This is so cool! And very inspirational. It shows that when you you are young at heart, a simple number in the calendar doesn't matter at all! She's very talented too.
Kudos to May Barrie! That's a nice shot by the way. #art
(Although I might be a touch peeved her prize takes my "I'm too young/old/female to [do challenging creative thing]" excuse and smashes it upon said granite into teeny-tiny pieces.)
Well, it's a good thing you're there to keep Tracey Emin in her place, isn't it, Miranda Sawyer? How else would she know that society disapproves of her decision to buck societal pressures on aging femininity?
@lalie (apologetic mess): Seriously. And what is her objection to Emin broadening her horizons and learning something new? It's such a weirdass reason to criticize someone.
It's f*cked up to auction off something private like love letters no matter how old the sender was if the author doesn't consent, but I suppose that's obvious.
I guess he doesn't care if he looks like an asshole--they're letters from a famous person, and she wrote when was "jailbait", so that's doubly juicy.
'Rather than thinking, ‘I've got to get my breasts raised or get some Botox,' why not think, ‘I'm going to learn French'
I know I wrote this the other day, but if women put the brain power, not to mention funds, that they currently devote to anti-wrinkle creams and calorie counting towards learning another language or taking up another hobby they'd be freaking unstoppable.
I was wracking my brain for ways in which his selling those letters could be considered illegal, but couldn't come up with anything. Unfortunately. In the spirit of the age she was when she wrote them, I'd be happy to egg his car or TP his yard
@colormeroutine: Couldn't the letters be considered evidence that the dude committed a crime if they make explicit reference to the relationship and specific events? I mean, granted we have no idea what the content is like. But it's a thought?
I'm asking this question because I honestly struggle with my coming up with answer and I'd love some insight: At what age do we start making smart decisions for ourselves? Is a 14-year-old girl, for example, always taken advantage of in a sexual relationship if it's with someone older, or can she make decisions for herself? I know there are laws in place to protect them, and that's great, I'm just asking from a personal point of view, when is it OK to start making 'grownup' decisions for yourself?
@lonewolfer: I dated a much older man when I was 15. He didn't want to at first, and he was very concerned about people thinking he was taking advantage of me. But I would NOT take no for an answer. :) I also graduated high school when I was 16. I will admit that I might have made some mistakes when I was younger, but dating him was not a mistake. We're still friends to this day, I am 24 now.
I know I can't speak for all girls, I just know that in my own experience, I knew exactly what I was doing.
@lonewolfer: It's a good question, and I don't think there is an easy answer. As far as the law, it really comes down to the needs/benefits of the individual vs. society, doesn't it? Never thought of it this way before, but it occurs to me that statutory rape laws are basically what economists like to call a "second best solution." We can't know that ALL 14-year-old girls aren't capable of making safe, wise, adult-level decisions about sex, or that they can't choose an older partner without being manipulated. But we've concluded as a society that most of them probably aren't and can't. Hence the law. It'll restrict some people who don't need it, but such is the world we live in; individuals don't exist in a vacuum. Same for any adult activity on which we put an age limit: driving, drinking alcohol, voting, serving in the military. There are always going to be young people who'd be capable of handling these responsibilities before they're legally allowed to. But we've reached a collective decision that a high number of them wouldn't be -- too high a number to make it beneficial to society overall.
But all that said, I guess the answer to YOUR question simply is that it's different for everyone. Good parenting helps a lot. So does good schooling. And some of it just comes down to our own individual quirks.
@lonewolfer: like Porcelina, i was also romantically involved with a much older man as a teenager. it began when i was 16 and we eventually slept together when i was 17. i loved him and to this day have no regrets. but my mother found out and made both of our lives a living hell, going on about how it was statutory rape. thankfully, in my state, the age of consent was 16, but it still ended up with her taking him to court to try and get a restraining order....
thus, from my perspective, i know there 15, 16 year olds mature enough to make the decision to consent to a sexual relationship and its a healthy decision for them. and i think that statutory rape laws are almost more harmful then they are worth. if its not consensual, its rape. if it is consensual, even if the girl/boy is 14 (which is my fairly arbitrary minimum age for consent), then its not rape. i know these laws are ostensibly to protect the younger party, but in the vast majority of cases that are prosecuted, its simple the parents of the young person using a technicality to control their child's sexual choices.
