Archive for the 'Parenting' Category

Pope Benedict XVI apologises to victims of sexual abuse in Australia

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by
Kim
4 months, 2 weeks ago
in Activism, Authoritarianism, Crime, Disasters, Ethics, Media, Parenting, Politics, Religion and Sydney
. 36 Comments

The text of the papal apology, delivered this morning at a Mass in St Mary’s Cathedral, can be read here.

The symbolism of the setting for the apology - a mass for seminarians and members of religious orders and the consecration of a new altar for the Cathedral - was no doubt intended by the Vatican to signal that the Pope was speaking sternly to those at the centre of the institution. But it’s also deeply problematic - as it suggests that the problem is only one for the church, excluding the victims who were left outside while the pomp and panoply of the liturgy took place for the exclusive benefit of the hierarchy.

Continue reading ‘Pope Benedict XVI apologises to victims of sexual abuse in Australia’

Emma Foster: In memoriam

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by
Kim
4 months, 2 weeks ago
in Authoritarianism, Crime, Disasters, Ethics, Law, Media, Melbourne, Parenting, Politics, Religion and Sydney
. 56 Comments

I hope that Anthony Foster and his family, who intend to confront Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal George Pell in Sydney this week over the Catholic Church’s treatment of their late daughter, Emma Foster, who took her own life in January and her sister Katie, both of whom were raped as primary school children by Father Kevin O’Donnell, aren’t dismissed as “Catholic bashing” and raining on the World Youth Day parade or subjected to victim blaming as Anthony Jones was. Foster told the tragic tale of his daughters’ abuse and how it marked their lives horrendously for the worse, and probably brought Emma’s life to a close, on Lateline tonight.

Continue reading ‘Emma Foster: In memoriam’

Art Monthly furore!

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by
Kim
4 months, 3 weeks ago
in Advertising, Art, Authoritarianism, Culture, Ethics, Law, Media, Parenting, Photography and Politics
. 221 Comments

I was interested to read of the loud condemnations by Morris Iemma and Kevin Rudd of the cover of the latest issue of Art Monthly Australia. The cover features detail from a print of Polixeni Papapetrou’s Olympia as Lewis Carroll’s Beatrice Hatch before White Cliffs. In this artwork, the artist’s then six year old daughter, Olympia Nelson, is portrayed naked. My first thought was to wonder whether either Iemma or Rudd had actually seen the magazine in question, and that’s still unclear to me. My second thought was to wonder whether one of the media themes of the day - embodied in this piece by Nicholas Pickard in Crikey - had any merit. Pickard argued that the magazine’s editor, Maurice O’Riordan, was a “total fool” who was playing into “Hetty Johnson’s hands”. The two subtexts appear to be that the Bill Henson controversy had faded away, leaving artists to go about their business as normal (or something), and that O’Riordan was courting more controversy in order to increase sales of his mag, heedless of the dangers of raking up the cinders of the fire the Bill Henson controversy started.

But, unlike a lot of people who might have an opinion about this new controversy/furore/”debate”, I thought I might go and buy a copy of the magazine in order to form my own view. So I did.

Continue reading ‘Art Monthly furore!’

Continued subsidies to private schools will entrench disadvantage

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by
tigtog
5 months ago
in Education and Parenting
. 70 Comments

The Age: Equality in education is a dying concept (Kenneth Davidson)

The imputation is clear. The Rudd Government education “revolution” involves continuing with the unfair funding arrangements of the Howard government. Why? This can be explained by a simple political calculus, which suggests that the Government has more votes to lose than to gain by a level funding playing field as operates in most OECD countries. This is where private schools receive public funding only on the condition that their total spending per student is no higher than for government school students.

It is not to denigrate government schools to point out that they educate most of the “at risk” students. It is irrefutable that each dollar spent on these schools will generate a much bigger pay-off in economic and social terms than a dollar spent on non-government schools, which are already better resourced than government schools.

Combine this failure to ensure a more level playing field with the fiasco enveloping the plan to give all school kids a computer and the current government’s education policies are looking more shambolic every day. I knew that this centrist government was never going to sort out everything on my progressive wishlist, but I thought they’d do better than this.

Senate report on the sexualisation of children in the contemporary media

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by
tigtog
5 months ago
in Ethics, Health, Media, Parenting, Politics, Relationships and Sexuality
. 3 Comments

The full report can be found here (long).

