A&F shouldn’t censor adult content for kids

Ward is a fourth-year communications student.  

By Alicia Ward

Bare bottoms, bare chests, washboard abs and seductive poses.
You might be thinking of Playboy or your favorite nudey magazine.
Think again. You can find what I’ve listed here and more in
this summer’s Abercrombie & Fitch catalog. The casual
clothing company, notorious for its idealization of all-American
college coeds, has raised some controversy over the past four years
with its quarterly catalogs. Organizations such as the American
Decency Association, as well as several state attorney generals
have mobilized to boycott A&F, citing unethical marketing
practices and the catalog’s easy accessibility to minors as
their reasons. The battle continues this summer as A&F refuses
to cool down its hot and steamy quarterly.

Looking through the racy pages, one will see female breasts,
nude backsides, the embrace of a naked couple and barely covered
models frolicking on the beach. Sure, it’s natural to worry
that underage children will try to purchase the adult-only catalog.
But who is ultimately responsible for such children? Christian
groups, such as the ADA, that usually advocate family autonomy and
control, now say it’s the government’s job. But they
can’t have it both ways. When a watchful eye is needed, we
must look to the parent.

Children are not as sheltered as we’d like to think. They
can see partial nudity and references to sex everyday on TV
commercials. From Victoria’s Secret’s “All you
see is curves” campaign to the Herbal Essence commercials
with women moaning in pleasure over a shampoo, we see that sex is
everywhere in advertising. Alluding to sex, even in the slightest
way, can popularize a company’s product. More of us than
would like to admit can recite the “I’ve got the urge
to Herbal” jingle on demand. Sex, nudity and all the
“naughty” stuff is what catches our eye and lures us to
the store. But unlike those examples, you have to be 18 to buy the
A&F catalog. Proof of age is required at the time of purchase
and all catalogs are shrink-wrapped to prevent underage prying. But
if minors want to steal copies of the catalog or get an adult to
buy it for them, there is not much A&F can do to stop them. If
kids can find a way to get their hands on a Playboy (and many do),
then they can just as easily find an A&F catalog. We
don’t look to the government to ban Playboy or expect Playboy
to censor itself because of this fact. The A&F quarterly is
quite risqué, but the fact that minors try to purchase it
illegally is not an issue for A&F or for the government,
it’s an issue for the parents.

In many cases, groups of the political far right like the ADA,
oppose governmental involvement in the private lives of citizens.
Christian groups believe in local, parental control of education
and disapprove of the government’s involvement in school
organization and curriculum. Many conservatives also object to gun
control, citing the right to bear arms and the right to protect
their families as rationales. Moreover, conservative organizations
want the government to ease the tax burden on families. If the ADA
is anti-government regulation, why is it okay for the government to
regulate A&F? In this case, it’s because that regulation
favors the ADA. When a regulation hurts the ADA or goes against its
moral beliefs, then that regulation is supposedly wrong.

Yes, people do have a right to bear arms, but on that same note,
people, including A&F, have a right to freedom of speech and
expression. In other words, as long as A&F abides by the law
(which it has), it has the right to publish anything it wants.

According to the ADA and its members, A&F’s use of
nudity is the courier of evil, the means through which children are
demonized. This is not a joke. On the ADA Web site, Bill Johnson,
president of the organization, posts this message, “We as
Christians have to ask ourselves, do I have a distaste for evil? If
I’m not indignant over this, does that mean that I need
refreshing from the Holy Spirit?” Does this mean that those
of us not appalled by the A&F catalog are evil and in need of
soul saving?

Trying to scare religion into society, A&F or the government
isn’t going to work. If parents want to prevent their kids
from seeing the A&F catalog, they should do so ““ but
it’s their job and no one else’s.

According to Martha Kleder’s article in Culture and Family
Report, “Abercrombie & Fitch sells more sex than clothes
this summer,” Reverend Steve Troglio, an anti-A&F
activist and pastor in Chicago, teaches that “(A&F) are
predators and they are after (our) kids.” This is twisted
logic. A&F employees are not standing on street corners
throwing out free copies of the catalog, let alone forcing kids to
look at the sexy pictures. On the contrary, the children are the
ones seeking out the catalog. Conservative groups even affirm this
fact. For example, in Kleder’s same article, Catherina
Hurlburt with Concerned Women for America is quoted as stating,
“A&F says clerks must check the age of customers who
request the quarterly. But that’s not a difficult hurdle for
an intrigued, 16-year-old guy with college-age friends to help
him.” So, minors are the ones engaging in illegal practices,
not A&F. Groups like Culture and Family and the ADA will do
anything to make their opponents look like the bad guys. My
question is, aren’t the bad guys the parents who allow their
16-year-olds to cavort with adult college students? Once again,
this seems like a parental problem.

So, what to do? We can’t very well follow kids to the mall
every time they go. We can’t lock them in their rooms
forever. But one thing is for sure ““ we can’t force the
government or A&F into moral regulation. Just as the ADA, the
Christian Coalition, and Culture and Family have the right to voice
their opinions, so does A&F. Maybe you can buy one of
A&F’s catalogs and selectively show your kids some of the
sexy pictorials. After they see what all the hoopla is about, maybe
their interests in the forbidden will fade. Maybe not.

Whatever parents decide to do, they should keep something in
mind ““ the choice and the responsibility is theirs.