Children's Sexuality and the New Information Technology: a Foucaultian Approach
| DOI | 10.1177/096466399400300107 |
| Author | Lee Tien |
| Date | 01 March 1994 |
| Published date | 01 March 1994 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
121-
CHILDREN’S
SEXUALITY
AND
THE
NEW
INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY: A
FOUCAULTIAN
APPROACH
LEE
TIEN
Universtty
of California,
Berkeley
~ ~
INTRODUCTION
OUCAULT
HAS
ARGUED
that ’sexuality
is
not
feared
by
power,
and
instead,
is
far
more
a
means
through
which
power
is
exercised’
(1980:117).
Sexuality
is
’useful
for
the
greatest
number
of
maneuvers
and
capable
of
serving
as
a
point
of
support,
as
a
linchpin
for
the
most
varied
strategies’
(Foucault,
1980:103).
This
paper
adapts
Foucault’s
analysis
of
one
particular
construct
of
sexuality-
children’s
sexuality -
and
argues
that
it
is
being
used
to
regulate
both
the
uses
and
the
structure
of
electronic
information
technologies,
from
broadcasting
to
computers.
While
Foucault’s
original
analysis
centered
on
the
utility
of
the
nineteenth-century
campaign
against
child
masturbation
in
reorganizing
re-
lations
between
the
body
of
the
child
and
parents,
educators
and
medical
professionals,
my
analysis
focuses
on
a
different
set
of
power-effects
which
are
produced
by
the
intersection
of
child
sexuality
and
these
new
technologies.
The
new
information
technologies
provide
a
new
public
space
for
the
articulation
of
concerns
about
children’s
sexuality,
as
well
as
new
possibilities
for
regulation
and
social
control.
For
the
purposes
of
this
paper,
I
will
take
the
concern
over
children’s
sexuality
to
denote
two
specific
concerns:
first,
that
children
will
be
exposed
to
sexually
SOCIAL
&
LEGAL
STUDIES
(SAGE,
London,
Thousand
Oaks
and
New
Delhi),
Vol.
3
(1994), 121-147
122
oriented
materials;
and
second,
that
children
will
be
sexually
exploited
by
adults.
The
latter
concern
is
addressed
here
in
terms
of
child
pornography.’
1
These
effects
fall
into
two
major
categories.
First,
there
has
been
a
fairly
conspicuous
effect
in
the
nature
of
censorship. These
censorship
effects
are
more
complex
than
the
mere
extension
of
prohibitions,
however.
The
traditional
monolithic
core
of
sex-oriented
censorship,
obscene
expression,
has
been
subdivided
into
three
parts,
and
the
sum
of
these
parts
has
expanded
the
range
of
speech
subject
to
sex-oriented
regulation.
In
addition
to
obscenity,
we
now
have
indecent
expression,
which
is
somewhat
protected
by
the
First
Amendment,
and
child
pornography,
which
is
less
protected
by
the
First
Amendment
than
obscenity.
This
subdivision
of
obscenity
corresponds
to
concerns
about
child
sexuality.
Indecency
corresponds
to
exposure;
child
pornography
to
exploi-
tation.
In
each
area
the
new
technologies
are
found
to
be
disturbing.
The
category
of
indecency
is
grounded
in
concern
about
children’s
increased
access
to
sexual
materials
through
the
new
information
technologies
(Park,
1988;
Sporn,
1985;
Reiss,
1989).
The
category
of
child
pornography
draws
strength
from
fear
of
adults’
ability
to
use
the
new
information
technologies
to
prey
upon
children.
Traditional
spatial-physical
means
of
segregation,
access
control
and
dissemi-
nation
are
thereby
negated;
the
risks
to
children
are
increased.
Second,
there
have
been
less
conspicuous
social
control
effects.
These
effects
are
grounded
in
censorship,
that
is,
the
restriction
of
communication
but,
at
a
local
level,
take
concrete
shape
in
the
form
of
technological
restructuring
and
mandated
or
encouraged
information
gathering
by
private
information
utilities.
These
social
control
effects
have
been
called
’the
new
surveillance’
(Marx,
1988: 206-33).
Like
the
reworking
of
obscenity
and
its
censorship
effects,
these
social
control
effects
also
depend
on
the
existence
and
features
of
the
new
technologies.
But
here
technology
is
part
of
the
solution;
the
regulatory
techniques
use
computers
to
implement
social
control.
Because
electronic
interactions
can
be
’tracked’,
focus has
shifted
in
the
direction
of
surveillance
and
related
techniques
of
discipline.
Thus,
telephone
’dial-a-porn’
services
which
provide
indecent
materials
are
required
to
obtain
information
from
potential
users
in
order
to
ascertain
whether
they
are
adults.2
Broadcast
technology
is
presently
less
susceptible
to
this
kind
of
tracking,
however.
The
deployment
of
these
techniques
has
three
significant
features.
First,
discipline
now
extends
to
informational
space.
The
overall
regulatory
structure
both
censors
and
gathers
information.
Second,
the
enclosed
space
is
greater.
Obscenity
excluded
speech
within
its
domain
entirely.
Indecency
includes
certain
sexual
speech
within
First
Amendment
protection,
but
at
a
price.
This
effect
is
most
evident
for
telephonic
indecency.
In
controlling
children’s
access
to
this
speech,
the
procedures
are
deployed
so
as
to
reach
adults
as
well.
Because
adults
and
children
cannot
easily
be
electronically
distinguished,
policing
children’s
access
results
in
policing
adult
access.
Not
only
must
adults
prove
that
they
are
entitled
to
receive
indecent
materials,
structural
barriers
have
been
erected
to
facilitate
denial
of
access
by
children
to
’dial-a-porn’
services.
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