tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post5230032191381752059..comments2024-02-11T19:28:27.997+11:00Comments on Personal Reflections: History of Child Pornography in AustraliaJim Belshawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-38951400863996099432008-07-16T05:52:00.000+10:002008-07-16T05:52:00.000+10:00The studies of childhood are interesting Neil. I f...The studies of childhood are interesting Neil. I first came across them, sidetracked into them really, when I was doing my PhD.<BR/><BR/>Because David Drummond had been both a ward of the state and a minister whose responsibilities included child welfare, I looked at the history of the child welfare system. This sidetracked me into changing attitudes to children and childhood.<BR/><BR/>I found it fascinating that child hood itself appeared to be such a recent invention, with kids in some ways going straight from infancy to young adulthood.<BR/><BR/>You may well be right that child pornography existed in Australia in some form somewhere. As evidenced by the Lady C case ( a book I found greatly disappointing when I did get to read it!), social mores and the presence of censorship made it highly unlikely that someone like me would ever come across such stuff. <BR/><BR/>I do think that King Lear was a wise choice, by the way.Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-62792702713182051372008-07-15T22:35:00.000+10:002008-07-15T22:35:00.000+10:00My mind did boggle at this...I am sure child porno...My mind did boggle at this...<BR/><BR/>I am sure child pornography existed in some form somewhere... There are certainly English and European precedents, and possibly even studies. And there are certainly histories of childhood, an interesting and rather flexible concept itself, it turns out.<BR/><BR/>But I have to say my mind boggled as I thought back to when I was proposing thesis topics (for English, admittedly) in 1963-4 at Sydney U. "English hymns of the 18th century" was one. I am rather glad I didn't... I ended up with "King Lear" instead.<BR/><BR/>We "had to" read illegal material for English back in 1962: D H Lawrence was on the menu, but "Lady Chatterley" had to hide in plain brown paper, seeing officially there were none in Australia at that time...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com