Does anyone know any links or have any information about how Female Mods dress, have their make-up ect

Thank you!

I went through a mod phase as a teenager. Didn't last that long but I wore only black and white - save for my huge green fishtail parka :D Make-up, clothes hair etc kinda 60's style. Heavy eyeliner, pale lips, that kinda thing. This link seems not bad -

http://www.modculture.co.uk/index1.php

I have just had a quick glance at it but seems to be full of info. They have a chatroom and stuff too. Hope it helps. Welcome to the forum by the way :thumbsup:

Originally posted by cobaltblue
I went through a mod phase as a teenager. Didn't last that long but I wore only black and white - save for my huge green fishtail parka :D Make-up, clothes hair etc kinda 60's style. Heavy eyeliner, pale lips, that kinda thing. This link seems not bad -

http://www.modculture.co.uk/index1.php

I have just had a quick glance at it but seems to be full of info. They have a chatroom and stuff too. Hope it helps. Welcome to the forum by the way :thumbsup:



beat me to it,,i go on this forum as im a goth type gall.but this is very good to get info on all kinds of dress sence.

Originally posted by cobaltblue
I went through a mod phase as a teenager. Didn't last that long but I wore only black and white - save for my huge green fishtail parka :D Make-up, clothes hair etc kinda 60's style. Heavy eyeliner, pale lips, that kinda thing. This link seems not bad -

modculture

I have just had a quick glance at it but seems to be full of info. They have a chatroom and stuff too. Hope it helps. Welcome to the forum by the way :thumbsup:

I'm already registered on that website but thanks anyway!

Yeah just getting into Mod music and stuff, I was just wondering if anyone on here could help.

Originally posted by Mod2
I'm already registered on that website but thanks anyway!

Yeah just getting into Mod music and stuff, I was just wondering if anyone on here could help.



what are you wanting to know.i can help you out as my mate a mod.he male but has female friends too.but i know all the mod music they listen too.and anything els you want to know let me know and i can try help you out.

Originally posted by spinny
what are you wanting to know.i can help you out as my mate a mod.he male but has female friends too.but i know all the mod music they listen too.and anything els you want to know let me know and i can try help you out.


Well i wanted to know how they dress, how they have their make-up and hair.

I know all about how male Mods dress, but it isn't really any use to me lol

Originally posted by Mod2
Well i wanted to know how they dress, how they have their make-up and hair.

I know all about how male Mods dress, but it isn't really any use to me lol


i had a chat with my mate,said to have a look at this site,and look in the right hand side,this should help he thinks.


http://web.ask.co.uk/web?qsrc=6&q=History+of+Mods+Rockers&o=0

I've learned something new today - there are still Mods about?

I was one of the first Mods around in Sheffield... but that was in the 60s ...I wonder if any of the people that used to knock around down town are members on the Forum ...

Now that'd be an interesting meet ... :cool:


ps just came back to say that at first I though it was going to refer to female moderators, isn't that just Siân? Or is there another?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by spinny
[B]i had a chat with my mate,said to have a look at this site,and look in the right hand side,this should help he thinks.


Does your friend go on the forum :D

Originally posted by rubydazzler
I've learned something new today - there are still Mods about?

I was one of the first Mods around in Sheffield... but that was in the 60s ...I wonder if any of the people that used to knock around down town are members on the Forum ...

Now that'd be an interesting meet ... :cool:

Yeah maybe inspiring a new generation? Or going back, not sure on that.

yes have to look out for him.he not on line at moment,but his name is mrenza.. i know he be on line later tonight tho.

Originally posted by Mod2
Does anyone know any links or have any information about how Female Mods dress, have their make-up ect

Thank you!

I've been on this forum too much.

Thought you were taking the mickey out of the Moderators!

Originally posted by Mod2
Yeah maybe inspiring a new generation? Or going back, not sure on that.

