Girl Love

Little-girl love is a fiercely complex topic. It stands at the nexus of the weaknesses in practically every line drawn by our culture.

One would hope that compassion would be the overruling influence in all cases, but often narrow-mindedness and panic reign instead, which can only wreak harm on everybody involved; not the least of which being the the amount of harm to the little girl whose ostensible protection was the cause of the panic.

The issues involved demonstrate the full spectrum of confusion in our seldom-examined cultural values. Where to begin?

• Consumerism -- We are cultivated as consumers, fed with messages that desire is good, that fulfilling material desires will get us what we want. Sex sells, and ads are full of it. The presentation of youthful innocence as highly valued is ubiquitous.

• Spiritual paucity -- Most of what passes for religion nowadays is a ridiculously antiquated maze of rituals and admonitions left over from the dark ages, back when even a crude, miserably guilt-ridden order was better than none at all. Guidance from “the church” on sexual matters is so clogged with silly puritanism as to be completely useless.

• Sex -- Physically, sex is simple: Rod goes in hole, 9 months later, out comes a baby. Not rocket science. A 5-year-old can easily grasp the concepts involved. Rods and holes are also subject to various forms of stimulation, yielding varying degrees of pleasure, depending on the techniques applied. Simple.

  Psychologically, well, that’s another story.

• Psychology -- To the degree that pathology is defined by what society finds acceptable, there is no such thing as an absolute definition of “sanity.”

  Glaring examples:

  • Western societies have historically defined homosexuality as “insane,” despite how commonplace it is.
  • The idea the women ought to be able to vote was long viewed as aberrant (it wasn’t until 1920 that women were granted the vote in the U.S.)

  The corollary would be that, to the degree that a society labels ordinary behavior as ‘pathological,’ the society itself is insane.

  If our society so willingly condemns commonplace desires, why is it so ineffectual at marking greed and intolerance as socially unacceptable?

  We need to figure out that sanity and morality both spring from Love, in the highest possible sense of the word, not specific behaviors or preferences.

• Gender -- Feminism conveniently ignores the fact that women maintain a stranglehold on the sexual economy. Little girls have no concept of the amount of power that dwells in their ability to withhold fulfillment, so they are regarded as “not ready for a mature relationship.”

• Age -- the young are stashed out of their parents’ hair in crumbling schools that resemble prisons. The elderly are stashed away in disgusting institutions that resemble coffins. Young and old are taught that intermingling is naughty. 6th grade boys wouldn’t be caught talking to those 3rd-grade girls. An eighty-year old will remember names they were called in the schoolyard. Stratification is cruelly and mindlessly enforced at all levels.

• Political -- The fatal flaw in democracy is the majority rule. What works for the majority is crammed down the throats of everybody. Never mind that the truly brilliant are never in the majority.

• Crime -- tough on crime, that’s how to get elected. Incidentally, have we gone about defining “crime” in a way that’s actually moral? Such a question is too complex for soundbites.

Anyone who can keep their head up through such an assault, who can keep focused on the positive, who can persevere with a commitment to moral integrity, be certain that you are on the leading edge of the upward evolution of society.

Why? Because you are like the accupuncturist’s needle, forcing a badly-needed examination of the issues cited above. Twist the needle, be honest but discreet, and don’t give in to greed or cowardice.

“The least shall be the greatest.”