It was always embarrassing to me when a girlfriend, flipping through my family photo books, stumbled upon a naked picture of me as a child. Never once were my parents accused of child pornography, because they were, of course, just innocent photos.That is, unless you view things through the eyes of an anti-porn zealot, then your own issues take over and things get very ugly indeed. Take the case against Jock Sturges, a San Francisco photographer whom the local chapter of Loyal Opposition has made their latest target.Sturges’ latest book is a collection of nude black-and-white photos of children, usually in a nature setting and often with parents. Loyal Opposition is demanding local bookstores remove the books from their shelves, destroy them and apologize for selling child pornography.It doesn’t take much for misguided moral crusaders to show their Nazi colors and start burning books. With all the sophistication of the children they profess to protect, the group has taken tasteful photographs and brought them down to their level, which is to say, the gutter.Defending photos of naked children might not be the first bandwagon upon which First Amendment advocates jump. But censorship in the name of protecting children is the latest rage with radical conservatives, and if left unchecked, the next target may be your favorite book or movie.”The Tin Drum” is a film about a troubled boy growing up in Nazi Germany. It includes one scene that suggests, but doesn’t actually show, an oral sex act between a 7-year-old boy and teenage girl. It was released in 1979 to little controversy. It, in fact, won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Picture.But in the current climate of fear, “The Tin Drum” is under fire. In Oklahoma, an overzealous prosecutor decided the movie was obscene and removed copies from video store shelves. Or take the case of Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov. His novel “Lolita” is a renowned classic. The story follows a middle-aged man who falls in love with a 12-year-old girl. Stanley Kubrick made the book into a film in the early ’60s, but because of the climate of the time, the Lolita character’s age was bumped up to 16 and things were toned down considerably.Now, filmmaker Adrienne Lynne figured that 30-plus years later, the time was right for a more accurate version. In “Lolita,” he made sure that the actress portraying her was never filmed naked or involved with sex, instead employing body doubles. But the finished film is unable to find an American distributor, because they are all afraid of incurring the wrath of right wingers.Last week was “Banned Book Week.” The most banned books of the year were from Columbus native, R.L. Stine’s “Goosebumps” series. Others included classics like “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou, and “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger.Celebrate your freedom by reading one of these books, renting “The Tin Drum,” or buying Sturges’ book. Or don’t – because choosing not to is part of freedom too. But don’t take away the right to decide.
Nathan Crabbe is a sophomore majoring in pre-journalism.