They say fashions come around every 40 odd years ... although when i was a teenager, I never wanted to dress like my granny had done as a young girl ;) We did use to say we had the best clothes, the best hair and the best music , so no wonder they want to be like Mods were .... :P

I was really just thinking it'd be fun meeting some of the people i used to know in my youth ... i think the last time some of us met briefly was at something that Stringy arranged at the Leadmill - a Mojo reunion but that must have been 20 years ago now ...

eeeeekkkksss - where does the time go!:o

I'm not a Mod, but I love the female Mod look.

Much of this has been said already, but monochrome is THE Mod look. Black and white everywhere! Short skirts and jumpers with boots were a popular look - also shift dresses, A-line skirts, etc. Makeup - very pale, pink lips with heavily mascara'ed eyes and lots of black eyeliner. Plastic jewellery was also very popular.

Try watching "Quadrophenia" for ideas. Also Tara King in "The Avengers" often wore the mod look, I'd say. For make-up ideas, I think Julie Christie would be a good role model. Also Edie Sedgwick and Nico.

This site looks very useful -

www.sugarzine.com/site_08.03/fashion.html (http://www.sugarzine.com/site_08.03/fashion.html)

Hope that's helpful.

StarSparkle :)

A later female Mod look (probably mid 60s) was cashmere twinsets in pastel colours, pearls, mid calf tight tweed skirts with a long kick pleat at the back, worn with thick patterned stockings and lace up brogues with high heels and punched pattern vamps, very very short hair, lots of eye makeup and false lashes, palest pink lipstick. (think Jules Driscoll)

This was after the black and white and mondrian phase. Also blouses with frilled necklines with bows or baby doll collars, very tight sleeves with cuffs almost to the elbow with lots of little buttons, long droopy collars ... dropped waists with thin belts...,

Must remember to look out some pix ... Mods, female and male we were totally obsessed with clothes and hair and finding something different to wear each time we went out... how shallow, I hear you say ...

Originally posted by Deavon
I've been on this forum too much.

Thought you were taking the mickey out of the Moderators!

Don't worry, my heat befuddled brain was of the same opinion.

I was trying to work out why people wanted to dress like Sian.... :)

Not that Sian doesn't dress well.

Shall I shut up now before I put my foot well and truly in it?

:?

Joe

Originally posted by Mod2
Does anyone know any links or have any information about how Female Mods dress, have their make-up ect

Thank you!

http://photos.sheffieldforum.co.uk/displayimage.php?album=10&pos=8


Sorry. I'll get my coat, then.

Originally posted by StarSparkle

Try watching "Quadrophenia" for ideas

Oooh one of my favourites!

Yo Mod2 - Townsend likes looking at children - not a wholly suitable signature - what next Gary Glitter quotes :)

:loopy:

lol

i thought this was about the mods on here (moderators) who delete posts, close threads, ban me etc.



hmmmmmm

*wonders how they dress*

Originally posted by Internetowl
Yo Mod2 - Townsend likes looking at children - not a wholly suitable signature - what next Gary Glitter quotes :)

:loopy:


Do you know that for a fact?

He still makes good music

Originally posted by Deavon
I've been on this forum too much.

Thought you were taking the mickey out of the Moderators! Me too! I was going to say 'don't, they will have your guts for garters'

Mods were around in my day too - early eighties but I was into the punk thing.

Nothing is new, it just keeps going around in and out of fashion. Every 15 years or so a fashion pops back up again.

I loved the music but couldn't admit to it as a 14 year old punk - it would have brought shame on me!

As far as I remember the female mods wore black and white A line mini dresses that had big, bold, black and white squares on them, pointy toe kitten heals, lots of black eye liner and pale pink lipstick and they had short bobbed hair - controlled with lots of very strong hair spray!

Originally posted by tulip
Me too! I was going to say 'don't, they will have your guts for garters'

Mods were around in my day too - early eighties but I was into the punk thing.

Nothing is new, it just keeps going around in and out of fashion. Every 15 years or so a fashion pops back up again.

I loved the music but couldn't admit to it as a 14 year old punk - it would have brought shame on me!

As far as I remember the female mods wore black and white A line mini dresses that had big, bold, black and white squares on them, pointy toe kitten heals, lots of black eye liner and pale pink lipstick and they had short bobbed hair - controlled with lots of very strong hair spray!

but some bands were a bit of both.the jam, the chords, the modettes to name but 3, seemed to fit into both camps

Originally posted by Internetowl
Yo Mod2 - Townsend likes looking at children - not a wholly suitable signature - what next Gary Glitter quotes :)

:loopy: Was he found guilty of that? I'm not trying to start a row, I'm just curious - I don't get to hear much about England due to where I live!

Originally posted by tulip
Was he found guilty of that? I'm not trying to start a row, I'm just curious - I don't get to hear much about England due to where I live!

NO!!

Nothing

Originally posted by melthebell
but some bands were a bit of both.the jam, the chords, the modettes to name but 3, seemed to fit into both camps Yes, I remember being able to like those groups, apart from the modettes who were banned from my circle of punk friends due to their name! We were daft at that age, kid's now at least seem to be allowed to like what they want. My friend's 14 year old likes The Beach Boys and doesn't get beaten up at school for it - lucky boy!

Originally posted by melthebell
lol

i thought this was about the mods on here (moderators) who delete posts, close threads, ban me etc.



hmmmmmm

*wonders how they dress*

Oh, the usual.....

Black shirt, black trousers, boots...what every fascist control freak wears to get their kicks in. ;)

Originally posted by JoePritchard
Oh, the usual.....

Black shirt, black trousers, boots...what every fascist control freak wears to get their kicks in. ;)

on a quick view i thought that last bit said knickers.




*goes for a lie down*

Originally posted by melthebell
but some bands were a bit of both.the jam, the chords, the modettes to name but 3, seemed to fit into both camps

The Jam were 'acceptable' to the punks, but they never really fitted the description of a punk band. They were really always a Mod band, but their musical style and lyrics gelled well with the punk ethos. The suit-wearing was always very suspect though! :suspect:

Around the time "Quadrophenia" came out, there was something of a mod revival, with bands like the Purple Hearts and Merton Parkas, but I think only The Jam had much commercial success.

StarSparkle

Ok going slighty of topic, anyone got any links, the ones i've got so far are really good

Originally posted by StarSparkle
The Jam were 'acceptable' to the punks, but they never really fitted the description of a punk band. They were really always a Mod band, but their musical style and lyrics gelled well with the punk ethos. The suit-wearing was always very suspect though! :suspect:

Around the time "Quadrophenia" came out, there was something of a mod revival, with bands like the Purple Hearts and Merton Parkas, but I think only The Jam had much commercial success.

StarSparkle

ive been into punk since 1983 but ive always enjoyed the quadraphenia film / album too, i also sold a copy of the album to one of my old punk mates too once.

mind u i now like most types of music

Ok going slightly of topic, Has anyone get anymore links? The ones i've been on so far are really good.

Originally posted by Mod2
Ok going slightly of topic, Has anyone get anymore links? The ones i've been on so far are really good.

*gets deja vu*

not really

Originally posted by Mod2
Ok going slightly of topic, Has anyone get anymore links? The ones i've been on so far are really good. I think your best bet would be, go to a search engine like askjeeves.com and do a search on Mods!

Originally posted by tulip
I think your best bet would be, go to a search engine like askjeeves.com and do a search on Mods!

Well i was just asking you know, don't get upset

Originally posted by tulip
I think your best bet would be, go to a search engine like askjeeves.com and do a search on Mods!

GOOGLE!!

mind u i just tried it and got everything BUT mods (musical genre)

Originally posted by Mod2
Well i was just asking you know, don't get upset I'm not! I thought it was good advice. I personally don't know of any sites and askjeeves seems to be a good search engine :)

Originally posted by melthebell
ive been into punk since 1983 but ive always enjoyed the quadraphenia film / album too, i also sold a copy of the album to one of my old punk mates too once.

mind u i now like most types of music

I was a punk in the late 70s and it's still my favourite type of music, but I love all sorts of music and always have.

