Porn & the impact of its availablity

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Today's Herald had an interesting article on the effects of porn being a mouse click away. Porn is a 57 billion dollar a year industry which is amazing given that regular movies worldwide were only a 23 billion dollar industry...

Topics covered in the article that I though made some good points:

We don't know whether kids who cut their teeth (so to speak) on porn become confused or disappointed when the real people they're with don't react the way they do on the screen.

A valid point IMHO. Your average 13 yr old now has probably seen sexual acts well beyond his/her age. Will that 1st fumbling experience bear nothing in resemblance to the money shot glam porn they saw last night? Probably, but will they keep trying for that ideal by whatever means or clue into reality?

Nieman says another concern is pornography addiction. There is data indicating porn stimulates dopamine receptors, releasing a hormone in the brain and leading to cravings.
"We worry about Ritalin and other chemical substances on a child's brain," Nieman says. "It's very possible that if a child is exposed frequently enough, pornography may affect the whole chemistry of the brain. We don't know.".......The endless XXX-rated videos -- a click away on the family computer -- are a long, long way from the old days when the motherlode of porn was Dad's stack of Playboys tucked away in the garage.

The article makes a good point - in an age where we're worried about too much sodium, too much sugar, too much stress - could too much access to sex stimulus have some serious societal effects? Could one get desensitized to this stimulus and require something really "disturbing" to get aroused? Much like how violence requires some serious oneupmanship in movies and video games nowadays? I remember a boob shot in National Geographic or SI Swimsuit Issue was the most readily available porn for us, a far cry from the world that's available on the Net today.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/...7f&k=31333&p=1

[flylock shox]

I'd always wondered why, every time I see a pretty girl, the middle finger on my right hand would start twitching.

Turns out I've just been subconsciously right-clicking.

How curious.

[CrusaderPi]

I've found that I've been almost desensitized to nudity. It doesn't bother me, excite me, or interest me. I simply no longer care.


As for the SI swimsuit issue and National Geographic. Those were good times.

[Ironhorse]

Originally Posted by CrusaderPi

As for the SI swimsuit issue and National Geographic. Those were good times.

And the JC Penny holiday catalogue!

[jammies]

If your kid is surfing porn, you have failed as a parent - especially if he's seen enough of it to get desensitized to sexual imagery. Blaming porn for the resulting problems misses the point - it's no different than letting your child drink a two-sixer every weekend and then crying about him becoming an alcoholic.

[Cain]

I'd argue that pornography can actually be seen as a positive. Social norms and society often dictate that it is not possible to satisfy ones sexual urges on every impulse, and instead of then going about and doing something sexually inappropriate, everyone can just merely sit down at a computer and go balls out(you know, or other things. I knew that was a bad phrasing.).

Especially at younger ages. I don't want to say I grew up with pornography, but I don't think that it impacted me negatively in any way regarding my ability to appreciate the real thing...and it perhaps even educated me much more than some cartoon I saw at the age of 10.

[alltherage]

Originally Posted by jammies

If your kid is surfing porn, you have failed as a parent - especially if he's seen enough of it to get desensitized to sexual imagery. Blaming porn for the resulting problems misses the point - it's no different than letting your child drink a two-sixer every weekend and then crying about him becoming an alcoholic.

2-6's don't come through your computer. There are no 100% fool proof ways to keep your kid off porn unless you literally sit there with them every second they're on the net. So many teens have computers in their rooms now, or in a dark corner of the basement.

This is just my humble opinion, but where you can be the difference maker is in hammering home some extremely basic moral fibers in the kid that women need to be respected as people, not as some sex fantasy like in porn. The psycological effects of exposing yourself to that kind of content can be damaging to your most basic thoughts about women.

Not to be sexist and leave out the girls that get in to porn, but clearly it's more rampant in your average teen boy than girl.

[Crazy Flamer]

I heard about an interesting theory on the radio today suggesting that the vast availiability of porn on the internet has sparked a significant decrease in sexual crimes in the US. The theory being of course that instead in going out and harming other individuals, sexual predators can now feed their urges using the internet.

[Cain]

Additionally about the oneupmanship or requiring something more "exotic" to provide arousal if you are desensitized via porn...I would really hesitate to make that claim. It is much like how I am completely desensitized to gore in movies. I can watch many horror/gorefest movies without even blinking...but to speculate that the very same reaction would manifest itself in front of a real scene is a bit of a stretch.

I can't imagine how horrifed I would be to see some violent acts occurring in front of me. Same goes for sex in my opinion. Something on a screen is completely different to something (or someone!) close enough to touch.

