Information Alert: Child Porn and Strippers at W&M

Victoria Cobb, President
Friday, March 13, 2009

The first sentence on the “About” webpage for The College of William and Mary reads, “We’re different, and we like it that way.” It’s true, William and Mary has achieved academic distinction, historic uniqueness, and a student body passionate about learning – an achievement and “difference” worthy of praise. But the most recent “difference” at this higher institution of learning is appalling.

You’ve undoubtedly heard of the Sex Workers’ Art Show, a show including performances by strippers and prostitutes that is about to make its infamous return to campus to disgrace the hallowed halls of learning with its brazen smut. But William and Mary did not stop there. Another event’s approaching appearance is somehow causing less of a public outcry despite having equally despicable credentials. It’s called “The Century Project.” It sounds academic or even historic, doesn’t it? Don’t be misled by its title.

This Monday, The Century Project will be on display for one week in W&M’s Muscarelle Art Museum, although it is far from art! Created by a previous Newsweek and Life photographer, Frank Cordelle, The Century Project displays photographs of naked women from birth to age 94 (hence “century”). Many of the photographed women have been through traumatic situations including breast cancer, rape, abuse, and anorexia and pose naked for this project to somehow mentally “conquer” their past. Mr. Cordelle says that he is trying to promote a “healthy alternative to the way in which women are represented in the media.” This is the guise Mr. Cordelle uses to rationalize his pornography. Brian Fries, a junior at the College who is leading the student opposition against the display, disagrees saying “I think there are other ways to empower women.”

The Century Project, invited to the College this year by a senior who herself posed nude for Mr. Cordelle when she was 17, is funded by $1,275 of tuition money. Parents of students writing tuition checks in the belief that their children are being provided with a well-rounded education should be appalled to learn where some of their money is actually going.

While there are many ethical problems with The Century Project, perhaps the largest is that the photographs of girls from birth to age 17 are blatant child pornography! Mr. Cordelle states that his photographs are not overtly sexual and thus are legal. He refuses to remove these pornographic photos of minors stating, “the entire female life cycle … doesn’t begin at age 18.” Furthermore, Mr. Cordelle admits that his photographs are “a valuable tool for sociopolitical purposes.” It’s unconscionable that children be exploited to gain political ground.

John Foubert, previously a W&M professor, perhaps best sums up The Century Project, “It is fundamentally unethical for institutions of higher education to pay men to take pictures of underage girls and display them and hide behind some trumped up definition of art.”

William and Mary should be as “different” as its website touts. Pro-family Virginians urge the leadership, for the sake of our children’s future, to stick to academic distinction and restrain from these vulgar, pornographic distractions.