Peek-a-boo. I see you.
Would you view this with your mother? What kind of question is that? If people have to ask that question, then nine times out of ten they are doing something wrong. In the essay "Would You View This With Your Mother?," Emilio Bombay answers the question sent in to his advice column by a reader: "What is the law regarding the viewing of sexually explicit material on the Internet?" (210). Bombay answers the reader, saying "[You raise] issues not only about the appropriateness of sexual imagery retrieved on a browser and loaded into the hard-drive cache, but also the fact that there is no privacy when online or searching Web sites" (210).
Bombay's opinion is, "[Viewing sexually explicit material] is pretty much legal until your mother catches you" (210). As a mother of two small children, I do not agree with Bombay's flippant answer. I am very concerned about the future of the Internet. Computers are quickly becoming a prominent fixture in society's culture. The Internet is becoming society's number one choice for literary and visual entertainment. Human interaction is taking on a new form as Internet surfers increasingly prefer to interact over the Internet from the privacy of their homes instead of interacting face to face. This kind of interaction concerns me because it is easy for people to hide their identites behind the blinking screen of computers.
How can I protect my children from the prying eyes and preying nature of a child molester if I cannot see him or her with my own eyes? To protect my children from harm, I heavily rely on my maternal instincts and intuition. I need to look into people's eyes to see their true intentions. I can watch the way people look at my children and immediately know if they can be trusted. By watching facial expressions, I can see if people are watching my children with adult interest or with adult lust. As a mother I have many talents, but seeing through a computer is not one of them. It is my job to protect my children from wily predators.
I am dismayed that a professional like Bombay would respond to his reader, "If you are a perv, and you think that the Supreme Court's ruling that the Constitution's guarantee of freedom of speech extends to the Internet, gives you the right to collect patently illegal smut like child porn, just send me your address and I'll come over and perform a little reprogramming your computer will never forget" (210). Bombay, shame on you. To all the Internet sex perverts out there, beware, because I am watching you.
Bombay, Emilio. "Would You View This With Your Mother?" CyberReader. 2nd ed. Ed. Victor J. Vitanza. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 1999. 210-211.
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