teenagers viewing pornography

[donniedarko]

After doing some research i find it to be the opinion of not only my parents, but many parents, that viewing pornography while under the age of 18 is a horrible crime. i understand if parents dont want their kids to watch it, but thats besides the point. i have been watching pornography on a systimatic basis since i was thirteen years old. i recently had a girlfriend who i treated with great respect. Me and her where very happy together and when she broke up with me (for other reasons) she even told me i was the nicest guy she has ever met. We had a relationship that wasnt based on sex. My point is that i did not treat her as an object. WHY are people so against teens watching pornography on their computer?
while saying this, there is a problem that could arising that may seem small in my opinion, but may seem like a large obsticle in the eyes of others. The problem being one of getting obsessed with it. However i do not find it (and i dont know too much on this subject, so i may just be being naive on this part) i do not find it likley that many teenagers would become obsessed with pornography.

[IowaBoy]

Agreed

[Gumleaf]

moving: gen puberty >>> ramblings of the wise


my view is that it is illegal almost everywhere for people under 18 to be exposed to porn and i do believe that people, including teens, can become addicted to it. i also think that viewing porn should not be encouraged, regardless on what your view is on how girls should be treated and the such. but thats just my opinion.

[The Batman]

I think that if parents started to talk about sex with their children at younger ages then porn really would not be that much of a problem. Sex is something natural and it's not something that should be hidden from kids and teens, we just need to educate them educate them more so that whenever someone does discover porn it's not like a new discovery that you just want to find out everything about it as soon as you can(like I did)

[Bougainvillea]

I agree with Thomas. Sex is something that's completely forbidden as a child, and completely unspoken of as a teen. If parents took more actions on the educational needs of their children when it comes to sex, then some things like excessive viewing of porn could be reduced. Children would less likely google stuff like "penis" and "jerking off" if they were already enlightened on the subject.

[Zero Beat]

I agree with Thomas. Sex is something that's completely forbidden as a child, and completely unspoken of as a teen. If parents took more actions on the educational needs of their children when it comes to sex, then some things like excessive viewing of porn could be reduced. Children would less likely google stuff like "penis" and "jerking off" if they were already enlightened on the subject.

Yeah sure that could happen. But once they were to work out there is free porn on the internet... They are still going to look. Porn is like a drug for some teens. They feel they must watch it. Grown men, and women, look at porn and they are fully enlightened on the subject of sex...

[The Joker]

Kids have insane sexual urges, and they can't always have sex or aren't allowed.

It's a good way to release the sexual energy instead of trying to force someone to have sex with you.

[Aspiringanonymous]

Sex is something that's completely forbidden as a child, and completely unspoken of as a teen.
Would someone please explain why exactly that is? For that matter, why is sexuality a traditionally taboo subject?

I've never understood.

[Sugaree]

Here's the problem...parents don't want to talk to their kids about sex. Why? Because their parents never did. So it's hard for parents, who have no idea how to talk to their kids about it, to really formulate on it all. You can't blame them...teenagers are naturally curious individuals with sexual urges. All the hormones and estrogen mixing up is just really insane so they do this. I see no problems with watching porn at all. However I do have a problem when the kids believe that this is how sex goes on. Now people have conflicting views on this subject, but I find it better to keep an open stance on it, as where one side isn't wrong but the other isn't right either.

You have a fourteen year old, for example, watching a pornographic video and see how the women are symbolized and how the entire love making experience happens. They get the wrong idea of it. That's the only con I see in young teenagers watching pornography. Now, don't get me wrong, I do on the occasion take a gander at what is out there, but at least my parents described to me HOW it all goes down.

As natural as it is to watch pornography, I find it to be wrong when someone over the age of 18 shows pornographic material to another individual who is UNDER that age. Really, they could just find it themselves. Porn is something someone just THROWS out and naturally shares with every Dick and Harry out there.

[Mr. Smithers]

I really can't think of a good reason why. You can say that it's a bad influence for them to watch that. But that's still not completely true. But teenagers send explicit pictures over the cell phone, so what is the difference?

[Sage]

Would someone please explain why exactly that is? For that matter, why is sexuality a traditionally taboo subject?

I've never understood.

My theory: Ancient people discovered that sexual promiscuity can lead to a lot of nasty things, including STDs and giving birth to too many damn children from too many damned people. To get people to cut down on this unsafe practice, religious/spiritual leaders make them forbidden or discouraged, and over time this belief has been passed down to the point where people don't think about why it's bad, they just assume it's bad because it's bad- Without realizing that one can easily be promiscuous in today's culture and remain healthy, what with all our safe practices and contraceptives and baby murder.

This is simply my theory, though, based only on things I've picked up in sociology courses.

[teen_vt]

agree^^

[Doctor Fate]

...judgemental fucker....

