There’s a great conversation going on at Carmen Van Kerckhove’s Racialicious blog concerning a series of photographs by artist O. Zhang.Titled “Daddy and I,” this photo series (including the image above) poses white American males with their adopted Chinese daughters. (Yep... that’s a father-daughter picture.)
O. Zhang is a young Chinese woman who was educated in Beijing and London. She describes the artistic intent behind “Daddy and I” thusly:
“Through the relationship of the emerging feminine power of the adolescent girl to the mature father, each image explores the relation of the two often divided cultures: East and West.”
Zhang goes on to say: “I am curious about how the West sees the rapid development of contemporary China. The growing girls symbolize the future potential of China. ... [A]s the girls grow up, will they remain innocent adoptees under the tutelage of their western patriarchs?”
But as Carmen Van Kerckhove (of white and Asian ancestry) says, “there’s something very disturbing and exploitative about these pictures.”
Most of her commenters agree. “If these same photos were taken of little White girls with men of color I don’t think they would even be published. No matter what the relationship was,” writes one.
Another asks: “Was Woody Allen the influence of O. Zheng?” (Ohhh, snap!)
21 comments:
There is no doubt about it, the White male is fascinated by the Asian female.
This sorta rubs me the wrong way considering how old, white men go to Asia to have sex with young, underage Asian girls. But I probably shouldn't be thinking that way.
... considering how old, white men go to Asia to have sex with young, underage Asian girls.
And boys.
Sex tourism is one of the great untold (or barely told) stories of world culture. Why aren't there movies made about it??
There area few. They are mostly about middle aged white women hooking up w/ ripped black dudes in Jamaica or Haiti though.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0381690/
As to films about otherwise respectable white guys cruising Asian children, keep in mind who funds movies and who makes them. No incentive to make yourself look like a monster.
Same reason that the pedo scandal was allowed to go on as long as it did.
Meant to say, pedo scandal in the Catholic church.
No incentive to make yourself look like a monster.
That's on target.
Where's the FBI bust for child exploitation? Damn! This shit ain't even cool.
These white men are Monsters and these Monster control this world.
Hell even Rush Limbaugh got in on it.
They are mostly about middle aged white women hooking up w/ ripped black dudes in Jamaica or Haiti though.
Yes I have heard of that too, but I don't see anything wrong with that (I'm guessing the males fall in the 17+ age range). As long as it is legal in that country and no children are being abused, it's not a big deal is it?
I've also heard that UN officials are notorious for engaging with young prostitutes all over the world.
I've also heard that UN officials are notorious for engaging with young prostitutes all over the world.
That's news to me, SJ.
And so is the Rush Limbaugh bit. Thanks, BlackinUSA, for my chuckle of the day. Although I think a case could definitely be made that Viagra + Dominican Republic = golf vacation. ;^D
uh...some of the hand placements and expressions are really, really inappropriate. and makes me wonder if some of these girls are more than just daughters. yuck.
I wonder how many of those were posed based on what the artist requested? That would make it even squickier (although a few of the pics seem cute & innocent).
Here's something about the UN officials abusing people around the world.
"March 13, 2005 - (Washington Post) The United Nations is facing new allegations of sexual misconduct by U.N. personnel in Burundi, Haiti, Liberia and elsewhere, which is complicating the organization's efforts to contain a sexual abuse scandal that has tarnished its Nobel Prize-winning peacekeepers in Congo.
The allegations indicate that a series of measures the United Nations has taken in recent years have failed to eliminate a culture of sexual permissiveness that has plagued its far-flung peacekeeping operations over the last 12 years. But senior U.N. officials say they have signaled their seriousness by imposing new reforms and forcing senior U.N. military commanders and officials to step down if they do not curb such practices."
Someone at another forum thought the first photo (of the man and his two adopted daughters) was photoshopped!
China needs to tighten its adoption rules to exclude perverts.
How Stella Got Her Groove Back is a riff on the same story. It ain't just limited to white men and asians. Lots of European men and women hit the beaches of Africa in search of sex.
The Caribbean is visited by white and black Americans seeking the same. There is even Trinidad phrase "Paul your mother come..." to make light of the elder tourists shacking up w/ young men.
There is a French film about a middle aged woman seeking sex in Haiti.
sj sez: "As long as it is legal in that country and no children are being abused, it's not a big deal is it?"
Not necessarily, no, but 'legal in that country' isn't much of a guide to go on. Our 18-year-old age of consent is one of the highest in the Western World. Here in Denmark, it's legal to sleep with anyone after their 15th birthday, regardless of your age. In most of Eastern Europe, the age of consent is 12, no questions asked.
