Porn should be illegal

[Beatrixemerald]

I know lots of people enjoy it harmless blah blah but I just read about four boys aged 12-14 being arrested for rape and it’s made me think about the damage porn is doing to young people. They may not have been exposed to porn but I suspect that’s highly unlikely.
My understanding is that violent porn/strangulation etc has become the norm and I think teens are getting a totally distorted view of sex/consent.
Ultimately on balance I can’t see any place for it in society and I consider myself pretty liberal minded ie what consenting adults want to do is totally fine but that porn is distorting and normalising things that naturally people wouldn’t choose to do. AIBU?

All it takes is a VPN.

@MartinsSpareCalculator what about the kids who's parents can't or won't do all that? Just let them be collateral damage, and by extension their peers?

Why isn't it just the parents' responsibility to ensure their kids don't buy alcohol,or fags or sharp objects?

You may not be able to get rid of it, but at least you can make it more difficult to access.

I'm really sorry for your experience but you have no idea about me or my life. Believe it or not, other people experience negative things, too.

7 year old generally don't just look up gay pornthough, do they? That is more poor parenting and supervision by giving a 7YO unlimited access to the internet that has probably already got gay porn open on it.

Bleach is dangerous if left in the reach of an unsupervised 7YO. No one is calling for it to be banned.

Consumption of porn for under 18s is already illegal. So tighten up the verification process for it. Doesn't mean it has to be illegal, as per your examples of things which are perfectly legal for adults but not children.

But yes, parents absolutely should take more responsibility for their children possessing sharp objects or consuming alcohol and/or tobacco.

It's absolutely disgusting for a 7yo to be able to view this. What child should be looking at any pron is the issue, especially at such a young age. Horrible.

So tighten up the verification process for it.

This is exactly what I'm advocating for.

There should be so much more regulation, so not so easily accessible, more control over content and ensuring all participants are consenting and not trafficked.

We also need so much more work on reducing misogyny and get rid of the acceptance that all men watch/or should watch porn. Similar to the acceptance that strip clubs will always feature in a stag do. They don’t have to. However, most of this has to come from men for there to be any impact

I've worked in the legal area for 30+ years, and the last two decades most frequently on assault cases. I add that to give some context to my reply.

Firstly, I don't think porn will be effectively restricted or blocked, unless there are massive social or technological changes, that I don't see on the horizon (maybe someone else does?). Some of the most popular TV shows include material that would have been classified as pornography until very recent times. The content is very mainstream viewing for some, and extremely objectionable for others.

Having said that most people that I know working in the area for a long time believe it has a very significant impact on sex offenses. Not the number of offenses, but the nature of many attacks has changed. If you look at cases from decades ago, you'll see that most (but not all) cases details for r*pe was what would be considered "traditional". Today you'll see many cases in which the victim has been violated in multiple ways (vaginal, anal, oral). This is clearly the influence of pornography. You'll also see this in several most recent survivor memoirs too. What is an unimaginably traumatic experience for victims, is made even worse.

I believe that porn is very damaging to developing brains but i dont think it would be possible to completely ban it. I think that porn sites should require a credit card for viewing, not necessarily a payment but a card. I am not sure what can be done about all the amateur stuff floating around but where there is a will there is a way.