[Sage]

agree^^

Welcome to Ramblings of the Wise. Here, we believe in something called substance.

A horrible crime? You mean, even more of a horrible crime than things like incest, killing innocent people, and molesting little children? Even worse than those things? Gimme a break.

The only person implying that just now is you. Nobody said it's worse than anything, merely that it's bad.

What, would parents rather their kids be out roaming the streets looking for random hookups? Good grief.

False dichotomy.

I've really never understood why kids must at all costs be shielded from human sexuality.

This however I will agree with.

[ibanezjoey1007]

I wanna keep this short & sweet. Is it immoral? Maybe. Are we going to do it? Absolutely. Would I want my kids watching it before 18? Probably not, but I'd know there was little I could do to stop them. Plus. it would make me a hypocrite.

[BlackBetty]

I agree with Thomas. Sex is something that's completely forbidden as a child, and completely unspoken of as a teen. If parents took more actions on the educational needs of their children when it comes to sex, then some things like excessive viewing of porn could be reduced. Children would less likely google stuff like "penis" and "jerking off" if they were already enlightened on the subject.

Why is sex so forbidden to speak of?? It just dosen't make sence. I think parents bring on alot of stuff that happens to there kids because of there mistakes that they have made with us.

[Doctor Fate]

Sheltering is bad, because kids are only going to go out of control with their "curiosity" and lust for "freedom" when they hit their teens and they're more likely to make poor choices... because by the time they hit the 13 mark, you pretty much have zero control over them anymore.

[Sage]

...judgemental fucker....

It's not judgment. It's Ramblings of the Wise. People debate things on this board.

[The Batman]

...judgemental fucker....

This is a debate forum if you don't like it when people disagree with you then this is obviously the wrong part of the forum for you. So instead of throwing insults debate him or don't bother posting.

[Rutherford The Brave]

Teens will always be curious. It's simple if you think from this stand point. Those who have not had sex, want to see what its like from a third party view. Also they need to get their rocks off. Porn is porn, I don't think it really has any serious issues. I mean it all depends on what you do if you become addicted. Which would not be porn's fault to begin with. If you watch porn so much you become a sex addict thats you fault. If you blame things like this for your own problems then you get no where. Undoubtly however, if you spend so much time watching porn something must be wrong with you.

[CuriousDestruction]

if pornography is legalized for those under the age of 18 there could be some serious legal troubles, especially for pornography sites. kids would start using more credit cards. parents can sue if their kids act out sexually in school. kids of even younger ages may start viewing porn. etc. the list stretches on. personally i've looked at pornography since i was 14 as well, but as long as the laws on it aren't that strictly enforced i dont have much of a problem with it. a lot of teenage boys look at porn even though it's against the law, the difference is that there aren't legal troubles for the pornography sites.

[Sage]

if pornography is legalized for those under the age of 18 there could be some serious legal troubles, especially for pornography sites. kids would start using more credit cards. parents can sue if their kids act out sexually in school. kids of even younger ages may start viewing porn. etc. the list stretches on. personally i've looked at pornography since i was 14 as well, but as long as the laws on it aren't that strictly enforced i dont have much of a problem with it. a lot of teenage boys look at porn even though it's against the law, the difference is that there aren't legal troubles for the pornography sites.

There's no point in legalizing something that is against the law when nobody enforces the law to begin with.

[obiwan94]

Not all societies think porn is such a bad thing...part of it is the Judeo-Christian background that says that anything that is fun is evil. No theater, no singing, no dancing, nothing fancy...admittedly this is mostly protestant beliefs that have since been ignored but history is never erased. I'd like to see concrete research that says its harmful and that its not just a knee jerk reaction by paranoid parents. I did find this though

What the Researchers Say

"Mountains of sex research have established that males are more visually oriented and more naturally drawn to visual images. Biologists argue that being sexually stimulated by the sight of the female form and its posturing is directly tied to mating behavior and the propagation and survival of our species. In my opinion, there is no body of hard science (including President Lyndon Johnson's exhaustive President's Commission on Pornography Report) that has ever proven a direct correlation between pornography and crime or pornography and increased sexual assaults in the general population. "

[Sugaree]

if pornography is legalized for those under the age of 18 there could be some serious legal troubles, especially for pornography sites. kids would start using more credit cards. parents can sue if their kids act out sexually in school. kids of even younger ages may start viewing porn. etc. the list stretches on. personally i've looked at pornography since i was 14 as well, but as long as the laws on it aren't that strictly enforced i dont have much of a problem with it. a lot of teenage boys look at porn even though it's against the law, the difference is that there aren't legal troubles for the pornography sites.

There is no one enforcing the law, so why even make it illegal? Besides, you can't stop a teenager, or anyone for that matter, from viewing pornography or other adult content. It's the taboo nature of these things that arouse (for lack of a better word) our interests and we end up doing the things that many consider wrong.

