Well, I was allowed to watch a lot of stuff I probably shouldn’t have when I was a kid. First I had an older brother who showed me his porn, and secondly my parents weren’t very restrictive about what I could watch.
Having said all of that, Every now and again, I’ll watch TV shows that I saw when I was 10 years old or so, and I see them with completely different eyes. I simply had no idea what was meant to be insinuated here. I think the point is that kids don’t want to have sex until the hormones come, and that’s when they’ll figure it out.
Mistress Mandy? Oh come on. It’s a joke. And for the parents who are so worried about it, grow up. Your kids will learn about that stuff soon enough. That’s what you have to deal with when raising a child, answer sex questions. Don’t worry, you’ll stop getting them as soon as your kid realizes that there are better sources of information about sex than mom.
The fact that a kid asks his mom questions about sex means he is a long way from acting on any information he got.
A friend of mine barely censors what his daughter watches. He’s more strict about fast forwarding through commercials on his TiVo so she doesn’t hear how much she NEEDS the new whatever over and over, than he is about whether she sees sex or violence on screen. She seems to be rather ok with the whole thing. Certain things that are just beyond the beyond like horror movies and such he keeps away from her, but otherwise she seems alright.
What, you’re claiming some sort of right to be stupid?
On the Dope?
Granted, people are stupid on the Dope all the time, but the zietgeist here is supposed to be all about fighting it.
I have four, ranging from 21 to 5. And looking back over this thread most of those with kids think that the outrage over this spot is misplaced. So while I agree that most parents would agree that “the logic, she changes” when it comes to looking out for their kids’ best interests, we still try to save our wrath for deserving targets. We also even sometimes get to the point were we realize that our kids best interests are best served by our not protecting them so much some of the time and respecting them enough to let them get knocked down so they know how to get up again … but that is a whole different sort of discussion.
I think we also have a better grasp of what our kids can handle. The OP, who I am sure is a great godmother and friend, isn’t around these kids 24 hours a day. My sis is often shocked by what the kids do and say and see - even the new walker falling on his diapered bottom with a plop! is gasp and panic time for her. Me? I hardly notice it. I’m sure she would have been outraged over this ad, whereas I’m more like bemused.
Perhaps, but let’s be honest: it is one of those unattainable goals, like “peace in the Middle East,” “no child left behind,” and “stop masturbating to Internet porn.”
This queston probably deserves a more nuanced answer than the one I have provided, so let me give it a shot.
I share your opinion that parental protectionism does drive some aspects of social policy. It’s why NAMBLA was a dumb idea: a miniscule population of hated perverts vs. practically every parent in America – yeah, that was going to work out well.
Those who are uncomfortable with any public sexual expression (generally religious types) also use the parental desire to protect kids to restrict sexual expression in the media. There’s a constant battle at all times between those who favor sexual expression and those who oppose it.
I personally am OK with having some restricted media so long as there are other, freely available media allowing complete freedom of expresison to adults, which is really pretty much the case now with our Internet/premium cable/basic cable/network TV lineup. I think some of the restrictions we have now are still pretty silly, but maybe American will outgrow its Puritanism one day.
My real problem is that your post explains parental hysteria over sexual imagery, but does not in any way justify it. That is, suppose I said, “White people in America will always hate black people, it’s all about primal fear of The Other. Laugh if you will, it’s hardwired into us.”
This may well explain some aspects of racism, but it does not in any way justify it, and hardly constitutes an argument in support of racism.