@cantankasaurus rex: I'm sure there are plenty of cases like yours, but I still think that the number of people that young capable of making that decision is pretty low comparatively. Granted, there are plenty of people over 18 who are complete idiots about these things as well, in an ideal world there'd be some kind of test you could administer to determine when you get to consent for yourself (I'm only half-joking) but I still think that telling those kids they have to wait a little longer to screw their older boyfriends/girlfriends is less of a rights violation than telling the rest of them that we won't protect them. And how does physical maturity play into the whole thing? I was a damn smart 13 year old, but I hadn't even gotten a period yet and looked approximately 9, could I have really "consented" to something my body was completely not ready for?
@lonewolfer: Consent laws are arbitrary, but there aren't really 14 year olds who are as capable of making decisions as 30 year olds. The parts of the brain that predict repercussions are the last part of the brain to develop and they keep developing until about 21.
I don't think every teenager who gets with someone older is exploited, but I'm really uncomfortable with the idea of adult men being worn down by young girls. The adult still has greater responsibility.
@lonewolfer: All I know is that I stongly believe that the man I first had sex with when I was 14 (he was 19) was taking advantage of me. I hate him now, and I regret my decision to be with him. If I had had a parent who cared, or was even ever home, and a home without drug-addicted sisters, I wouldn't have done it. But that's just my story, I cannot speak for the rest.
@colormeroutine: I guess what gets me about it is that most statutory rape laws have some sort of clause that says that, well, if the older person is within 4-5 years of the younger person's age, then its not considered statutory rape. so its not that in the eyes of the law that a 14 year old can't consent to a sexual relationship, but that the government (or her parents who want to press charges) get to decide/limit who she can consent to. its just strikes me as a case where everyone knows whats best for a woman (or young woman) except herself :-/
The piece would be more compelling if it tied melting ice caps to the physical experience of individual subjectivity within these shifting ecological conditions. Like so.
10/29/09
Kudos to May Barrie! That's a nice shot by the way. #art
10/29/09
(Although I might be a touch peeved her prize takes my "I'm too young/old/female to [do challenging creative thing]" excuse and smashes it upon said granite into teeny-tiny pieces.)
10/30/09
09/24/09
09/24/09
09/24/09
I guess he doesn't care if he looks like an asshole--they're letters from a famous person, and she wrote when was "jailbait", so that's doubly juicy.
09/24/09
09/24/09
I know I wrote this the other day, but if women put the brain power, not to mention funds, that they currently devote to anti-wrinkle creams and calorie counting towards learning another language or taking up another hobby they'd be freaking unstoppable.
09/24/09
09/24/09
09/24/09
09/24/09
09/24/09
09/24/09
09/24/09
09/24/09
09/24/09
I know I can't speak for all girls, I just know that in my own experience, I knew exactly what I was doing.
09/24/09
But all that said, I guess the answer to YOUR question simply is that it's different for everyone. Good parenting helps a lot. So does good schooling. And some of it just comes down to our own individual quirks.
09/24/09
thus, from my perspective, i know there 15, 16 year olds mature enough to make the decision to consent to a sexual relationship and its a healthy decision for them. and i think that statutory rape laws are almost more harmful then they are worth. if its not consensual, its rape. if it is consensual, even if the girl/boy is 14 (which is my fairly arbitrary minimum age for consent), then its not rape. i know these laws are ostensibly to protect the younger party, but in the vast majority of cases that are prosecuted, its simple the parents of the young person using a technicality to control their child's sexual choices.
09/24/09
09/24/09
I don't think every teenager who gets with someone older is exploited, but I'm really uncomfortable with the idea of adult men being worn down by young girls. The adult still has greater responsibility.
09/24/09
09/24/09
09/24/09
09/24/09
09/24/09
09/17/09
LaCroix, sweetie, LaCroix.
09/17/09
09/14/09
I don't know where to look.
09/02/09
The piece would be more compelling if it tied melting ice caps to the physical experience of individual subjectivity within these shifting ecological conditions. Like so.
09/02/09