Why aren't kids "allowed" to watch porn?

Great Debates
41

Aargh! just wrote a really long post but forgot i wasn’t logged in :frowning:

Basically, according to pretty much every study that psychologists, criminologists and sociologists have done that I’ve read, well, that I can find, any way. (e.g. here, here), pornographic images, whether violent or non-violent, did not cause any sort of sexual deviancy nor tendency toward sexual crimes, even when shown to near-pubescent children.
However, they did make people think about sex more often.
Of course, child porn was an exception to this and I’m sure we all agree that this stuff is very bad.

So, to the OP, there’s no reason for these age restrictions. Countries with less restrictions than the US have statistically less sex crimes and sexually motivated crimes.

42

I used to walk home from grade school, and along one fence there was always porn mags. I used to look at them. Some of them were pretty graphic.

A school buddy had older brothers who weren’t too worried about hiding their porn mags. We used to look at them. Mostly just nudie mags, no sex.

I’ve never raped a woman, went window peeking, felt up my mother in the shower or groped women in public. I’m not a sex crazed pervert (some may argue that point :wink: ). I subscribe to Playboy, and watch porn maybe twice a year.

I don’t think being exposed to porn since an early age has warped me, but how it might affect the next kid can’t be predicted. I think healthy sex education is better, even at that age, than learning about it from porn mags, but every individual will react differently to such things.

43

In that Ohio case, the guy was sent to jail for violating the terms of his probation. It’s not actually illegal to write such material.

44

Why aren’t kids allowed to watch porn? Because then it would only be a matter of time before there would be Barney Pornos, and we don’t want that, do we?

45

I can deffinately agree that exposing children to films which are degrading or missogynistic would be potentially harmful, and agree that parents should be allowed to restrict what their children see.
I am not sure that the contents of such films be it ‘porn’ or ‘violence’ or ‘comedy’ is the issue but the way such things are presented.

In the UK there exist a few extremely racist comedians, who can put out dvds of their work. I would be horrified if a child saw such a thing, far more horrified than if they saw an artistic french ‘porn’ film (which tend to be neither missogynistic, nor degrading). So I wonder why ‘porn’ is seen as so much worse, and needs to have special laws associated with its availability to children.

46

Aw, let em watch. It can be instructional for later.

47

I recall finding porn mags under my parents’ bed as a 6 year old. It definitely had a negative effect on me. It left me feeling afraid of what was happening to the women in the pictures, why they were being “hurt”, why people were taking pictures of these naked people and why my parents were looking at these pictures. I still remember some of the pictures in detail and remember being disturbed about the depictions for many years. I thought it was a dirty secret and that the police would take my parents away if they found them with these mags. To hell with trying to quantify one’s own “moral compass” about this issue, as a child, I instinctively felt this was WRONG. So obviously, I don’t believe that it’s appropriate to expose children to porn.

48

I agree wholeheartedly with what InternetLegend posted. My kids are grown up and married and I am happy that they were not exposed to pornographic movies or magazines to get their sex education. It is all too graphic for young people.

49

Isn’t it because kids usually like to imitate what they see?

If kids go out having sex, do you really want a 12-year old girl to get pregnant? Do you want kids to get STD’s or AIDS?

I don’t think so.

50

DirtyKash your argument would make violence in films worse, much worse, than sexual activity. Do you want kids to kill each other?, of course not. But USA especially seems to protect children far more from images of sex (even healthy, loving, condom-wearing, sex) than it does images of violence.
MellowCat thankyou for that information, it is most enlightening. If you wish to discuss more, can you tell us why you felt you could not discuss the magazines with your parents? Also did you feel that nudity was a naughty thing when growing up, and was the nudity of the images upsetting? Were the images actually of women in pain, or do you think that was your child-mind interpretation?

51

“DirtyKash your argument would make violence in films worse, much worse, than sexual activity.”

I think that it’s the other way around in some countries, that is, they can watch sexual stuff before violence.

I don’t think boys should look at porn, like Playboy cause the women in them are all saying ‘yes’ ’ yes’ ‘yes’ to them !!! And that’s not like how the world really is (right?).

52

As for the distinction of “reality” between nudity and violence, none of it is real. Even the nudity isn’t real. You don’t have a naked woman up there on the screen; all you really have is a projected image of some colorful bits of cellulose. But it’s an image which looks like a naked woman. But this is exactly the case with violence in movies, as well: You have an image on screen which looks like one guy killing another.

Yes, there’s a difference in how the images are produced, but how is that relevant? I can see it making a difference for who’s allowed to take part in producing the movie, but to the folks watching it, all that really matters is what it looks like is happening.

53

Do you have even the tiniest shred of evidence that looking at porn makes kids have sex earlier or more often?

54

Thank you, InternetLegend, for such a sensible, non-judgemental defense of keeping porn away from children.

