learn about such things from their friends (which is worse). The only thing I can offer up is to try and keep the lines of communication open so that your daughter continues to talk to you. You don't want her to shut you out and get all of her information from her friends. That is a recipe for disaster.