A View From Riverside Drive

Commentary by Ed Hynes
November 2005

Amazon.com drops a 'Barbie' that was '4 hours of hard-core porn'

I have 11 grandchildren, six of them girls. At one time or another, the girls, like their mothers before them, might have been interested in Barbie dolls and all the accessories, and my wife would have gone shopping on occasion for an item or two in the vast Barbie line. I never did the Barbie shopping, but I went through the motions the other day when Morality in Media President Bob Peters asked me to look at item #18 on the list of "Barbie" DVDs at Amazon.com.

Item #18 was a shocker, to put it mildly, and Barbie doll was not the problem. She wasn't even involved.

Most of Amazon's "Barbie" DVD list consists of Barbie fairy tales and adventures - Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus, Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper, Barbie as Rapunzel, Barbie in the Nutcracker, and so forth. Number 18 had nothing to do with Barbie dolls.

The title of #18 was "Hardly Old Enough." The box cover shows photos of three young women, one exposing her bare buttocks, one fondling her bare breasts, and a third engaging in oral sex with a male. The cover also includes this copy:

"These Girls are ready to become SERIOUS SLUTS!!!" "18 ˝ BARELY LEGAL!!"

The photos and the words say that these are women who can be had because they're too young and inexperienced (not to say stupid) to know any better than to let themselves be used and abused - which tells you something about the miscreants who buy it.

The women in pornography don't have to be smart, or talented, or good, or lovable, or any of those qualities that make women worth pursuing, and loving, and respecting, and being with for the rest of your life. All they need is the usual assortment of female body parts. Brains and talent are not required. Personal commitment is out.

On the off chance that the cover photos and copy didn't make the sordid point sufficiently clear, the "Product Description" provides this additional information:

"4 hours of hard-core porn. These girls are ready to become serious sluts! So young you'll feel weird! XXX Action!"

On the face of it, that message, plus the cover photos and copy, describe sexual material that could be legally obscene, and if obscene, Amazon.com's knowing promotion of it could result in criminal charges - and a conviction - for violating federal obscenity laws.

The sale of this video also violated Amazon.com's own "Prohibited Content" policy which includes the following language:

Is My Item Allowed at Amazon.com?
….
Amazon.com Auctions and zShops adhere to a community standard that's probably about what you expect in your own community…Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the items we prohibit.

Pornography. Pornography; X-rated movies; home porn; hard-core material, including magazines, that depict graphic sexual acts; amateur porn; soiled undergarments; sexual aid devices; and "adult-only" novelty items that are primarily sold through adult-only novelty stores and erotic boutiques are not permitted…

"Hardly Old Enough" was hardly something to wrap in a gift box for your daughter or granddaughter. So how did Amazon.com decide to put it on the "Barbie" list for kids?

It got worse.

Amazon's practice is to invite visitors to "tell us what you think. Write a review of this item…" Amazon also provides an opportunity for youngsters to offer their opinion, and, unbelievably, they made no exception for "Hardly Old Enough." I clicked my way into the review process and found this immediately:

"Under 13? Use our Kids' Review Form."

At the form, waiting for "kids" who have volunteered to review "four hours of hard-core porn," I found this piece of absurd self-righteousness:

Amazon.com cares about children's privacy on the Internet. But we also care about freedom of expression and the exchange of ideas in a safe environment. That's why we've created this separate form for those under the age of 13. When children under 13 submit reviews for their favorite items, we won't ask for names or e-mail addresses, but we'll still enable them to share their opinions.

Amazon's hypocrisy continued in its list of what not to include in a review. On that list I found, "profanity, obscenities, or spiteful remarks."

So, here we have Amazon.com, purveyor of self-described hard-core porn in "Hardly Old Enough," telling the world, in effect, "We'll have none of that dirty talk, please."

I wrote to Jeffrey P. Bezos, the chief executive officer of Amazon.com, asking him to remove "Hardly Old Enough" from his web site out of respect for the law, for his customers, and for Amazon's own published corporate policy.

Days later, "Hardly Old Enough" was gone from the "Barbie" DVD list at Amazon.com.

Now that Mr. Bezos has done the right thing, you might want to send him a letter, thanking him for Amazon.com's policy against the sale of hard-core material and for pulling the plug on the sale of "Hardly Old Enough." In your own words, you can also reinforce the message: Don't mess with Barbie (and the children who love her), don't mess with established norms of public morality, and don't mess with the obscenity laws.

Here is his address:

Mr. Jeffrey P. Bezos
Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President
Amazon.com Inc.
1200 12th Avenue South
Suite 1200
Seattle, WA 98144-2734

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