Changes in our Society...good or bad? Thoughts for discussion.

[marianne202]

Ok, so I had a very unique experience today and I thought it might be a good topic for some fun discussion. I took my 14 yr old daughter and her friend to Animazement today. This is an Anime convention with just under 8,000 attendees. I know they have Comi-Con and several other Anime conventions like this one. Prior to today I was a "Con virgin" as they put it! I'm 48 and while I like some Anime and have been watching it with my kids for years, I was surprised by all the various age groups represented as well as the varied costumes. It was an eye opening experience.

I don't remember anything similar when I was a kid. In my day, aside from a David Cassidy concert when I was 8 or 9 or Rocky Horror Picture show, I have nothing similar for comparison of the passion of fans. I did see some behavior that I was not thrilled with, a lot of cross-dressing which is fine, but there was some lesbian kissing and activities for pictures etc, that I thought was inappropriate for some of the young fans to see. I have lesbian friends and I'm far from a prude, but I just wonder if this was appropriate in such a forum with a lot of young kids. I saw kids there as young as 4 or so. It is ok to have girls cross-dressing as male characters then passionately kissing each other, grabbing each other etc? I also saw young girls binding their breast to cross dress as male characters.

Is this ok for our young minds? My daughter admitted up front that some of the behavior was inappropriate, but she is very mature and we have talked about these types of situations and personal choices, again, I have friends that fall into the gay, lesbian and transgender category. But I do worry about those young people who haven't had such discussions with their parents. Some of the costumes were outlandish to say the least. Some were beautiful and creative! A panel discussion talked about an Anime character being brutally raped. This is a far cry from the Yogi Bear, Bugs Bunny, Scooby Doo animation I grew up on! So my question is, as a society are we becoming more accepting or are we just forcing more onto the public whether they accept it or not? What about potential harm...is there any? Let the discussion begin!