More on John Grisham and child pornography.
How much would it suck to be a zillion-dollar best-selling author and have JOHN GRISHAM APOLOGIZES FOR REMARKS ON CHILD PORN be right at the top of your Google feed? I'm guessing a whole lot.
Anyway, a few links:
- Anne Ursu: "The point here is that, yet again, we have someone using teenage girls (especially, I suppose, slutty ones) as a signifier for people who aren’t worth quite as much as other people. And when you speak this way about teenage girls who are victims of sex crimes, it perpetuates the culture that creates these crimes." I WANTED TO QUOTE THE ENTIRE ESSAY, BUT INSTEAD I AM SUGGESTING—NAY, COMMANDING—THAT YOU CLICK THROUGH AND READ IT ALL. I LOVE YOU, ANNE URSU.
- Bibliodaze: "The truly shocking insinuation here is that abusing a young girl is somehow less of a crime than abusing a young boy. This pushes a lot of misogynistic ideas about young women – that they’re there for objectification and sexual use, that they’re ready for sex quicker, that they’re somehow partially responsible for their own abuse because it’s not like they’re boys, right? Nice use of ‘anything’ there too, because children aren’t living beings, they’re objects like furniture." This piece also covers his garbage "apology".
- From the Telegraph, a description of what Grisham's good buddy actually had on his computer [trigger warning]: "An undercover agent who asked for some of Holleman's pictures over the Internet earlier this year received 13 images, all of children under 18, some under 12. They depicted children during sexually explicit conduct, including intercourse," said the report from November 1997, quoting a US justice department lawyer, Kathy McLure." YEP, TOTALLY A VICTIMLESS CRIME. GOOD THING THE POOR GUY HAD JOHN GRISHAM IN HIS CORNER.
- At Jezebel: "If you have any questions for Grisham about his statements, the author is holding a live Q&A on Goodreads on Monday, October 21st. Readers of the site are already excited to ask Grisham questions about his new book and also why he thinks that "rich old white men" should be allowed to watch child porn when they're drunk."
Related: Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer.