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Its illegal to view pornography before age 18 so I'm not sure why this thread even exists
No, it's not. It is illegal to provide sexually explicit material to those under 18, an entirely different matter. It also accounts for the appalling ignorance of most young people regarding sex.
Its is dangeorus because of the "minor" (underage) problem on websites...any media that travels the airwaves,, TOTALLY ILLEGAL IN ALL STATES... so make very very sure,,, it's all about adults.
I'm not sure what you are directing at me and my posts. I thought the one post was tongue in cheek pure fantasy and I got a laugh from it. The other post, I wasn't sure why the questions about age, etc, etc, and their review of all the porn on the internet. I guess I missed something.
I advocate for children, abused and neglected children and have no love for porn of any kind. But, I do know that boys will look and girls will, too. I found Playboy and girlie mags in my teenage sons room 35 years ago. I subsequently found out his older sister had sneaked a peek, as well. It all went in the trash in a brown paper bag. They are both 50 years old now, well adjusted, one is married with children, both successful adults. I read them both the riot act. None ever showed up in the house again that I was aware of and I checked....<s>
I sometimes feel you folks don't take the time to read the original query. This isn't the first time its happening-Do you just read the title and go on to post your suggestion/opinion or actually take the time to read the whole damn thing/
It is apparent to me that people's attitude toward teen sexual activity and curiosity depends mostly on their own experiences as a teenager. Some teenagers get traumatized by contact with sex, some take it in stride and become adventurous at a surprisingly early age. Some people see pornography as obscene, some just see it as more or less interesting, depending on how it is done. If I had a 14 year old son who was seeking out pornography, I would wait to respond until I found out what kind of pornography he found arousing. There is a world of difference between a snuff flick and a vanilla f*** flick.
There was a documentary a few years ago about a garage band that played for years together, and finally got something recorded, but received absolutely no money for it, because of the way the commercial music industry is set up. There was also a full length movie about somebody who invented something automotive (maybe windshield wipers or something, I forget), and spent the rest of his life in court trying to get a nickel for it.
So, "people are sometimes victimized and that providing a market for the material, one can be contributing to the victimization" is not unique to the porn industry.
Indeed not. But failing to get paid for a shoot is hardly what I had in mind when I said victimized. In any case, at the time the issue was brought up about parental reaction to porn. That would be mine because we try to associate our kids with a fairly high ethical standard.
Quote:
Like rock music and automobiles. When somebody is in control of the economics of an enterprise, they take advantage of every possible victim in sight.
And don't play the "exploitation of women" card -- there is plenty of gay porn, and the actors are usually not gay, and they do it because it is a job, which pays well. It's better than telemarketing, in terms of both income and ethics.
I know exactly nothing about gay porn. So I cannot comment to the degree that they may or may not be victimized. But I would bet the seedier stuff comes from the same pool of "actors" as straight porn, off the streets of some city having been snapped up by a pimp after landing at the bus stop.
Honestly, I thought the same thing..I mean I would never want my child looking at that stuff until they were an adult. Disgusting!
I don't think it should be encouraged but it's nowhere near child abuse if they're over puberty. Half of everyone over puberty will just be imagining those same things on those websites anyway...or they can pick of a National Geographic and look at images of nude African tribal women...or look at pictures of women in bathing suits, with is basically nudity anyway. I do like the SafeSearch option though, that I believe can be locked by parents (and that will keep out the really weird stuff...and sex, and most nudity).
I noticed nobody on this thread said they were traumatized by it.
I'm 28. Growing up, I had zero knowledge of sociocultural norms, and was rather confused about what women wanted...but that wasn't due to pornography (which I never looked at until about 16) it was more due to movies like "The Sandlot" (A loveable story of a boy who makes friends and learns to play baseball). In one scene, one of them fakes drowning so that the pretty lifeguard would rescue him, so that he could kiss her. Later, they got married. There was zero nudity, cursing, or violence whatsoever. They glorified what was actually a very unkind thing to do. That's what I'm concerned about. I don't care about nudity much. Pornography is habitually portrayed as wrong by society, and is therefore probably not portraying role models. It's entertainment media that we use as a role model that I'm more concerned about. I wonder if the Disney movie "Sleeping beauty" where the prince kisses the sleeping woman, causes more psychological damage than Playboy.com.
Also, on a side note, am I the only one who hypothesizes that people born between the 80's and early 90's actually take things slower, on average than their parents took things?
A large percentage of people I know over 40 tend to think men and women can't be friends.
A large percentage of people I know under about 30 (despite our women dressing like prostitutes, and our men having easy access to pornography) view it as entirely normal to go to concerts with a member of the opposite sex, and watch movies alone with that person, and this would not imply anything romantic or intimate having occurred...particularly if they're about 18-22.
I'm 28. In, college, a few years ago, the ones who practiced casual sex were the guys on the track team who had physical appearances like gods, and some fraternity members. With everyone else, it didn't happen unless they were in a relationship...usually a long term one. Women and men would go camping, and do overnight activities, and fall asleep passed out drunk around each other, and nothing intimate would happen, most of the time, unless they were considering something more long term.
I'm not sure about how common the above is...but is very clear that at least the ideal child-rearing age has risen dramatically over the decades. Even 25 sounds young, although for the body that's probably an ideal age. 28-30 sounds like a more reasonable age to begin having kids. You're done with higher education and have had the chance to build up a few resources. Marrying at any age under about 25 seems like marrying young.
Adolescents will satisfy their curiosity one way or the other. Though I wouldn't encourage it, in some ways I would rather they have protected responsible sex with a caring partner than get an "education" from porn. There is no real-world context for 99% of porn; if you pay for porn you are, at least much of the time, paying for women and girls to be exploited; it tends to desensitize and feed a need for more and more; and it promotes an unrealistic expectation of real-world sex, as if every woman is horny and exhibitionist and uninhibited and adventuresome whenever the man wishes sex -- or that if not, they ought to be. And, of course, that every man and woman is a exaggerated caricature of someone's preconception of beauty. I wonder sometimes how many women get breast augmentations and bikini waxes who don't want them at all but are trying to fulfill real (or anticipated) demands from men for porn star-like appearance and perfection. I wonder sometimes how many times men and women feel like failures because they can't perform like in a porn fantasy.
In the days when porn was a dangerous, rare thing, and tame by today's standards, my guess is that everyone's expectations of sex were a lot more realistic and there was a lot more mystery and wonder to one's early experiences, despite the awkwardness.
A related area is modesty. I always encouraged my daughter to dress modestly. "Let there be some mystery", I said. It's one of the few pieces of advice that she took from me (or probably it was her inclination anyway!).
My son just moved into a 3 room apartment and his roomies are two women his age (mid 20's). I told him, treat them like sisters and don't be confused if they go flouncing past you half naked, it's not a sign that they're interested in you in that way, amazing though it may seem. It's strange to me that modesty so escapes young women. Now that dudes routinely see lady parts that used to be reserved for the bedroom, how exactly do they even signal to the guy that they are open to that kind of intimacy? They've already put on a whole show for them and all other comers.
I suppose I'm just old hopelessly old school ... I am not a prude, I'm a dude, but still, I find what passes for modern sexuality to be rather depressingly crass.
Probably good ideas, all around.
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