UBM sez:
"Sex tourism is one of the great untold (or barely told) stories of world culture. Why aren't there movies made about it??"
There's very few made about human trafficking, either, now that I think about it, and that's an arguably larger problem. A friend of mine works at a center for victims of trafficking in a European capital, and the stories she tells are enough to fill about 8 seasons of 'Special Victims Unit.'
^ In most of Eastern Europe, the age of consent is 12, no questions asked.
Holy shit... are you kidding me? Child exploitation must be rampant.
And your point is well taken with trafficking, though that's something I've read a little history about. Particularly Zwi Migdal.
Wikipedia sums it up like this:
"Zwi Migdal was a criminal organization of Jewish gangsters specialized in prostitution and trafficking of white women from the poor shtetls in Eastern Europe to the world. It operated from the 1860s to 1939. In its heyday, after the First World War, it counted with 400 members in Argentina alone, and made annual profit of 50 million dollars in the turn of the century. Its centre was Buenos Aires, with branch offices in several locations in Argentina and Brazil; New York City, NY; Warsaw, Poland; South Africa; India; and China."
Hmmmm.
1. Rush Limbaugh? A guy comes back from a tropical vacation with a bottle of Viagra and you're accusing him of being a pedophile or a sex tourist?
You lefties really are ridiculous.
2. Photos:
Here's a clue for you: photographers routinely *setup* their subjects when taking photographs. In other words these photos could easily be created by the photographer specifically to support whatever point she's trying to make in the book.
None of this means that there's anything inappropriate in the relationship between these men and their adoptive daughters. All these photos show is precisely what the photographer wanted to show. Seriously. When you read the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated who do you think controls how the photos are composited? The model? Or the photographer?
And the words of the author clearly shows she has her own agenda.
3. Anybody want to guess why it's illegal to adopt a Chinese boy but the authorities are eager for foreigners to adopt Chinese girls?
Because in a lot of cases these girls would be dead. *shrug* it's a cultural issue.
4. "I've also heard that UN officials are notorious for engaging with young prostitutes all over the world."
This is very true. The UN usually only gets involved in areas that are very unstable, highly violent and very poor. There's an account of UN Peacekeepers hiring underage girls for prostitution with a banana.
I.e. the payment for sex with an underage girl was a single banana.
*shrug* the UN is full of corrupt people. UN workers are largely immune to law enforcement and are generally held accountable only to other UN administrators. Many in the UN hold diplomatic immunity and even UN Peacekeepers have a form of diplomatic immunity in the countries they're deployed in.
5.
I see age of consent as an arbitrary measure. In Alabama and Georgia it's 16, 18 in a lot of other places. In Japan it's 13 (no wonder why everyone is obsessed with school girls there), and 13 in a lot of European countries too.
So I believe there isn't any "moral" reasoning behind the age-of-consent. Just crossing a border can make sex illegal (or legal) with your 16-year old girlfriend.
@SJ:
Just because there are differing age-of-consent laws doesn't mean this isn't a moral issue. On the contrary, it's one of the only areas where all the U.S. moralizing about sexuality actually hits the mark.
The only salient moral variable of sexuality is consent. Just as a minor can't knowingly enter into a work or financial contract, a 13 year old simply isn't capable of entering into a consenting relationship with a 45 year old. If two 13 year olds want to get it on, I'm OK with it (morally, anyway. I definitely wouldn't let my kids do that, if I had any). There is no inherent imbalance of power there.
Even the Danish laws, which allow a 15-year-old to enter unfettered into a sexual relationship regardless of the age of their partner, are overly permissive, I think. The potential for a 16 year old to be manipulated by a sexual relationship with a 45-year-old is very high. I think it's fair for the law to allow an age range (15 year olds can date people from 12-25, for example), but not open up the floodgates until they hit 18. I think this is one of those 'please, won't someone think of the CHILDREN' issues that really makes sense.
Is the film 'Vers le Sud' ('Heading South')?
Age of consent up here in Canada is 14 (for now). But, if you're a teacher or a coach or, you know, Dad, then you're legally abusing your position as a figure of authority. That said, any time some female teacher gets her rocks off with a 15 year-old student who can barely grow a mustache - well, nobody seems to care about that. Why's it only when dudes prey on little girls or boys that everyone freaks out?
Why's it only when dudes prey on little girls or boys that everyone freaks out?
Dude preying on little girl/boy = pervert.
Dudette preying on little boy = male fantasy. Complete patriarchal double-standard, natch.
Hmmm.
ABC News 20/20 U.N. Sex Crimes in Congo
The sad thing is that there really isn't any serious punishment of these crimes. In most cases there's a quick coverup and everybody tries to forget anything happened. And the few instances where someone gets punished it's mostly for show.
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