Here's an old 1950's film designed to educate the public. Of course, my problem isn't with the message for kids to be careful of strangers. It's with the terminology suggesting that "the homosexual" has a "mental illness" and the inference that it causes this kind of behavior. Absolutely outrageous!
6 comments:
I can't believe they have these things out there....I'm soo glad I live in the 21st Century!
Some days I don't know how you guys do it. Seriously. Cruelty even reaches forward from the past.
Wow.
The polly-anna music in the background makes it even weirder...
I wonder if the narrator was deliberately trying to sound like Rod Serling in a Twillight Zone episode? Or was that the generic voice-over style for paranoia in the 50s?
hehe, yes, we've come along way since the 1950's. and at the same time, i think there is still a perception in *some* parts of our country that do think that "the homosexual" and "the pedophile" are the same thing. maybe it's just politically incorrect to say that out loud, but it's there. in fact, sometimes it's even said out loud.
zeke- your compassion and acknowledgement of our presence (and struggle) in this world and in the Church is a huge step in the right direction!
abigail- LOL. yeah, the music that seemed so cheerful in the context of a dangerously important subject for kids was really weird. and now that you mention it, the narrator did sound like the Twilight Zone guy! maybe it WAS the Twilight Zone - a place and time when all of "the homosexuals" are dangerous stalkers.
sigh.
I wonder if the producers of that film or the people who commissioned its production realized that the schools kids went to, were filled with gays and lesbians.
They were their teachers!
I knew several retired teachers that are gay and life wasn’t easy at those times. When my father was a young man in the late ‘50’s he ran into a former teacher with his lover. Luckily for the teacher who was still working at time, my father is a tolerant man.
Dave
I think the film itself is excellent and the message is good. Of course, the phrase "the homosexual" should be changed to "the pedophile".
I am gay and, when I was a pre-teen, I found myself in a situation very similar to the very first story -- except that I never told anybody and the man was never charged. I had no idea that it was even possible!
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