Just the recommendations are here (brief).

I can’t think of anything in particular to add to Senator Bartlett’s summary, and totally agree that the best recommendation of the report is the one advocating “more comprehensive education programs on sexual health and relationships”.

Implementation of such comprehensive education would do more than just help address the way in which children are sexualised, it would also help people generally be more rational in weighing up their options in pursuing sexual liasons and relationships, which should also improve matters such as STDs, unplanned pregnancies, and maybe even the separations and divorces that are due to the disappointment of unrealistic expectations.

The report also offers recommendations for industry guidelines and ethical codes, but Bartlett, while acknowledging the importance of particular aspects of our media culture, is not so sure that they are the most important arena for tackling the problem. His major points that aren’t being discussed enough in the overall debate:
Continue reading ‘Senate report on the sexualisation of children in the contemporary media’

“Hell is for Children”

Published
by
Darlene
5 months ago
in Parenting
. 6 Comments

 

“Genie” Wiley survived appalling abuse at the hands of her father

The other day there was a picture in the newspaper of some neglected children standing in a backyard cluttered with rubbish. 

Continue reading ‘“Hell is for Children”’

Bill Henson controversy: But what about the children?

Published
by
Kim
5 months, 1 week ago
in Art, Ethics, Feminism, Media, Parenting and Photography
. 175 Comments

Bill Henson image from the Robert Miller Gallery.

Writing in the Australian Review of Public Affairs, Kylie Valentine proves that it is possible to say something new about the Bill Henson controversy. It struck me that one huge absence in all the debate that swirled around Henson’s images of adolescents was any contribution from the subjects themselves. Lots of adults jumped into the breach to fill this void, speculating about how the models would feel about being the subjects of this sort of art, or how they might feel at a later date. It was an entirely defensible position, of course, for the photographer’s subjects to maintain silence on grounds of privacy, and it’s worth noting that a number of Henson’s former models did speak out, though their voices seemed to be almost entirely ignored in the “debate” that took place.

Valentine picks up on this theme, and argues:

Continue reading ‘Bill Henson controversy: But what about the children?’

Northern Territory Intervention one year on

Published
by
Mark
5 months, 2 weeks ago
in Education, Health, Indigenous, Parenting, Policy, Politics, Poverty and Race
. 29 Comments

Crikey is reporting today that a leaked progress report demonstrates that the Northern Territory Intervention, now just short of a year old, is “a shambles”. It’s worth reading the full story, but it’s also interesting to note that Mal “who will think of the children?” Brough has admitted that the thing was cobbled together in 48 hours, as just about everyone suspected at the time.

When Jenny Macklin announced the composition of the panel who will oversee the review of the Intervention earlier this month, commentary predictably focused on whether those appointed were “critics” or “supporters”, which seems an idiotic yet predictable angle given that the whole point of the thing is to see whether it’s attaining its actual goals, something recognised by Peter Yu who was named as the review’s chair. Most of the coverage of the Intervention has continued to be framed in ideological terms, not least from those who claim that we need to move on from ideology.

Continue reading ‘Northern Territory Intervention one year on’

Mayne: Nationalise childcare!

Published
by
Kim
5 months, 3 weeks ago
in Education, Government, Markets, Parenting and Policy
. 38 Comments

At Crikey Stephen Mayne’s been following the fall and fall of Eddie Groves’ ABC Learning, commenting on the latest financial news:

There is no doubt that ABC Learning is desperate for the cash after almost going broke courtesy of paying too much to become the world’s biggest childcare company.

However, Eddie’s attitude to stakeholders is best summed up by yesterday’s outrageous and utterly desperate $82.2 million placement at the bargain basement price of $1.15 a share, with no corresponding offer for small shareholders.

Remember all those claims by Eddie that his great Australian company had been destroyed by short sellers. That was when the stock slumped 43% to $2.14 on February 26 in response to the previous day’s shock 40% slump in half year profit.

Eddie was subsequently cleaned out of his shares at around $1.80, but if his theory about short selling was true, shares in this “great Australian company” would have recovered.

The stock closed last Friday at $1.35 and knowing full well that Wall Street had just suffered its biggest one day fall in more than a year, Eddie sold 15% of the company yesterday at a record low price that diluted everyone else.

