The JonBenet case, examined. By James R. Kincaid - Slate Magazine
I have to say that Kincaid is correct -- Americans sexualize our children at very young ages thereby guaranteeing the spectacular coverage of JonBenet's case. We worship youth, don't we? And isn't that worship partly responsible for JonBenet's popularity as well as her murder?
The JonBenet case, examined. By James R. Kincaid - Slate Magazine
posted by Eric 3.0 @ 11:24 PM
1 Comments:
Eric, I don't think I'm willing to go that far. Because I'm taking a "wait and see" attitude toward Karr, who has "confessed" to murdering her, I'm not willing to say that her parading around was responsible for her death. I don't think we've learned everything yet.
I have seen girls as small as three years old flirting with their uncles and even their dads. And, believe me, no one taught them to do that. I think it's a natural attempt to get attention and, to some degree at least, control over the parent or relative. Depending on the way a parent handles the situation, there's no harm done. I'm pretty sure the Ramseys saw JonBenet's beauty pageant route as a harmless way for their daughter to "show off," and not as making her an object of desire for adult males.
If she hadn't been murdered, no one would have given her pageant activities a second thought. But, ever since her death, there's always been a suspicion, fed by the media, that it was somehow the result of that pageant career.
But, was it? We don't know. IF Karr proves to be the murderer, there's a possibility he saw her at school. Or in a grocery store or her own back yard.
There are thousands of other kids who are raped and killed and have not been a beauty queen; who have not been "eroticized," as Kincaid says. Yet, for whatever reason, they attracted the attention of someone who did see them as sexual objects.
Personally, I am not intrigued by the JonBenet case for the sexual aspect of it, but because it plays out like a locked-room mystery. It has all the aspects of fiction, yet we know it is fact. I think the beauty pageant theme may well prove to be a red herring. I also think Kincaid's analysis of our motives are overly simplistic.
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