# Should the ban on sales of pornography to minors be lifted? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 28, 2011, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-ban-on-sales-of-pornography-to-minors-be-lifted/587083 "2011-06-28T01:11:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-ban-on-sales-of-pornography-to-minors-be-lifted/587083/61 "2011-06-29T22:25:25Z")
Fifty years ago, Lenny Bruce pointed out the same thing; it was acceptable to show minors graphic violence but not graphic sex. He had a routine where Dad took hid young offspring to a movie, thinking it was a violent one, but he misjudged. The dialogue went something like this: “Look! He’s picking up a pillow and advancing on the girl! Maybe he’ll smother her with it! Isn’t this great, son? Naah, he’s putting it under her ass. You really shouldn’t be seeing this, kid…” ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-ban-on-sales-of-pornography-to-minors-be-lifted/587083/62 "2011-06-30T03:18:41Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > So the ruling establishes video games as a form of protected speech. . . Porn was ruled to NOT be protected speech. It was categorized as “obscene”. More or less correct. _Obscenity_ (not all “porn”) traditionally has not been considered speech within the meaning of the First Amendment. Something that is _obscene_ is more than merely sexual. It has no redeeming artistic or social value, violates community standards, etc. A huge amount of “porn” and other sexual content **is** protected by the First Amendment. There is no similar tradition of excepting violent content from First Amendment protection, and the Supreme Court declined to allow California to create such an exception. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-ban-on-sales-of-pornography-to-minors-be-lifted/587083/63 "2011-06-30T05:20:46Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > Bit different re: internet: but you do what you can. I don’t think there is anything that you can do. All kids have to do is type the word “porn” in Google and they’ll have porn. Then they’ll get caught by their parents because their parents checked the browser history, and the next thing they’ll search is “how to clear browser history.” After that it’s pretty much a losing battle. > [@](#): > > I personally don’t want my naive son thinking that porn is how sex is usually done. Besides, the porn we saw as kids isn’t what the trend is now. Then sit him down and tell him that porn is exaggerated. I have a theory that our pornography laws are there to protect parents from having uncomfortable conversations with their kids, and not kids from the harmful effects of pornography. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-ban-on-sales-of-pornography-to-minors-be-lifted/587083/64 "2011-06-30T05:53:11Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > I think that I’d have something to say if a smut shop sold my kid some porn. > > Bit different re: internet: but you do what you can. > > I personally don’t want my naive son thinking that porn is how sex is usually done. Besides, the porn we saw as kids isn’t what the trend is now. yeah, what if he saw a hentai and he was stuck thinking he couldn’t have sex until he found a girl with blue hair and a really high-pitched voice, and of course, until he grew his tentacles! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-ban-on-sales-of-pornography-to-minors-be-lifted/587083/65 "2011-06-30T06:38:22Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > I am so glad I don’t have daughters. Why? What do you think would happen to them? ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-ban-on-sales-of-pornography-to-minors-be-lifted/587083/66 "2011-06-30T06:45:12Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Why? What do you think would happen to them? They would be angry because I wouldn’t let them date and I’d lose sleep when they did leave the house. 😉 Sorry, but boys aren’t men, and porn can have a bad effect on attitudes on sex. (Sixteen year old girls also think that sex = love, so you can imagine what that recipe does.) ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-ban-on-sales-of-pornography-to-minors-be-lifted/587083/67 "2011-06-30T06:58:05Z")
So do you believe that teenagers should basically be limited to their own imaginations when beatin’ off? If so, do you think that the stuff in their imaginations is going to be a realistic attitude towards sex? What if they’re fantasizing about stuffed animals and Harry Potter characters? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-ban-on-sales-of-pornography-to-minors-be-lifted/587083/68 "2011-06-30T07:02:49Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > Sorry, but boys aren’t men, and porn can have a bad effect on attitudes on sex. Which leads to what, exactly? ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-ban-on-sales-of-pornography-to-minors-be-lifted/587083/69 "2011-06-30T07:04:51Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > porn can have a bad effect on attitudes on sex. A) In what way, specifically, would these bad effects manifest? B) Cite? ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-ban-on-sales-of-pornography-to-minors-be-lifted/587083/70 "2011-06-30T07:20:32Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > A) In what way, specifically, would these bad effects manifest? > B) Cite? Bit hard to study how many teens are whacking off to internet porn (which is a lot more er, creative, than your parents’ porn), but APA [is trying](http://www.apa.org/monitor/nov07/webporn.aspx). > [@](#): > > Because all published studies about the influence of Internet porn on teen attitudes are correlational, researchers can’t say for sure whether access to Internet porn causes certain attitudes and behaviors, emphasizes Jochen Peter, PhD, a communications researcher at the University of Amsterdam. But he and colleague Patti M. Valkenburg, PhD, are finding some intriguing links. > > In one study surveying 471 Dutch teens ages 13 to 18, the researchers found that the more often young people sought out online porn, the more likely they were to have a “recreational” attitude toward sex–specifically, to view sex as a purely physical function like eating or drinking. > > In the study, reported in the December 2006 Journal of Communication (Vol. 56, No. 4, pages 639-660), the team also found a relationship between porn use and the feeling that it wasn’t necessary to have affection for people to have sex with them. Boys were much more likely to hold these views than girls, and they tended to hold these attitudes more strongly when they perceived the material as realistic, the team found. > > In a related study in the March issue of Sex Roles (Vol. 56, No. 5/6, pages 381-395), the Dutch team found a link between the type and explicitness of sexual media the teens saw and their tendency to view women as sexual “play things.” The more explicit the material viewed, the more likely young people were to see women in these ways–and Internet movie porn was the only media type to show a statistically significant relationship, they found. > > Another study not yet finalized will likely add more rigor to the way such variables are measured. Emory University health psychologist Ralph J. DiClemente, PhD, and colleagues are using high-tech software to capture which and how many sex Web sites 560 young people access over 16 months. The team also will survey the teens every two months on their sexual attitudes, onset of sexual behavior and frequency of sexually risky behavior. You know what? Go survey teenage girls and boys. See what they’re doing, what they’re thinking, what they’re putting on their MySpace and Facebook and then tell me that selling XXXDoublePenetrationXXX to kids is a good idea. Teenage girls are just as stupid as boys. Look their attempts at sex appeal and [early sexual activity](http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-10-18-teens-sex_x.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-ban-on-sales-of-pornography-to-minors-be-lifted/587083/71 "2011-06-30T10:30:12Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > (Sixteen year old girls also think that sex = love, so you can imagine what that recipe does.) Yeah, that’s not so true any more. I think you’ll find my generation (born in the 80s) and the next are pretty jaded and cynical about the L word. Besides, one would think liberal access to porn would also help with the fucking/love distinction. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-ban-on-sales-of-pornography-to-minors-be-lifted/587083.md?page=3)