Do not make 2023 the year to normalize child sex abuse

Florida Gators quarterback Jalen Kitna was arrested recently on the shocking charge of allegedly possessing child pornography and was dismissed from the football team. While Kitna is presumed innocent, his story underscores a disturbing problem in America: pedophilia and attempts to normalize it.

One might expect normalizing such vile behavior from child molesters and porn stars. But the fashion industry has been doing its best to make pedophilia socially acceptable at every level of society with scarcely a critical word from the fawning journalists who cover them.

For example, luxury fashion brand Balenciaga has come under fire for glamorizing pedophilia through a new ad campaign showing two very young girls holding stuffed teddy bears dressed in bondage gear. Hardly coincidentally, the fashion company had another ad showcasing a luxury handbag resting on papers containing what appears to protest a 2008 Supreme Court ruling on a child pornography case.

For Balenciaga’s ads even to see the light of day, dozens of company creative directors, web designers, and copywriters had to sign off on content that overtly sexualizes children. One might wonder how a luxury fashion brand such as Balenciaga maintains such a low bar for marketing decisions.

Sadly, fashionistas have long considered pedophilia to be en vogue. Britney Spears, for instance, was featured in revealing attire on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine at the young age of 17, in which she was in bed holding a Teletubby. Likewise, French Vogue featured child models in 2011.

The fashion industry is clearly capitalizing on the vices of a culture addicted to the consumption of pornographic images. There were at least 30 child pornography sites on the dark web in 2019, according to the FBI.

Between 2018 and 2019, the number of photos and videos marked as child sexual abuse by technology firms has reportedly more than doubled to 45 million . Meanwhile, as companies such as Balenciaga attempt to normalize child pornography, prosecutions for the crime decreased by 36% between fiscal 2016 and 2020.

The rampant endorsement of pedophilia by the world’s elite not only enables perpetrators but sends a clear message to young people that such depraved behavior is acceptable and expected. Most people are undoubtedly outraged by this, but if we don’t make our voices heard loudly and repeatedly, the innocence of children will continue to be exploited, threatened, and attacked.

R&I ~ TUS