Knorf

55

I am a psychotherapist who works with children. I work mainly with boys, ages 6 to 18, who have been removed from their homes due to abuse and/or neglect. Many of the boys have been sexually abused, a few were perpetrators. My opinions are based on my observations and interpretations with this particular population, not research.

Is porn harmful to children? Depends on the kid, the parents, the amount of exposure, and other situational factors.

Will occassional incidental exposure to porn make your average kid develop into some sort of twisted freak with unhealthy attitudes towards sex, relationships, intimacy, women, etc.? Probably not. A child’s feelings about their sexual selves and their relationships with others develop over time and have a variety of influences. Parents, siblings, friends, relatives, and popular media all have some effect in varying degrees depending on the situation. It is hard to predict. Some kids seem to be highly influenced by their parents, others have a particular sibling or cousin that they follow. Still others seem to be effected more by movies and music- actually this could be a whole other thread.

Many, not all, of the kids I work with who have sexually perpetrated other kids (non consensual sexual contact or sexual contact with children significantly younger than themselves) relate that they had at least some exposure to porn. A few kids have verbalized that they were influenced by the images that they saw. Of course, self report is not always the most reliable source of influence (especially from an 11 year old), but it does give one a reason to at least consider the possibility that their exposure to pornagraphic images have had some effect. Of course, you have to realize that these same kids have had exposure to a variety of other negative influences, including being sexual victims themselves by older children or adults. In addition, one or both of their parents frequently have clinical diagnosis and usually don’t exactly provide a structured living environment with appropriate boundaries. Also, the parents don’t spend much time teaching their kids what many would consider healthy values concerning taking care of themselves and their relationships to others.
So was exposure to porn the main reason that they became perps? In the cases that I have seen, I have to say “no”. I am willing to say that it did have a least some influence with some children, it is almost impossible to tease out why a kid did what he did. Has porn ever influenced a kid to engage in some sort of illegal or unhealthy sexual contact that he might have not otherwise participated in? I have to answer “yes”, judging from kids have reported to me as being their inpiration. I could give you a few examples, but I can’t.

With this population that I work with, being sexualized at an early age seems to have a negative effect on their sexual identity as well as increases their chances of innapropriate sexually acting out (masturbating in public, repeatedly inserting dangerous objects in their anus, trying to provide oral sex to every kid on the unit, sexually assaulting students at school, making sexually explicit comments to adults, that kind of stuff). A few of the kids who engaged in sex with adults or peers question their sexuality and often become so upset they feel like ending their lives. A few of the youngsters (6 to 10 year olds) sometimes amaze me with their sexual fantasies, complete with sexual slang. In almost all cases, these sexual fantasies worry them and are a source of stress. Can exposure to pornography be a part of of this sexualization process? In some cases, it appears to be a small contributing factor with this population. A much bigger factor is the actual early sexual experience and their relationship to the perpetrator.

Bottom line- is porn healthy for kids? I have no reason to think that it is. I have more reason to think that it is not.

I think if you love your kids, teach them to respect themselves and others, discuss sexual issues when you think that think that they are ready for them, act as a good role model for developing relationships, and minimize their exposure to things that you think might be counter to them developing healthy sexual attitudes and intimacy, the kiddos are going to be allright. Sorry for the rambling post with probably more than a few grammar errors and logic flaws- I just came up with it off the top of my head and I am too lazy to go back and proofread it- I am not at work am I?

56

It’s good to hear from the voice of experience, chriscya. Thanks for your well-reasoned post.

57

Can someone tell me what exactly is WRONG with the sight of an erect cock plunging into a wet pussy? What makes it so EVIL in some people’s minds? I really want to know.

58

So long as we’re trading anecdotes, I had an experience similar to MellowCat’s, but with a different outcome. I was about 6 years old and found a hard-core porn mag under my parents’ bed. (It was the mid-70s, so it’s title was something about a warning about deviant lifestyles or some such nonsense.) I looked at it with a good deal of interest, particularly trying to find the pictures that revealed girl parts. Afterwards, I felt guilty and told my mother, who (after scolding my dad for being careless), assured me that should I have any questions about such things I should confide in my parents. I have always had an interest in porn and today it forms a healthy part of my marital relationship. I didn’t become a deviant or a fetishist and I didn’t engage in actual sex until I was 18. It was an accident on my parents’ part, but I don’t think I was harmed at all, although I remember some of the images quite distinctly and I wish I could get another copy of that magazine.

59

That and it has tentacles. :smiley:

60

There’s one major difference between watching movie or TV violence and watching movie or TV porn. Unlike the former, the latter makes you somewhat of a participant. In other words, watching pornography is an actual sexual/erotic experience. Watching violence is not a violent experience.

I would have no problem with my children watching even fairly explicit sex-education material, age-appropriate to what they’re able to understand and deal with. I don’t, on the other hand, want them watching pornography.