Last year’s audited accounts claim net assets of $1.9 billion, yet Eddie has just agreed the entire equity was only worth $551 million. Stand by for the $1.5 billion write-off as ABC Learning joins this list of Australia’s biggest corporate losers.

Mayne also notes that ABC Learning is persisting in plans to raise prices by 10% in July, despite warnings from Julia Gillard. He speculates that Larry Anthony, former Childrens Services Minister and ABC Learning board member, might have advised Groves to stare the government down. Continue reading ‘Mayne: Nationalise childcare!’

Child abuse material

Published
by
Kim
5 months, 4 weeks ago
in Crime, International, Media, Parenting, Politics and The Web
. 52 Comments

According to academics Kath Albury, Catherine Lumby and Alan McKee, that’s the term preferred by police investigating the production and dissemination of images of children in sexual contexts online. In an article in New Matilda today they discuss the evidence related to this disturbing phenomenon - and the evidence runs counter to a lot of popular conceptions. Particularly in light of the spate of arrests announced this week - essential reading.

Baring breasts vs. baring souls

Published
by
Robert Merkel
6 months ago
in Life, Parenting, Sociology and Women
. 17 Comments

This post is a joint effort with Cassie Hampden, a postgraduate student in psychology.

One of the issues raised in the Henson brouhaha is the issue of the consent of the children modelling for the photographs, with one judge arguing whether it was really possible for consent to be granted and speculating about the possibility of a lawsuit if a model, later in life, regrets being photographed naked as a teenager.

In that context, a recent story on the 7.30 Report provides a rather interesting counterpoint. It’s a feel-good story about a 17-year-old girl, from a working-class background in a working-class Victorian town, who overcame both these barriers and a battle with anorexia and depression to win a national “Brain Bee” - essentially, a neurology quiz contest for later-year high school students. Through this success, she’s had the opportunity to do work experience at the Howard Florey Institute at Melbourne University, and travel to Montreal for the world final of the contest.

This is a wonderful achievement; and no doubt the horizons opened to her will lead in many interesting directions. But the way her story was told was unsettling on several levels.

Continue reading ‘Baring breasts vs. baring souls’

Privacy rights in Child Protection investigations: the need for the mass media to disguise identifying features on the minors in the Henson images

Published
by
tigtog
6 months ago
in Art, Consumerism, Ethics, Law, Media, Parenting, Photography and Politics
. 59 Comments

crossposted

Author Note: The original title of this post was “Do the right thing, Mainstream Media: disguise the faces of the minors in your reproductions of the Henson images NOW”, deliberately imperative because I wanted it to grab attention in people’s feed readers and hopefully provoke an immediate reaction. That has happened, the faces are now being pixellated in the mass media (not that I’m claiming that this is a direct result of this post), so I’m changing the title to something that sounds a bit more like “me” speaking.

* * *
The Age has an article quoting the mother of the girl whose image is the most widely disseminated with respect to the investigation of complaints against artist Bill Henson’s nude studies of adolescents. The mother defends Henson against claims that he did anything unethical, and mentions in a statement given to The Age via an intermediary that he has been a friend of the family for over 10 years, that her daughter has “a keen interest in the arts” and that the whole family were well acquainted with Henson’s work before the photo-shoot.

The Age claims to have discovered that the pictures were taken last year, and that the girl is still 13 years of age. That contradicts earlier reports that the images were several years old, which would have made the girl perhaps now 16 or 18, i.e. possibly made her no longer a minor. If The Age is correct, then she is still very much under-age, and I’m pretty sure that that creates a problem for the media who have disseminated Henson’s images of her online and in the press, or at least it certainly should.

I only yesterday realised that the censored images of Henson’s work readily available online mostly lack one key ingredient that we usually see when images of minors are at the heart of a news cycle about alleged sexual exploitation/abuse - there has been no black bar or pixellation over the face to disguise the minor’s identity.

Why the hell not? Continue reading ‘Privacy rights in Child Protection investigations: the need for the mass media to disguise identifying features on the minors in the Henson images’

Questions on the Bill Henson “sexualisation of children” debate

Published
by
Kim
6 months, 1 week ago
in Art, Consumerism, Culture, Ethics, Masculinity, Media, Parenting, Photography, Politics, Sexuality and Women
. 251 Comments

Image by Bill Henson - sourced from DailyServing.com

I’ve made my interpretation of Bill Henson’s images of adolescents clear in a previous post, and I want to talk here about some of the issues raised by and about the “debate” on Henson’s photography and the subsequent charges laid against him and the Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery owners.