"Quadrophenia" is a great film - every time I watch it I get more out of it, and seem to enjoy it more. Phil Daniels is brilliant in it - perfection in the part.

Like I said earlier in this thread, I think the required female mod Look is fabulous - but for me, the music never quite lived up to the image!

StarSparkle :)

Originally posted by tulip
I'm not! I thought it was good advice. I personally don't know of any sites and askjeeves seems to be a good search engine :)

Just sounded sarcy, sorry.

Originally posted by melthebell
GOOGLE!!

mind u i just tried it and got everything BUT mods (musical genre) Is it something about ME that people take offence to? I offer a suggestion and someone tries to turn it into a row, reports me to the mods and generally makes me feel uncomfortable! Should I cry now or save it for later? (last time I said I was going to cry a mod. took me seriously and had a right go at me, made out I was pathetic for turning on the water works - I was JOKING!)

Originally posted by StarSparkle
I was a punk in the late 70s and it's still my favourite type of music, but I love all sorts of music and always have.

"Quadrophenia" is a great film - every time I watch it I get more out of it, and seem to enjoy it more. Phil Daniels is brilliant in it - perfection in the part.

Like I said earlier in this thread, I think the required female mod Look is fabulous - but for me, the music never quite lived up to the image!

StarSparkle :)
i always thought the mod clothese were too nice, clean cut, expensive tbh

cant beat a mohican, scruffy t shirt and shredded trousers :)

Originally posted by melthebell

cant beat a mohican, scruffy t shirt and shredded trousers :)

You can

Originally posted by tulip
Is it something about ME that people take offence to? I offer a suggestion and someone tries to turn it into a row, reports me to the mods and generally makes me feel uncomfortable! Should I cry now or save it for later? (last time I said I was going to cry a mod. took me seriously and had a right go at me, made out I was pathetic for turning on the water works - I was JOKING!)

sowwy :(


i was being sarcy :P


google is the best search engine EVEH! tho

Originally posted by Mod2
Just sounded sarcy, sorry. Not a problem:)

Originally posted by melthebell
i always thought the mod clothese were too nice, clean cut, expensive tbh

cant beat a mohican, scruffy t shirt and shredded trousers :)

:thumbsup: Spot on!

Female mod fashion=fantastic, male mod fashion=oh dear no! I'm afraid suits have never done it for me, far too clean-cut like you say. I'm sorry, but I can't take musicians in suits seriously. And as for green parkas.... :gag:

You can't beat scruffy t shirts and scuffed-up leather jackets - but I've never been keen on mohicans. Even Joe Strummer couldn't quite carry it off!

StarSparkle - getting all nostalgic....

Originally posted by Mod2
Tommy's a great film, not that i really get it... It's actually about child abuse. It's a very profound film, not just a mad pop rock musical.

Originally posted by tulip
It's actually about child abuse. It's a very profound film, not just a mad pop rock musical.

Yes, which makes me wonder why Pete Townshend would look at child porn, if he went through abuse? He's been doing Anti-abuse protest for years it just makes me wonder why he'd throw all that away just to look at a few pornographic images of children

Originally posted by StarSparkle
:thumbsup: Spot on!

Female mod fashion=fantastic, male mod fashion=oh dear no! I'm afraid suits have never done it for me, far too clean-cut like you say. I'm sorry, but I can't take musicians in suits seriously. And as for green parkas.... :gag:

You can't beat scruffy t shirts and scuffed-up leather jackets - but I've never been keen on mohicans. Even Joe Strummer couldn't quite carry it off!

StarSparkle - getting all nostalgic....

nowt wrong with army parkas mind, i used to wear a german parka.

check out my mohican piccy now its back online :)
http://www.melthebell.dsl.pipex.com/Index.html

i can see you lot at the back laughing

Originally posted by Mod2
Tommy's a great film, not that i really get it...

i dont, dont think anybody does.even the who

top film tho, always stick it on to do my m8s heads in :)

Originally posted by melthebell
i dont, dont think anybody does.even the who

top film tho, always stick it on to do my m8s heads in :) I get it!