[Zero Beat]

I saw this on a site from a site from a site. *I did track down the real version of it, but cant give links cause of the types of ads that are displayed*

"Research keeps offering the rather sensible supposition that a teenager’s attitude to porn and sex is usually shaped by their family, their peers, their culture, their exposure to other media and their education. That is, you have to take a holistic approach. If a teen – usually male – is using porn in a negative way you should probably look closely at pre-existing problems or bad attitudes before you blame the porn itself. Bad porn is more like the icing on a very bad cake than the recipe itself.

That aside, there was one aspect of Flood’s report that I found very disturbing. It’s his definition of what constitutes “harm” in the first place – and I think it’s something that needs to be discussed more often. Because in all the hysterical hand flapping of “somebody think of the children!”, nobody really sits down and says: “Well, what is it that we don’t want kids to learn or do when it comes to sex?”

…

Flood raises the terrible spectre of embracing “open sexual lifestyles”! Lord save us, people might actually take up butt sex! Casual sex, multiple partners, homosexuality… the horror! And all because they looked at porn! I’m rather stunned that a supposedly scientific report would include such a conservative and judgemental definition of “harm.” Just because a “community” (and face it, we’re talking about fundamentalist Christians here) thinks these things are wrong does not prove that they cause verifiable harm to the individuals doing them."

[CuriousDestruction]

There is no one enforcing the law, so why even make it illegal? Besides, you can't stop a teenager, or anyone for that matter, from viewing pornography or other adult content. It's the taboo nature of these things that arouse (for lack of a better word) our interests and we end up doing the things that many consider wrong.

the point is that it gives amnesty towards pornography sites, less liability. and you absolutely can stop people. there are child blockers, parental controls, etc. it's not that hard, people just don't bother with them.

[Sugaree]

the point is that it gives amnesty towards pornography sites, less liability. and you absolutely can stop people. there are child blockers, parental controls, etc. it's not that hard, people just don't bother with them.

Giving amnesty towards pornography would even further loosen the laws against them. Also, parental controls aren't bothered with because most parents are clueless as to what they are, and if their child is smart tech wise, they'll be getting around easily.

[Doctor Fate]

FFS WHY DO I CONTINUE TO GET NEG REP FOR THAT ONE STUPID POST.... aie this is annoying.

For fuck's sake. Okay here I go.

I don't see why it's wrong for people to view porn, and I don't know why kids have to be sheltered from sexuality so much... where did that tradition originate from, anyway? It's silly.

Oh great, now I'm probably going to get MORE red.

[Jove]

Oh great, now I'm probably going to get MORE red.

Why do you care about a small rating on an Internet forum.

[Sugaree]

FFS WHY DO I CONTINUE TO GET NEG REP FOR THAT ONE STUPID POST.... aie this is annoying.
[...]
Oh great, now I'm probably going to get MORE red.

Because it's just so important to get a reputation on the internet. :rolleyes: Pro tip: Complain about reputation when necessary. Don't go around blowing your gourd at people for doing it.

[INFERNO]

"Mountains of sex research have established that males are more visually oriented and more naturally drawn to visual images. Biologists argue that being sexually stimulated by the sight of the female form and its posturing is directly tied to mating behavior and the propagation and survival of our species. In my opinion, there is no body of hard science (including President Lyndon Johnson's exhaustive President's Commission on Pornography Report) that has ever proven a direct correlation between pornography and crime or pornography and increased sexual assaults in the general population. "

I googled this up and the only links it appeared to be from didn't have much credibility as they weren't objective, scientific articles or papers (i.e. the person saying "in my opinion...").

With that aside, I think parents are against teens watching porn because at least in Western culture, sex is something that is not meant to be discussed openly with everyone, it's meant to be private. The parents' culture and/or religion along with their parents likely did the same and those parents did the same, rinse, lather and repeat.

The thing that I find to be somewhat funny is for computers and Internet, it's not particularly difficult to block websites that contain certain content. If the kid wants to so badly, then they can get around it but the parents seem to not want to talk about it, seem to be against it and yet, they have access to stop their kid from viewing it yet they don't. It may be because they don't know how but if they feel so strong about it, then learning how to do so doesn't seem too unreasonable as it doesn't require a degree in computer science, just look on the Internet, get a book, ask a person, etc... .

When I think about it though, I think the greater issue is not necessarily the child viewing porn but whether they'll act on it or be influenced by it. Many believe it objectifies women, so the parents may want to avoid that happening to their child.

It's an interesting conflict really: when it's illegal yet is pleasurable (i.e. sex is nice :cool:), of course people want to feel good and feel pleasure. The fact that it's illegal may give people a greater incentive to get what they cant have. When it's made legal, then they can easily get what they want but there's nothing stopping them from getting too much unless they have good self-control or someone intervenes.