# Would/Should this be considered "abusive"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 15, 2005, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-should-this-be-considered-abusive/284923 "2005-01-15T23:08:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-should-this-be-considered-abusive/284923/41 "2005-01-16T23:48:52Z")
> [@START](#): > > I know these people that have 2 boys ages 13 and 15 and a 17 year old girl. > > The 13 and 15 year old share a bedroom and on the wall they had pages from porno magazines on the walls and in the living room on the coffee table there was an old “Playboy” out in the open for all family members to enjoy. > Their dad says he would rather have them looking at some “fine naked women” now than to turn out gay later and that he knows they will get their hands on X-rated stuff sooner or later so it is better to have it available at home. > I’m not being judgemental because it’s not like my Brothers and I have never had porn magazines in the house before but the difference is that my parents knew nothing about it and it was well hidden because if my parents would have seen it, then we would be in trouble. > If the police came in the house for some reason and saw the naked ladies on the wall would that be considered “child abuse”? Since some consider what they show on broadcast TV as pornographic… ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-should-this-be-considered-abusive/284923/42 "2005-01-17T00:17:14Z")
They’re 13 and 15… it’s not like they’re giving porn to a seven year old. There was a thread going over in IMHO – I think – about when people lost their virginity, and I was surprised at how many 13 & 14 year olds I read about. That’s the age normal children start exploring those kind of things, in fact I think calling them adolescents would be more appropriate anyway. Softcore porn in their bedroom is not going to scar them for life, unless there’s something already going on as a seperate issue that complicates things (like actual sexual abuse from a parent or something.) Like I said already though, keeping it in the living room for all to see is kind of weird and makes me worry about something going on with the dad. The “not letting them turn gay” thing sounds more like an excuse for underlying motives than an actual justification to me, too. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-should-this-be-considered-abusive/284923/43 "2005-01-17T00:58:05Z")
Over the years, a few jurisdictions have taken legal action against various Unitarian-Univeralist congregations for providing “pornography” to children, when all that was done was the enrolling of UU kids by their parents in the denomination’s sex-ed program, [Our Whole Lives](http://www.uua.org/owl/), and its predecessor program, “About Your Sexuality”. We Unitarians tend to provide accurate info to our kids, especially in the area of sex ed, and this upsets some people. Many people have labelled the materials “pornographic”. I don’t believe any of the prosecutions have ever stuck. So I’d take **trublmakr** ’s assertions with a grain of salt. Doesn’t sound like the people in the OP are Unitarians, though. ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-should-this-be-considered-abusive/284923/44 "2005-01-17T04:46:04Z")
> [@START](#): > > Prude or Perv…niether. Not you specifically, **START**. It just seemed to be a hot button, teeter totter topic where if you said it’s OK for teenage boys to have softcore porn, then you’re a porn pushing pervert and child abuser. If you say No, they boys shouldn’t have it then you’re a puritanical Prude interfering with Their natural sexual development. It’s already been mentioned that they guys should just have the decency to keep them girlie books out of sight. Not out of shame, just out of appropriateness. Nothing wrong with masturbation, but you don’t do it at the dinner table when the pastor’s over, either. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-should-this-be-considered-abusive/284923.md?page=2)