Originally posted by tulip
I get it!

all of it????



or just bits of it??

Originally posted by melthebell
all of it????



or just bits of it?? ALL OF IT, EVERY SINGLE BIT! Not really, probably just some of it. It is a rock opera so I don't s'pose it all 'means something' but I'm sure lots of people would disagree - probably TWONKS :gag:

Originally posted by tulip
ALL OF IT, EVERY SINGLE BIT! Not really, probably just some of it. It is a rock opera so I don't s'pose it all 'means something' but I'm sure lots of people would disagree - probably TWONKS :gag:


:suspect:

Originally posted by melthebell
nowt wrong with army parkas mind, i used to wear a german parka.

check out my mohican piccy now its back online :)
http://www.melthebell.dsl.pipex.com/Index.html

i can see you lot at the back laughing

How did I KNOW you were going to have had a mohican?! :blush:

As soon as I typed it, I just knew! :D

StarSparkle :)

Originally posted by StarSparkle
How did I KNOW you were going to have had a mohican?! :blush:

As soon as I typed it, I just knew! :D

StarSparkle :)

:)

heh heh

my pride and joy

going bald now tho, right down the middle :(

due to the hard rock hairspray i think..........too much of a coincidence.

should sue the @*&^%$s

some mod links?
crap but the best i can do


http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1211_sixties/sstyle_fmod_page.htm
http://www.modrevival.net/Modstories.html


found on google

trouble is mods bring up threads about moderators and game modding

and modettes bring up threads about the punk band the modettes

Originally posted by melthebell
some mod links?
crap but the best i can do


http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1211_sixties/sstyle_fmod_page.htm
http://www.modrevival.net/Modstories.html


found on google

trouble is mods bring up threads about moderators and game modding

and modettes bring up threads about the punk band the modettes


Okaay :|

Originally posted by melthebell
nowt wrong with army parkas mind, i used to wear a german parka.

I STILL wear my german parka in the winter. I love it.

Originally posted by Mod2
Do you know that for a fact?



He admitted it in court for research purposes - and was put on the sex offenders register for 5 years :thumbsup:

Good enough to mean he should never be allowed to work with children again...but does show a loophole in the law if you've got enough money to employ a decent lawyer..

:loopy:

I can't really explain what i'm trying to say, this is a bit of the book he wrote-


Below is a piece written by Pete Townshend called "A Different Bomb" which he released BEFORE the media frenzy of january 2003.


"This past week a friend of mine committed suicide. She was a forty-something actress, recovering from alcoholism. Although I am a recovering alcoholic myself I knew her best through my work as a fund-raiser for treatment for those needing alcohol and drug rehabilitation. We first met about seven years ago. One day, in an open counselling session at which adult men and women of all ages were present, she suddenly revealed her central issue. From as early as she could remember, as an infant girl she had been sexually abused on a regular basis by her father, and in his presence by several of his friends. At first, she referred to her father as a 'priest'. Later she revealed that these were members of some kind of religious cult. A charity with which I am involved paid for her to go for treatment for depression at The Priory last year. She was greatly improved when she came out. Partly I think because her story was believed. She had felt safe, and various innovative new therapeutic techniques promised to help her further. She became a day patient. Within a few weeks she started to slide again, pleading to be allowed to go back in for further live-in treatment. There were no further funds available to pay for this. After a month or two, emotionally speaking she was back where she had started: at a rockbottom.

Her friends endured an oscillating love-loss relationship with her. She was funny, honest, energetic and smart. But she was often desperate for affection, attention and help. As a result she could be exhausting. For all of us who helped her, including several women who themselves experienced similar sexual abuse as children, her suicide was both a tragedy and an act of brutal insanity. What pushed this woman to the brink was not self-obsession - though God knows she enjoyed her share, like any individual ensnared in alcohol or drug addiction - it was the fact that she discovered her father was in a new relationship and had access to some young children.