The first point to make is that whatever the “debate” is now about, it’s not about Henson’s images as such. They literally disappeared from view on Thursday afternoon, and the interpretation of the image that’s attracted the most angst has been heavily slanted by its reproduction in numerous tabloid media outlets, with black bars over the subject’s breasts which have made it a sexualised image no matter what Henson’s (or the subject’s) intentions or its original context might have suggested. For what it’s worth, you can see the photo here at Junk for Code. The interpretive context for this image has been shifted, and violently reinscribed as the invisible or altered focus of a media circus where the battle lines have been drawn between “the arts community” (some of whose spokespeople have been doing the debate and themselves no favours, incidentally) and “society” - as represented in part by agents of vigilance such as Hetty Johnson and in part by the instigators of the talkback outrage, the Miranda Devines of this world. As soon as they get up and running, you’ve got zero chance in the so-called public sphere of making any sort of nuanced point, as nuance is immediately equated with “condoning pedophilia” or whatever heights of absurdity we’ve reached.

Continue reading ‘Questions on the Bill Henson “sexualisation of children” debate’

Opposition Budget politics, 2008 style

Published
by
Mark
6 months, 3 weeks ago
in Government, Howardia, Media and Parenting
. 15 Comments

It was interesting to read the acres of newsprint devoted to Budget specials today for two reasons - one to note that so much of the “interest group” reaction is typical - one headline - “teachers say more is needed for schools” - probably writes itself, and could be run nearly every year. That’s not to have a go at the teachers, but it might be more to the point if the media spent more time on doing specialist analyses of each portfolio (as New Matilda has been doing for a few) and less on highlighting understandable (from the point of view of those concerned) calls for more spending. An assessment of priorities and discrete policy initiatives might be more informative than a de facto assumption that the cake is of infinite dimensions - which it would almost have to be if every interest group were placated. In some ways, being Treasurer would be an unenviable task, and as I argued last night, the politics of the budget include a real attempt to persuade people to look at the collective public good rather than “what’s in it for me?”. Obviously people want to understand how they (and policy areas they care about) are affected, but the sort of “thinking” that goes into this sort of nonsense - “Yet again, Generation X gets screwed” - makes me wince, even as a member of said generation (not to mention the factual vacuum contained in that silly little article).

This leads me onto my other observation - the paucity of any reference to any views that the opposition might have. Shadow Ministers were clearly not - on the whole - interested, informed enough or motivated to release anything portfolio specific. So all we got was short shrift - at least in the print media - to the rather inconsistent and confused bleatings of Malcolm Turnbull and Brendan Nelson, who according to Trevor Cook, looked like he was “on life support” on the telly. A couple of paras on average across the two 30 something page budget liftouts I read. So, how do the attention deprived respond?

By musing (threatening might be far too strong a word) about blocking the changes to the baby bonus in the Senate. Continue reading ‘Opposition Budget politics, 2008 style’

Rudd govt anti-same-sex-discrimination bill depends on the Senate balance of power

Published
by
tigtog
7 months ago
in Law, Lesbian and Gay, Parenting and Policy
. 31 Comments

The Age:

The Age believes Attorney-General Robert McClelland will announce today that he will introduce amendments to Parliament as early as next month to alter around 100 federal laws.

The changes will not allow gay marriages or same-sex couples to adopt children, and the issue of access to the Family Court for same-sex couples is still being resolved.

Some of the changes would take effect immediately, but many financial laws — such as social security, tax and veterans’ affairs — would be phased in by mid-2009. But first the changes will have to be passed by the Senate, where the Coalition retains its majority until July 1.

Even after then, Labor will need the vote of conservative Christian and Family First senator Steve Fielding and independent senator Nick Xenophon if it cannot clinch Coalition support.

Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson has signalled he backed the principle of removing discrimination against gay couples but has yet to secure formal support from his colleagues.

This is the sort of situation that led to my rabbiting on so much about the importance of balancing the Senate in our last election. I’ll bet on Fielding voting against this bill, in which case unless the Liberals support it it won’t go through. Continue reading ‘Rudd govt anti-same-sex-discrimination bill depends on the Senate balance of power’