Lewis Carroll: WOMAN

[hooplala]

One look at her hand on his shoulder should blast any ideas that the image wasn't shopped.  I mean, come on.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

One look at her hand on his shoulder should blast any ideas that the image wasn't shopped. I mean, come on.

I know, right? 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Here's the source image for Carroll:

[hooplala]

I have to question the motivation for whoever shopped that image.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

So you're saying the Straight Dope was on Dope?

[hooplala]

If they are basing their opinion on that image, then hell yes.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Here is the transcript and supporting statistics of a very good talk given by Edward Wakeling: http://www.lewiscarroll-site.com/

[Lies]

Here's the source image for Carroll:

Your detective skills and logic and reasoning appear to be functioning well.

You win.

To be honest, I was never entirely sure and haven't made up my mind to date, I was just throwing the other side out there.
I'll agree, he probably wasn't that bad, he just enjoyed the company of little girls, good on him.

I'm sure he was his eras Michael Jackson in a ways.
No offense to Michael, I don't think he molested kids but he really liked having them, uh, close, and people took advantage of him cus he was a freak and people knew he was willing to settle if they threatened him with court.

Sorry, probably a bit of an irrelevant tangent, but I just thought I'd get that off my chest.
I like Michael Jackson. There I said it.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

The interesting thing is that he only became "creepified" in retrospect, after the social mores changed and images of nude children started being perceived, instead of icons of purity and innocence as they were in Carroll's time, as kiddie porn material. During his time it was considered far more scandalous (and there is evidence that his falling-out with the Liddell family was over this) that he might be using the innocent companionship of the children as an "in" with which to woo the governess.

In this day and age, it is considered peculiar for men to have child friends. Oddly, it is not considered peculiar for women to have child friends, perhaps because it's a reflection of the assumption of "maternal instinct".

[Cramulus]

is it still considered sex if the child's entire body passes through your vagina?

[Lies]

is it still considered sex if the child's entire body passes through your vagina?

Well, it is a fact that some women do get off while giving birth...

[Mangrove]

In the late nineteenth century,"Age of consent" referred to the legal age at which a girl could consent to sexual relations. Men who engaged in sexual relations with girls who had not reached the age of consent could be criminally prosecuted. American reformers were shocked to discover that the laws of most states set the age of consent at the age of ten or twelve, and in one state, Delaware, the age of consent was only seven. Women reformers and advocates of social purity initiated a campaign in 1885 to petition legislators to raise the legal age of consent to at least sixteen, although their ultimate goal was to raise the age to eighteen. The campaign was eventually quite successful; by 1920, almost all states had raised the age of consent to sixteen or eighteen.

http://womhist.alexanderstreet.com/teacher/aoc.htm

Some perspective on 19th century law, changing attitudes etc.

[hooplala]

is it still considered sex if the child's entire body passes through your vagina?

Well, it is a fact that some women do get off while giving birth...

Do tell...

[Lies]

is it still considered sex if the child's entire body passes through your vagina?

Well, it is a fact that some women do get off while giving birth...

Do tell...

http://www.orgasmicbirth.com/

Need I say more?

[Rococo Modem Basilisk]

The editor of The Annotated Alice has something to say on this subject (with citations from his letters and such), but my copy is at home. I will find it and retype it later.