It seems then that the greatest terror for an adult who remembers sexual abuse is the thought that other children might suffer as they did.

This terror echoes for me. In my writing in the past - especially Tommy - I have created unusually unmerciful worlds for any infant characters. I am often disturbed by what I see on the page when I write - never more so than when I draw on my own childhood. Some people who were abused in their childhood have written to me to say how much they identify with the character of Tommy. But what is powerful in my own writing, and sometimes most difficult to control and model, is the subconscious material I draw on. It is what is subconscious in me that makes me scream for vengeance against my friend's abusers, rather than an adult understanding of what went wrong.

I remember no specific sexual abuse, though when I was young I was treated in an extremely controlling and aggressive way by my maternal grandmother. This is not unusual. It might be described by some as insignificant. Almost everyone I know experienced similar stuff at some time or other - many friends experienced more extreme 'abuses' and have no obvious adult vices as a result.

However, today it is difficult to speak out without fear. On the issue of child-abuse, the climate in the press, the police, and in Government in the UK at the moment is one of a witch-hunt. This may well be the natural response triggered by cases like that of my friend who committed suicide. But I believe it is rather more a reaction to the 'freedoms' that are now available to us all. We can all enter into the reality of a world has hitherto been kept secret, and we would perhaps have preferred it stayed that way. The world of which I speak is that of the abusive paedophile. The window of 'freedom' of entry to that world is of course the internet.

And the last bit (couldn't fit it on)--


There is hardly a man I know who uses computers who will not admit to surfing casually sometimes to find pornography. I have done it. Certainly, one expects only to find what is available on the top shelf at the newsagents. I make no argument here for or against 'hard' or 'soft' pornography. What is certain is that providers of porn feel the need to constantly 'refresh' their supply. So new 'victims' are drawn in every day - customers and subjects. This is just as true on the internet as it is in the world of magazines and video. However, what many people fail to realise is how - by visiting their websites - we directly and effectively subsidise pornographers. This is true whether we do so unwittingly or deliberately, out of curiosity or a vigilante spirit. Vigilante campaigners I have read on the internet say that many porn sites that claim to feature underage subjects do not - in fact - do so. They say that many that are 'genuine' do feature much the same content on the inside as they do on their free pop-up pages that litter search engines. So why do these paedophile pornographers bother with the internet at all? They can't be getting rich from this particular branch of their activities. Why won't they remain secret?

This issue came to my attention when in 1997 a man who had briefly worked for me was arrested in the UK for downloading paedophilic pornography. Until then I was unaware of the scale of the problem. I was cautious of openly condemning him until he had been tried. He had performed in one of my musicals and was a popular figure in the soft-pop pantomime of the UK music scene. When he went to trial, the buzz-word that the newspapers kept reprinting - that he had allegedly used in his regular internet searches - was 'lolita'. A few weeks into the trial The Guardian newspaper revealed that www.uksearchterms.com listed 'lolita' high on the list of the most searched words in the UK ('sex' is often No.1). It seemed to me that there was some hypocrisy going on. Who were all these people typing 'lolita' into their browsers? They were surely not all paedophiles. Perhaps they were simply curious of what they might find.

The terrible part is that what they found on the internet will almost have certainly found them by return. It is not to suggest that every one of them was 'hooked' as soon as they found a porn site professing to display underage subjects, it is to say that because their visit was undoubtedly recorded by the site or sites in question, the pornographers who run those sites would have found validation and commercial promise for their activity. They would then have redoubled their efforts in that area.

Many porn sites use software triggers so that when a visitor tries to leave a site upon which they may have unwittingly stumbled, another similar - or worse - site immediately pops up. When they try to shut that site, another pops up, then another, then another, the content getting more and more extreme until their browser is solid with pornography and eventually will seize up as though choking on some vapid manifestation of evil itself. Thus it is that the pornographer's 'validation' is spawned at the same time. One site opened triggers another dozen or more - all of which has been unwillingly 'visited'. If the visitor so much as click on a newly displayed page they may supply a record of their computer's unique address.