[SteveToms]

What I normally look for in a girl is way different then what I look for a girl to look in a porn, and I know where the line between reality/porn is.

[Hemi-Cuda]

it's amazing that there is still this belief that nudity/sexuality will harm our children in our society. different societies around the world are much more open about sex than north america is, yet they don't seem to have any issues. hell on some european TV nudity is common place on primetime shows

how messed up are our values when a kid can watch some guy getting his brain cut open on CSI be perfectly ok but one naughty word or a nipple slip causes pandemonium?

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

it's amazing that there is still this belief that nudity/sexuality will harm our children in our society. different societies around the world are much more open about sex than north america is, yet they don't seem to have any issues. hell on some european TV nudity is common place on primetime shows

how messed up are our values when a kid can watch some guy getting his brain cut open on CSI be perfectly ok but one naughty word or a nipple slip causes pandemonium?

Get an addiction to porn, then come back and tell me that it didn't harm you at all. To quote a very fitting movie on the subject "You dance with the devil, and the devil doesn't change the devil changes you."

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Get an addiction to porn, then come back and tell me that it didn't harm you at all.

I harmed myself over and over again.

[Agamemnon]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

it's amazing that there is still this belief that nudity/sexuality will harm our children in our society. different societies around the world are much more open about sex than north america is, yet they don't seem to have any issues. hell on some european TV nudity is common place on primetime shows

how messed up are our values when a kid can watch some guy getting his brain cut open on CSI be perfectly ok but one naughty word or a nipple slip causes pandemonium?

I definitely agree about the hypocracy of allowing children access to violence but not sexuality. Though I think the main point here is still accurate, sexuality and hard-core porn are not exactly the same thing. Just as fantasy violence may skew the child's perceptions of what violence is really like, hard-core porn may do the same thing. My girlfriend actually brought this up the other day, saying she read an essay that due to pornography men's sexual expectations are beginning to change from what they were in decades past. I'd pretty much believe that, given that my own expectations have probably been shaped to some degree by pornography (and given this is an internet forum, I'm going to go ahead and guess I'm not alone here).

[Agamemnon]

Originally Posted by SteveToms

What I normally look for in a girl is way different then what I look for a girl to look in a porn, and I know where the line between reality/porn is.

But do you expect the same things sexually from a potential girlfriend that you would had you never watched porn in your life? I don't think the point here is that people will go looking for porn stars to date, it's more about what sexual expectations are and how much pornography is shaping/changing that.

[BlackEleven]

Originally Posted by jammies

If your kid is surfing porn, you have failed as a parent - especially if he's seen enough of it to get desensitized to sexual imagery. Blaming porn for the resulting problems misses the point - it's no different than letting your child drink a two-sixer every weekend and then crying about him becoming an alcoholic.

I'm not sure that comparing alcohol to porn in this case is valid. The desire to look at porn in a young adolescent male comes from within, from raging hormones and sexual curiostiy. The desire to drink is an external pressure, that comes from peers, a desire to be 'cool', and societal pressures -- at least initially. It's much easier to convince and teach your child to ignore the pressures that come from without than the ones that come from within.

[The Goon]

The easiest way to avoid porn is to do what I do. Use the word "erotica".

Also, this discussion reminds me that the Taboo Naughty But Nice Sex Show is this weekend at the Roundup Centre.

[photon]

Originally Posted by The Goon

Also, this discussion reminds me that the Taboo Naughty But Nice Sex Show is this weekend at the Roundup Centre.

Lol I've never been to that, is it actually interesting, or just creepy?

[The Goon]

Originally Posted by photon

Lol I've never been to that, is it actually interesting, or just creepy?

I'd say it's geared heavily towards women and couples. I went last year for the first time with my girlfriend. Nothing was more surreal than having a grandmotherly lady explain and demonstrate different types of riding crops to me.

[Flashpoint]

Originally Posted by alltherage

There are no 100% fool proof ways to keep your kid off porn unless you literally sit there with them every second they're on the net. So many teens have computers in their rooms now, or in a dark corner of the basement.

Who's fault is that? The parents for allowing the computer to be put in those places. If they are interested in protecting their kids, the computer needs to be in a family area like the living room. You don't need to sit with them every second. Just walk by every few minutes.

Little Johnny is a lot less likely to get into schiesser videos if Grandma is about to walk into the room and catch him.

As far as the violence vs porn argument goes - I would rather have my child regularly watching hardcore porn than Al-Qaeda decapitations. Which have been shown on network TV. North America has really allowed the prudes to run rampant where you can only show a breast on TV if there is a bullet going through it.