The Bill Henson Thing.
This is from this forum thread, as it's stolen a good chunk of my evening I thought I would put it up here also.
If more people were to have actually seen his work before the added subtext of all this hoo-hah, then I'd be really interested in the responses. This isn't cultural snobbery on my part - it's just the earnest wish that more people could see his photography and make own their own damn minds instead of participating in a larger debate where they know fuck all and nothing about the work they are commenting on.
Whacking Bill Henson with the cultural hang-ups and the creeping feeling of self loathing that we have because of the mainstream media's sexualisation of children is not only hypocritical it requires an unbelievable feat of logic.
Why... fancy that, here's the latest issue of Dolly Magazine. What's inside dear sub-teen and teen (and most definitely underage reader)?
THE GUY ISSUE This month's mag will tell you everything you need to know about the opposite sex. Tear open the sealed section to have hit bits explained, flip to our hot footy boy fever shoot to read about what guys think about girls and dating (and for a perve) and then read our story about the attitude he finds irresistible. Consider yourself well educated!HANGING OUT WITH THE JONAS BROTHERS
Wanna spend a day with the hottest brothers ever? Who doesn't! We follow the JB boys as they eat brekkie, hop on and off their tour plane and chill out backstage. Plus, Joe Jonas dishes about girls!HIGH SCHOOL SURGERY
Cosmetic surgery among teen girls is on an alarming rise and celebs are leading the charge. We ask the question, how young is too young to go under the knife?
Certainly there's some in depth explorations of what it is to be young, and deep meditations on our culture? And nothing anyone at all could find objectionable and unsuitable for the audience intended?
Do we need:
To stop young people being exposed to sexual images before they have the tools and cognitive faculties to deal with them? Yes.
To Start a dialogue about what messages we think are acceptable for young people to be exposed to? Yes.
To have a greater understanding what it is to be young and the challenges of growing up? Yes.
To take down the artwork of one of Australia's most prominent photographers dealing with the thorny idea that young people are reflections of the culture we project onto them? Do we need to ignore the uncomfortable idea of teenage angst & alienation? No. (For anyone who isn't familiar, the alienation of youth is a big a part of his work as the idea of transition from childhood to adulthood and the related issues - not just sex).
The level of exposure of commercial soft-porn is higher than it's ever been, but we somehow think that complaining about an artist who's intent is clearly so far removed from the day to day exploitations is an acceptable and logical way of dealing with the problem of children being over exposed to sexual messages? Or abused by a family member in the suburbs? It somehow deals with broken men who take out their sexual disorders on strangers and relatives?
I'd like to re-state what others have more eloquently put - the boogieman isn't Bill Henson and his work, it's our Media and the messages (that we as a culture, by and large, accept) out there. To object vociferously to Henson's work begs that you do the same about the absolute crap that's in our news-agencies and on our tv's & radios - and I'd suggest that they are a more urgent, deeper and more systematic root cause the kind of problems, abuses and societal ills we're talking about.
