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"It turns out that the research suggesting that teenagers and pornography are a hazardous mix is far from definitive." [Devil's advocate] If you had children,
by adnam 13y ago
"It turns out that the research suggesting that teenagers and pornography are a hazardous mix is far from definitive."
[Devil's advocate] If you had children, would you need peer-reviewed literature to inform your decision to allow them access to pornhub? And similarly, if you were a politician elected by people with children?
- baddox 13y agoI would certainly want peer-reviewed literature to make either decision. Granted, that's not always available, so sometimes you have to make default decisions without good evidence.
- aaronem 13y agoImagine your surprise when it turns out not to be up to you! That sounds flippant, perhaps, but behold: I knew lots of kids growing up whose (usually extreme Southern Baptist) parents tried to prevent them getting hold of porn, but I didn't know even a single one whose parents succeeded at so doing; those who couldn't get it themselves, and who didn't have friends willing to share, at the very least had acquaintances willing to be paid or otherwise persuaded to serve as brokers. This held true even during the year I spent in a Mississippi reform school which operated as an arm of a Roman Catholic monastery, and where getting caught with such outrageous contraband bought you a half-dozen wallops on the bare ass with a razor strap from a monk who was serious about it, the sort of thing that'd leave you sitting lightly for the better part of a week. I'm not sure whether anyone actually believed this had any dissuasive effect on the older students' desire to possess pornography, but anyone who did so believe was destined to be disappointed; indeed, the only effect such punishments had was as a strong incentive to develop the skills of misdirection, concealment, and lying with a straight face. (Me, I'm a cynic, and I half suspect that that was the whole point. If so, whoever designed the curriculum deserves some sort of award for unparalleled effectiveness in pedagogy.) The point is, even in an environment which was by design totally inimical to it, everyone who wanted it had as much porn as he could keep hidden. (Which, in a couple of memorable cases, was a three-ring binder full.) In a more permissive environment, where hiding one's stash was a simple matter of keeping it out of sight -- rather than, say, getting hold of a contraband razor blade and waiting until after lights-out to carefully slit a mattress seam where it didn't show -- the question didn't even arise, even for those of us not so fortunate as to have what was then the rare prize of unmonitored access to the Internet. Now? You'd have to not only homeschool your kids, but keep them locked up in the basement all the rest of the time, and even then I wouldn't lay odds against their finding some way to get hold of porn -- after all, in extremis, all it really takes is a hormonally overheated imagination and a pencil, and the pencil is optional.
- baddox 13y agoI don't really get your point. If the evidence shows that pornography is harmful, then it makes sense for parents to attempt to reduce access even if they can't be completely successful. The same thing would go for something generally considered harmful, like irresponsible drinking.
- cbhl 13y agoOkay, but that's an "obvious" case. At what age does it become appropriate for a child to go on, "Go Ask Alice!"[0]? 5? 8? 13? 21? 25? [0] http://goaskalice.columbia.edu/ http://goaskalice.columbia.edu/
- thaumasiotes 13y agoIs "when they want a question answered" too obvious? I don't think http://goaskalice.columbia.edu/woman-wants-initiate-date http://goaskalice.columbia.edu/woman-wants-initiate-date would even be unusual in, say, a 10-year-old girl. Children who aren't interested in porn actively reject it even when they accidentally find it. It's hard for me to imagine what hypothetical damage it's supposed to do. edit: http://goaskalice.columbia.edu/does-she-me http://goaskalice.columbia.edu/does-she-me
- barry-cotter 13y agoNo. My (currently hypothetical) children will grow up with as few barriers to consuming unsavoury weirdness as I did. I'll be doing it deliberately though.
- adnam 13y agoWhen you're children move from hypothetical realm to actual, let me know your opinion.
- Consultant32452 13y agoI just bought my daughter a Chromebook for her 7th birthday. I seriously doubt she's looking for anything unsavory at this age but I let her use it unsupervised and don't intend to start supervising her in the future.
- adnam 13y agoI hope no one sends her the link to imgur/spacedicks.
- penguat 13y agoAged 7? There's a very predictable response: "ewwwww"
- zimpenfish 13y agoI'm pretty sure that's most people's response to /r/spacedicks.
- aaronem 13y agoThat's what I said, and it's been mumblety-cough years since I was anywhere close to the age of seven.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- JulianMorrison 13y agoWho are you gonna believe, peer reviewed research or your own lyin' eyes? If you pick "eyes", you lack understanding of the strength of evidence and the fallibility of in-person observation.
- adnam 13y agoIf you pick "peer reviewed research" you probably never held your own newborn child in your arms, promising you'd do anything to protect them, and secretly wishing they never grow old. And perhaps you overestimate the strength of evidence.
- JulianMorrison 13y agoCute anecdata is still anecdata. Congrats, you experienced the internal sensation of parent-child bonding. This is not evidence.
- adnam 13y agoMy point is it's not just a question of evidence.
- JulianMorrison 13y agoIf you are updating your opinions about the world on non-evidence, your opinions are skewed.
- adnam 13y agoEqually skewed as using scientific journals as your only source of evidence for complex human issues.
- aaronem 13y agoI recently did a brief stint in academia; peripherally so, I grant, but close enough to see that sausage made, and indeed I had the rare privilege of seeing one particular lump of particularly indigestible offal picked apart and analyzed in microscopically unforgiving detail as a sort of teaching example, a short-hand demonstration of all the things which can and do separate the ideal of peer review from the reality. If the latter lived up to the former, you'd have a compelling argument; having seen firsthand how broad can be the chasm between them, I'd say you are verging very near a naked appeal to authority. Reproducibility, in the unfortunately exceptional cases where it actually exists, is all that saves you from going over the edge; that said, even when I can reproduce an experiment to see whether my results match what the journal saw fit to publish, using a child of mine as a test subject is not a thought which appeals.