does anyone else think it was wrong that the kid brought the magazine to the school?  I don't agree with the punishment...I think it should be confiscated on first offense, and then go to the alternative school on a SECOND offense.  I also know a lot of people are going to say "Hey, it's just SI!"...but give me a break.  The swimsuit issue is infamous.  It is soft-core porn, and even though a kid can buy it, I don't think it has a place in a school, ESPECIALLY a middle school, where kids are in puberty.  

I just think it sends the wrong message for a kid to be reading this around other kids of all persuasions.  Don't get me wrong...I am no prude, and I don't have a problem with a kid looking at the mag.  I would rather have a minor look at Playboy than watch a movie with unnecessarily violence and killing in it ANY DAY.  I just think it didn't belong in school, and I am curious what y'all think.

I'm not sure I agree though I do respect your opinion and have some feelings that sway that way myself.  There is an undercurrent of sexual harassment to bringing such a thing to school.  On the other hand, I was the one bringing smutty books to school with the naughty bits underlined to show my friends.  However, I think things like this show up in inappropriate places all the time.  It happens.  It's life.  I see it as the perfect opportunity to introduce a discussion about images of men and women in our society and the impact that those images have on society and our everyday thinking.  I don't think it's appropriate to take action against the student except to explain to him/her why something like that is innapropriate in a school setting.

...there was no SI swimsuit issue, so I had to stick to Playboy. Back then, nobody would bring soft-core porn to school, because they knew it would get confiscated, plus they would get a trip to see the shop teacher and his specially constructed paddle (the one with the holes drilled in it.) Simple, but effective.

Yeah, I realize that corporal punishment had its day and no longer makes sense in schools, but one wonders sometimes if we have made any real progress.

More importantly, an incident like this would not make the national news 40 years ago.

This is a problem in the good ol U S of A.  The message sent is that this is something vile.  Or something wrong.  What's the big deal?  It's precisely our obsession with making something like this mag a ooh and ahh issue to be peeked at behind the barn that leads to bizarre behavior around sex.  It's human nature to want what you can't have.  So if you make it hush  hush then the curiosity factor goes up.

In Sweeden the teen pregnancy rate is vastly lower than here because the kids have open discussion and access to a normal human function.  It gives them control.

A detention would have been fine...come on world...what are we coming to.

Shaye

Hey, me and every other boy in my school had pictures of the SI girls on the inside of our lockers (Paulina and Kathy Ireland were the babes of the day back then in the early 80's).

One of these years we as a society will learn to relax about these things.  I fear it will not be in our lifetimes unfortunately.....

If the kid had brought a manual by the Nation of Islam on how to violently destroy the western Judao-Christian culture the teachers that raised this fuss would be fired and the boy heralded as a champion of first amendment rights. The boys mistake was he chose to indulge in what unfortunately is still considered "politically Incorrect"

  CTToI.

So now he gets 3 days off from school to stay home and jack off to his swimsuit issue!  Yeahhhh, the school superintendent showed him and his mom who's in charge!!!

I agree that any type of soft or hard-core pornography should not be allowed in the school environment. However, scold the kid by calling his parents, confiscate the magazine and give him a second chance. How many of us were inquisitive when we were young (and still are)?

Hugs,
Ciara

No teacher wants to be the one that missed the lunatic that goes on to do something horrible. They don't want the TV to say "if she had just taken the mag the freshman class would still be virgins or something"

Hear-hear, LJ.

It IS the perfect opportunity to introduce that kind of discussion, and one would hope that the national news media attention would inspire just such discussions in classrooms all across the country.

Yoda

Get your tongue out of your cheek, buddy (or is that LJ's cheeks? .  You and I both know that the day the national media inspires ANY healthy discussion of sex education will be the day that
droids master The Force.

As LJ implied, there are other ways to look at it, and Goddess knows that I would love to think that we, as a society, could not be so hung up about sex and nudity.  However, I guess it is the whole aura around the "Swimsuit Issue", an aura that anyone in this country that is sentient is aware of, of it being "something for the guys locker room".  As such, I don't find it being read potentially in front of sixth grade girls who may be vulnerable about their own appearance and about what men think to be the most advisable thing.  I mean, not all middle school girls can be sexually liberated and little hotties like LJ.

Heh-heh...

I think you'd be surprised at the discussions that happen on an impromptu basis in the classroom.  Kids pay attention, and they do look to the adults in their lives for guidance.  Teachers do have a tremendous influence, more than merely academic.  

I did not intend to imply that teachers would read this news item and take it into class as an opportunity to start a frank, open discussion about how the sexes view each other and societal double standards.  The Swimsuit Issue is not likely to be considered "training material" in any serious way in any sex education syllabus any time soon...it's that Puritanical background we can't seem to shake in this country.

What I hoped a reader would infer from my previous post was that students might see or hear about this item because of its presence in the national media and take it into the classroom as an "ambush" discussion...there are still some teachers who will devote classroom time when the students want to debate an issue.  (I can think of at least three of my daughter's teachers who would run with it, stopping short of actually passing around the magazine, which isn't really necessary for a good discussion, anyway.)  It's a great way to get the students INVOLVED.

No, I wrote what I wrote in support of Lily June because she made a valid point about societal rules and body self-image.  LJ may be a sexually liberated little hottie, but she is also a very smart, socially conscious person who has earned my utmost respect.  

Absolutely no tongue-in-cheek intended.

Yoda

-- Modified on 2/26/2004 5:02:20 AM