Question 2:
Most of you seem to agree that child sexuality is natural and normal on its own, but becomes problematic in the context of our culture. Do late-twentieth-century images (e.g. Calvin Klein ads, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Barbie, etc.), books (most famously, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, Forever and other books by Judy Blume), and films (Kids, the new Lolita, PG-rated movies with sex and nudity) involving child/adolescent sexuality promote or encourage kids to become sexually active before their time? Do they influence the rates of teen pregnancy and STDs, and the age at which kids lose their virginity today? Or, could it be argued that they promote positive sexual identities, comfort with one's own changing body, better gender/sexual relations and a freedom to ask questions?




Stephen Schiff


I find Naomi Wolf's letter of resignation at once mystifying and contemptible -- mystifying because it is fuzzy-headed and bluenosed yet disconcertingly lazy and vague; contemptible because its tone of innuendo and accusation is not unlike the tone that creeps into all sorts of erroneous accusations that result in very real damage to entirely innocent people in this society. None of the statements I read (let alone wrote) remotely "harms or disregards the rights of children" or treats "children's sexuality in an exploitative way," and it is outrageous for Ms. Wolf to allege that they do without lifting a finger to demonstrate her point. Who knows whom Ms. Wolf is accusing, or what exactly she is accusing the roundtable of? I have no idea whether I am among her targets, but of all the responses I ever expected to read in this colloquy -- however rude, ad hominem, or hysterical -- I never expected one this cowardly. I certainly never expected any of the participants to spray poison into the room and then flee.

Judith Levine and A. M. Homes respond to Naomi Wolf's valediction
Question 1
A. M. Homes
James Kincaid
Judith Levine
Michael Medved
Stephen Schiff
Celine Texier-Rose
Naomi Wolf


Question 2
A. M. Homes
James Kincaid
Judith Levine
Michael Medved
Stephen Schiff
Celine Texier-Rose
Naomi Wolf


Question 3
A. M. Homes
James Kincaid
Judith Levine
Michael Medved
Stephen Schiff
Celine Texier-Rose
Sally Mann


Question 4
A. M. Homes
James Kincaid
Judith Levine
Michael Medved
Stephen Schiff
Celine Texier-Rose



©1998 Stephen Schiff and Nerve.com