Poll: Teenagers and Pornography
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Where I live, it's pretty much synonymous. So, if I equate it, it's purely because of the experiences in my life. I can't talk about the UK, but from what I know, from what I've been through, attacking porn and abstinence-only education all stems from the same thing and that's religion mixing with ignorance. And that ignorance damages kids more than even the most hardcore of porn can because parents rarely talk to their kids about sex.MuffinMan74 said:
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Both the reasearcher in the video above and the researchers behind the documentary (that the article in the Daily Mail is really about) seems to have found evidence of porn being able to reproduce addictive brain patterns. Still, both emphasize that it is mostly found in heavy users whom themselves have found their addiction problematic. As I understand it (in weak layman terms) most psychological disorder diagnoses require that the patient suffers mental distress form the disorder and this point should also hold true towards diagnosing internet porn addicts. I.e. , it is not a problem until it is a problem.
This should equally go for adults as well as minors.
Kids shocking each other for fun (... and profit?) will still happen in one way or another and those sorts of trauma should not be considered related to pornography.
I think that children who have an interest in sex will find it, one way or another. The problem mainly being to make sure it does not go over board nor portray an overly unrealistic image of sex. And that last part there, that is probably a challenge for all of the porn industry. I too would like see more intimacy and loving couples in my porn, but maybe I'm just weird like that. Getting of on love and all that.
tl;dr
It seems that porn might have addictive qualities and as such they could pose a problem for heavy users. Minors who get addicted is sad of course. Oh, and more morally justifiable porn would be great.
I do think that pornography is addictive, however I disagree that it is "corrupting the children". I admit that the volatile combination of easy access to hardcore pornography and abstinence-only education is bound to ruin a large number of people's lives. Is it not terrible that someone can have their career ruined by somehow involving sex in their lives? A generation of people that are generally more apathetic towards other people's sexual practices could be a good thing.
Let's think for a moment about what has happened since the "hippie era" in which all kinds of drugs were commonly used. Those people grew up to warn younger generations about how certain drugs can ruin your lives and give your cancer. There are members of that "deviant, rebellious" generation that are trying to teach people from their mistakes. I'm not entirely sure if this increased information on drugs has actually helped solved any problems, however parents are now capable of informing their children about the truth behind the effects of certain drugs due to the easy access to such information and their past experiences. Perhaps this generation will grow up with the same sort of knowledge and experiences only instead in regard to sexuality. Parents will be able to educate their children based on the new information they have access to and their past stupid mistakes involving sexual practices.
I admit this is only a theory, but if the existence of pornography is radically effecting the views of young people then we should try to understand the possible long-term effects.
Let's think for a moment about what has happened since the "hippie era" in which all kinds of drugs were commonly used. Those people grew up to warn younger generations about how certain drugs can ruin your lives and give your cancer. There are members of that "deviant, rebellious" generation that are trying to teach people from their mistakes. I'm not entirely sure if this increased information on drugs has actually helped solved any problems, however parents are now capable of informing their children about the truth behind the effects of certain drugs due to the easy access to such information and their past experiences. Perhaps this generation will grow up with the same sort of knowledge and experiences only instead in regard to sexuality. Parents will be able to educate their children based on the new information they have access to and their past stupid mistakes involving sexual practices.
I admit this is only a theory, but if the existence of pornography is radically effecting the views of young people then we should try to understand the possible long-term effects.
I don't see any threat as long as the kids don't have parents that have trouble talking to their own damn children and still act like blushing virgins on the subject of sex.
Just tell your kids that real sex is nothing like porn. Preferably whilst the porn you caught him/her watching is still running in the background. Trust me, no amount of porn, regardless how vile, will leave more of a lasting impression than getting a speech from your mom whilst in the background some gal gets double penetrated.
Just tell your kids that real sex is nothing like porn. Preferably whilst the porn you caught him/her watching is still running in the background. Trust me, no amount of porn, regardless how vile, will leave more of a lasting impression than getting a speech from your mom whilst in the background some gal gets double penetrated.
The thing is, it isn't quite that simple. If you read the article first mentioned then you may have noticed one key point: those children kept sending those videos to each other through social media and through their phones for "shock value". Last I checked, facebook and twitter probably aren't considered porn sites by most safeguards.Shanicus said:
I agree with you that the parents can largely prevent porn from ruining the kids' future sexual experiences by talking to them about sex, but unfortunately there are many parents too cowardly to do that.
I think it will probably result in a big change in society, though whether positive or negative I don't know.
Kids, once they hit puberty, have always sought out sex. I grew-up just before the internet became peoples main source of porn. It sounds strangly quaint now but looking at lingerie models in a clothing catalogue was one of the first things I did when I started to find women interesting. As a group in school we would read the position of the month in one of our female friends copy of Cosmopolitan and laugh about it. It wasn't till I was much older that I saw my first porn magazine and that only contained pictures of naked women and no sex.
