About a month ago, I wrote a post about the exploits of CT's Tammy Imre, an ex-model who was arrested for allegedly engaging in a sexual relationship with an 8 year old boy. In that entry, I handled the event with kid gloves, suggesting that the kid was a stud and that if Imre's actions constituted abuse, I'd sure be down for some abuse! Of course, I was kidding, but Dee took offense at what I wrote. I promised her a response of some sort. So here's that. And forgive me if it's not very eloquently written; I'm quite tired at the moment.

First of all, I do not condone child molestation and (active) pedophilia in the least. I will admit that what Imre did was sick (though I think the boy probably enjoyed her actions more than a little bit). But for some reason, when I read that article -- as I noted in that entry -- I wasn't repulsed, but amused. Highly amused. Because for some reason, depending on the situation, child molestation is perceived as being funny.

In the case of Imre, the reasons are obvious -- it's funny because, at least from the boy's imagined perspective, we can relate. I don't know how it is for little girls, but I know that as a youth (and through high school) I had slight crushes on several of my teachers -- or at least I thought that they were hot -- such that if they had approached me in a sexual manner, there's a good chance I would've taken them up on the offer. And does anyone remember "Dawson's Creek"? What was the main draw of that show in the beginning? Was it Dawson and Joey's seemingly star-crossed love? No! It was Pacey fucking his teacher! Because many of us were living vicariously through Pacey. And in college, I believe Joey had a sexual relationship with one of her professors -- which is more/less another side of the same two-headed coin (though she was a little older by that point). But I digress. Another funny thing about the Imre incident, of course, is that males are generally perceived as the sexual aggressors -- so it's kinda hilarious to imagine this 8 year old boy seducing a 29 year old woman, and an ex-model at that! So not only was that little champ doing something that all of us have thought about doing at one time or another, but he was doing it before he even hit puberty! When one thinks about it like that, one can't help but chuckle.

But child molestation in other contexts can be funny too -- note that people are still cracking jokes about priests and little boys. Why? Again, because of the absurdity of the situation. Where before it was third graders seducing ex-models, here we have the good and chaste paragons of virtue and earthly messengers of God having their way with helpless little altar boys. Of course, there is ultimately nothing funny about a priest abusing his position in order to indulge his pedophilic desires, but the very twistedness of the scenario makes it amusing.

But mostly I think we find these kinds of things to be funny -- or at least aren't extremely repulsed by them, which would preclude us finding any humor in these situations -- is because it's difficult to relate to them. Unless you've experienced the abuse as a child, it's hard to see what could be so sick about being touched by an ex-model -- especially when you probably can't even remember a time during which you didn't fantasize about some form of arousing play with beautiful people. Again, with Imre, the fact that she was once a model comes into play here -- if she had been a hag, for instance, the situation would be a lot less amusing and a lot more revolting. And while we mostly respond with disgust when a male teacher or adult molests a young girl, I wonder if we'd find more than a little humor in the situation if the offender were, say, Pierce Brosnan or Tom Cruise. People were certainly amused by R. Kelly's affairs with young girls.

Hmmm... maybe aesthetics play a significant role in our perception of these crimes as well. Interesting. What do you think? Leave a comment!