It was obvious to me (though obviously not to the rest of the country) while the man I knew was on trial, that 'lolita' is not a word to use carelessly when searching the internet - even if one happened to be studying Nabokov for a literature degree. So I had my first encounter with internet paedophilia by accident.

Ethan Silverman, a film director friend, had made an extremely moving documentary about an American couple who adopted a Russian boy. As a charity fundraiser (and, I suppose, philanthropist to boot) I wanted to support the work of such orphanages and decided to see if I could - via the internet - find legitimate contacts to help. (I had tried many other methods and failed). The various words I used included 'Russia' and 'orphanages'. I used no words that could usually be taken to be sexual or lascivious, except - perhaps ill-advisedly - the word 'boys'.

Within about ten minutes of entering my search words I was confronted with a 'free' image of a male infant of about two years old being buggered by an unseen man. The blazer on the page claimed that sex with children is 'not illegal in Russia'. This was not smut. It was a depiction of a real rape. The victim, if the infant boy survived and my experience was anything to go by, would probably one day take his own life. The awful reality hit me of the self-propelling, self-spawning mechanism of the internet. I reached for the phone, I intended to call the police and take them through the process I had stumbled upon - and bring the pornographers involved to book.

Then I thought twice about it. With someone on trial who had once been connected with me - however loosely - I spoke off-the-record to a lawyer instead. He advised me to do nothing. He advised me that I most certainly should not download the image as 'evidence'. So I did as he advised. Nothing.

I mentioned my own internet experience to a few people close to me. The trial of the man who had been in my musical was on everyone's agenda. It became clear very quickly that some people I spoke to were sceptical of me. I think they thought that if I had searched using the right words, my exposure to that terrible image would not have occurred.

It might be strange to hear that I was glad I found it. Until then, like my ostrich-like friends, I imagined that only those who communicated on the internet using secret codes, private chat-rooms and encrypted files would ever be exposed to this kind of porn. But I learned through this accident that such images were 'freely' available through the machinery of common search engines and User-Groups, and openly available for sale through subscription via credit card. I was then concerned that there would be those 'providers' of paedophilic porn who felt the need to regularly 'refresh' their supply of images. It is a chilling thought isn't it? Even so, I found myself wondering whether that thought brought fears for me that were, perhaps, quite out of proportion with reality: maybe I was stirring my own subconscious memories; maybe I was just being pompous. Now my friend has joined a long line of suicides who were sexually abused as children, and I feel I must speak up.

Since 1997 I have been attempting to prepare some kind of document with respect to all this for wider publication. My feeling is that if internet service providers (ISPs) can be enlisted by the police and other authorities to 'snoop' and provide information about customers downloading illegal pornography, they could just as easily filter search terms - or better yet, practice combinations of such search terms on a regular basis and then block specific site names. Many ISPs do such work. It is part of their regular housekeeping. But the pornographers are rich, determined, and - in the area of under-age pornography - criminal. Banned sites are replicated, renamed and replaced in days.

Why am I suddenly writing this today? My friend who committed suicide was the victim of an active but secret ring of paedophiles. They are still at large today. Only those who knew my friend, and believed her story, feel any urge to speak up against her abusers. But we have no proof. It is frustrating, but for her, at least, the pain is over. Meanwhile, on the internet, vigilante groups and individuals work tirelessly and obsessively both to trace and block certain porn sites and to offer - through 12 Step programmes for sex-addiction - probably the only way out for some ensnared by addiction to what the internet has to offer.