I find it difficult to imagine what effect seeing the most hardcore sex is having on 12 or 13 year old children. Maybe its a lot less than I think. Maybe they just get on with life, maybe it will have more troublesome effects. In general I believe that the openness about sex that started in the 1960's has been good for society, but is it possible to go too far.
One worrying thing is that boys seem far more comfortable with porn than women and it is creating unrealistic expectations for a young couples first time.
Kids, once they hit puberty, have always sought out sex. I grew-up just before the internet became peoples main source of porn. It sounds strangly quaint now but looking at lingerie models in a clothing catalogue was one of the first things I did when I started to find women interesting. As a group in school we would read the position of the month in one of our female friends copy of Cosmopolitan and laugh about it. It wasn't till I was much older that I saw my first porn magazine and that only contained pictures of naked women and no sex.
I find it difficult to imagine what effect seeing the most hardcore sex is having on 12 or 13 year old children. Maybe its a lot less than I think. Maybe they just get on with life, maybe it will have more troublesome effects. In general I believe that the openness about sex that started in the 1960's has been good for society, but is it possible to go too far.
One worrying thing is that boys seem far more comfortable with porn than women and it is creating unrealistic expectations for a young couples first time.
I think the bigger threat is censorship and control of this sort of thing. Sure, parents should be monitoring their children IF they believe the internet can have a negative effect, but, any Governing body should not be intervening in it. It is solely the responsibility of the parent/guardian(s) of the child.
(Just an FYI: I don't mean the censorship or control of Illegal content, but Pornography, when not illegal, should not be censored).
(Just an FYI: I don't mean the censorship or control of Illegal content, but Pornography, when not illegal, should not be censored).
Dude makes some good points. I'm all for freedom of information, but I also think porn can give kids a twisted view of relationships and sex. There's some nasty stuff out there. rape vids are right next to the softcore stuff, you don't want kids learning about sexuality from that.
first of all, that's just sad. second... holy shit, his porn is better than real sex? what's he watching?
Typical Daily Mail nonsense.
The very idea that looking at an image can be harmful is ludicrous. The repressive attitude we have to sex and pornography in the UK, as well as our overprotective stance on what children can or can not see as well a terrifying them about what they can and can not do, is far more damaging than all the rape porn in the world.
You don't empower anyone by removing their access to information. If children are accesing this informaiton and talking about it then we should engage with them rather than blindfolding and gagging them, otherwise they'll grow up to be as fucked up and weird as I am.
I think the only real "danger" of porn is if encourages teens to become sexually active at a young age. I'm not saying we should sexually repress them, I just don't think they should take it too lightly either.
As far as "unreasonable expectations" and all that? Well boo hoo, the easter bunny isn't real either. Get over it.
As far as "unreasonable expectations" and all that? Well boo hoo, the easter bunny isn't real either. Get over it.
Porn isn't a problem in and of itself. The only thing that bothers me about it is the normalisation of porn tropes - the idea that 'vanilla' sex is boring; the obsession with anal sex, the notion that pubic hair is ugly, the idea that ejaculation is something best done over someone's face while they kneel as if they're receiving communion. If kids grow up thinking this is what sex is about, years before they experience it for real, will they be able to appreciate the real thing?
Porn is like that experiment they did where they discovered that some birds were attracted to bigger and bigger eggs, and that they would try to hatch an egg the size of a football in preference to a real one. It's a hyperstimulus which attracts us despite its unnaturalness. So it's important to recognise that fact and to try hard to immunise kids against the idea that it is in any way a reflection of real sexuality. There's nothing wrong with being attracted to it - it's designed for that purpose - but there's porn and there's real life and they need to be kept separate.
Porn is like that experiment they did where they discovered that some birds were attracted to bigger and bigger eggs, and that they would try to hatch an egg the size of a football in preference to a real one. It's a hyperstimulus which attracts us despite its unnaturalness. So it's important to recognise that fact and to try hard to immunise kids against the idea that it is in any way a reflection of real sexuality. There's nothing wrong with being attracted to it - it's designed for that purpose - but there's porn and there's real life and they need to be kept separate.
That is very much a problem. A lot of people (not just teens, though, use porn as sex education.Flatfrog said:
For example, a lot of women are getting labiaplasties because they feel abnormal for not having the same bits as porn stars. Which is absurd, but that sort of thing is a serious problem.
The Daily Mail? I think I heard someone call it the 'Fox News of Newspapers'. Here's my 2 cents, I was taught at 8 bluntly by my brothers about sex. My Primary school started it when I was 10. If you have 10's and under looking up porn you are parenting wrong. Teenagers? They should know about birds and the bees now, just keep an eye on them and don't support the 'habit'
Not that it'll help much, Mother works at a GP's and she's been having 10-12 year olds coming in with herpes.
Not that it'll help much, Mother works at a GP's and she's been having 10-12 year olds coming in with herpes.
