It wasn’t all that long ago that Donna Reed was wearing pearls and pumps while cutting primroses from the garden. I understand that there have been many changes since that day. Many of them are good, some of them are bad, but the world is a very different place than that of “Leave It To Beaver.” Unfortunately, one of the good things left behind in this metamorphosis of time, is innocence. At one time, children (and adults for that matter) had the good fortune of being oblivious to many things with which they seem to be bombarded with now. In those days, if you wanted to find pornography or an article regarding sex outside of marriage, you had to look pretty hard. Now, all you have to do is push a button. All too often, the innocence of a child is destroyed by a little internet curiosity.
And the effects of these changes aren’t limited to children, as my fellow blogger and author Ann Jackson knows; she recently wrote in her blog about how she was featured in the Australian version of Cosmopolitan Magazine about an internet pornography addiction. Last time I checked, Cosmo is not a Christian publication. This is bigger than a religious problem. This is a moral and a wisdom problem. We have made this type of material too accessible for our own good, and many people have life lasting scars to prove it.
What does this have to do with BlogHer? Last week, while attending a conference, I quickly checked my Facebook account. As I did, I found that BlogHer was featuring an article from their “Love and Sex” category. The article was about how to decide whether or not a person should engage in a “threesome”.
I have no opinion regarding BlogHer having a portion of their website devoted to this type of article. BlogHer doesn’t profess to have any religious affiliation, therefore, I can not expect for them to share my Christian viewpoint. As some of my dear readers pointed out, morality can not be legislated. I can not expect the world to have my convictions. What I do take issue with, is their decision to advertise these type of articles on Facebook. Facebook should be a place where organizations of reputation are responsible enough to keep things at PG level. Children and adults alike should not have to be bombarded by articles regarding sexual preference while checking a social networking site.
Another one of my blogging friends, Lady Tam from The Lady Expounds wrote this blog in response to my original post. In it, she makes some very valid arguments. However, I want to make it clear that I am not trying to keep BlogHer from publishing this type of article, but rather from advertising it on Facebook.
When I commented on their choice of articles featured on Facebook, this was the response:”we publish blog posts that are of interest to a wide variety of women and the number of posts about sex (of any kind) is small compared to the huge numbers of posts on other subjects.”
BlogHer is an excellent tool for us as bloggers. As stated above, they want to appeal to every type of blogger. This is fine. Regardless of the comments posted on this particular Facebook thread, I still believe that the average American agrees that this type of blog post should not be advertised to the masses, and made easily available through Facebook. As they stated themselves, the number of posts regarding this type of behavior is small. So, why advertise them to the masses? I’d venture to say many people are offended by having something of this type show up on their newsfeed. It seems like poor business practice to push this type of article.
Please feel free to contact BlogHer and let them know how you feel about them using Facebook to advertise this type of article.
What do you believe about legislation of morality? Is there a morality apart from Christianity? Who or what determines it?
Next week: Why People Over Forty Are In Shock. (I’ll be answering some more of Lady Tam’s questions)
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