[plug] [OT] Arguments in favour?

[Leon Brooks]

Oliver White wrote:
> Leon Brooks wrote:
>> Tom Atkinson wrote:

>>> Well now, for starters, what is the problem with children seeing
>>> pornographic material anyway?

>>> What effect is it supposed to have on them?

>>> Up to a certain age, it would be meaningless; beyond about 15 they would
>>> be knowledgable of sex and about to begin partaking.  During another,
>>> earlier period, it would probably be more educational than anything
>>> else!

>>> Could somebody please enlighten me?

>> Children aren't shown pornography for much the same reason that they
>> aren't allowed to drive until they're 17: the results are almost
>> inevitably destructive and painful. Drivers licences are easier to
>> restrain and monitor than hormones.

> Not quite as easy to revoke though, huh? Really, repressing your feelings
> never results in anything good, in my limited experiance. I'm not saying kids
> should have access to porn, but I think limiting their access to sex
> education, as will more than likely happen with this legislation, will have a
> highly detrimental effect. There's nothing really wrong with pictures of sex
> acts, just their context. All in my not so humble opinion, of course.

In practice, kids just don't handle it well. Destructive and painful.

As they would make poor (irresponsible, slow, not consequence-sensitive,
how else should I say it) decisions when driving a car, so they make
similarly poor decisions about driving their lives. This is particularly
so of the femmes, not because of any mental deficiency (a little the
other way, in fact, at that age) but because they are left literally
holding the baby when something, uh, comes unstuck. The alternative is a
murder which is highly tramatic even when "successful." You can be as
blase as you like about the consequences, but even when _adults_ get
this one wrong, the immediate consequences last two decades, with echoes
and rumblings for generations. Age is far from a uniform indicator of
responsibility but it makes a reasonable rule-of-thumb.