It has all gone public now. The ISP I use allows access to User Groups by using the term 'alt' as a prefix. In 'Google' (a popular search engine) it is possible to reach a questionable array of offered sex sites with very few key-strokes, and without actually typing a single word. The pathway to 'free' paedophilic imagery is - as it were - laid out like a free line of cocaine at a decadent cocktail party: only the strong willed or terminally uncurious can resist. Those vigilantes who research these pathways open themselves up to internet 'snoops'. Many are willing to take the risk. They believe the pathways themselves must be closed. They must be totally and completely eradicated from the internet. If that is not possible they must be openly policed by active and obstructive vigilantes - not just 'snooped' by government agencies and police.

I understand the police believe that snooping on the internet might lead them to active paedophiles - their philosophy being that it is the ones who are secret who do the damage. In the case of my suicide friend I would have to agree. However, in other countries children are not so precious. Brazil, Russia and Thailand all have well-known and tragic orphanages and street-children problems, and these countries probably provide source material for many sites.

In my work fund-raising in the field of drug and alcohol rehabilitation I have come across hundreds of individuals from the UK and Europe whose problems have been triggered by childhood abuse. Not always, but often, the abuse is sexual. Sometimes it is quite minor, but even in those cases - for some reason - spectacularly damaging. Not all addicts and alcoholics are victims. They are, perhaps, a minority. But among those afflicted by addiction abuse is terribly common. In some cases, what is so distressing is how little it takes. For me, a few minor incidents seem to have created a dark side to my nature which thankfully emerges only in creative work like Tommy. It is not statistically true that all abusers of children were once themselves abused. That can happen, but often - as in the case of my suicide friend - abuse is part of a reward system of power conferred from one adult person to another. But among pornographers only validation and cash matter. What is certain is that the internet has brought the sexual abuse of children into the open. It is not 'respectable' or 'acceptable' at any level of society. It is simply in the open.

Many returning from my friend's funeral had wanted to punch her father who was present. But they restrained themselves. Many present were recovering alcoholics. They are not given to witch-hunts. They are wary of hypocrisy. But given the chance, many of them would have told their own stories about what was done to them by abusers sodden with drink or numb with drugs, and possibly what they themselves did 'under the influence' that was equally reprehensible. But if abusers and their accomplices are not necessarily victims of abuse, and not necessarily men, then they are also not necessarily drunk or drugged. Booze and drugs are here to stay. But it must be time to do something more concrete to stop the proliferation of questionable pornography that seems so readily and openly facilitated by the internet.

Another danger is this: I think it must be obvious that many children are becoming inured to pornography much too early and - as I have demonstrated - the internet provides a very short route indeed to some of the most evil and shocking images of rape and abuse.

The subconscious mind is deeply damaged and indelibly scarred by the sight of such images. I can assure everyone reading this that if they go off in pursuit of images of paedophilic rape they will find them. I urge them not to try. I pray too that they don't happen upon such images as did I, by accident. If they do they may like me become so enraged and disturbed that their dreams are forever haunted.

Software to filter out and block porn at home is often too complex and sweeping to do the job, or too feeble. At the moment, it's all we have. I recommend CyberPatrol - www.cyberpatrol.com - it isn't easy to set up, but it is powerful. Once it is running it begins to make the internet feel a much friendlier and safer place for our children."

Originally posted by melthebell
nowt wrong with army parkas mind, i used to wear a german parka.

check out my mohican piccy now its back online :)
http://www.melthebell.dsl.pipex.com/Index.html

i can see you lot at the back laughing

I reconise you... :hihi:

You used to hang out at the Hallamshire and always wore that bright yellow workman vest.

You might also be interested in this thread (http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/newreply.php?s=&action=newreply&threadid=24694) since I also recognized Jules in your photo collection.

Originally posted by John
I reconise you... :hihi:

You used to hang out at the Hallamshire and always wore that bright yellow workman vest.

You might also be interested in this thread (http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/newreply.php?s=&action=newreply&threadid=24694) since I also recognized Jules in your photo collection.

HAHA cheers man, ive replied to that post, may i ask who you are? prolly know you too as i knew a hell of a lot of people on the sheffield punk / metal / gig / pub / club circuit

and yes i was at the hallamshire hotel a hell of a lot of times and wore the work vests all the time, still have em actually :P