Pornography for children, what the ever loving fuck.

[MagicMix]

Someone on my social media shared this commenting that it was probably the best solution to the problem of pornography messing up children's attitudes to sex.

www.unilad.co.uk/life/mums-unite-to-make-porn-theyre-happy-for-kids-to-watch/

Um, no, we should not be making pornography for children.

This must be some kind of sensationalist title, right? They are making a sex education video with mildly suggestive acted footage like you'd see in a mainstream film or TV programme, surely, not actual explicit footage of non-simulated sexual acts? Because it's illegal for an adult to show pornography to a child, so this can't be right can it?

It is staggering to me how anyone could think this was a good idea.

I know the harm porn does to children from my own experience. It's a big deal. I blocked porn from our home PC but another boy showed my DS horrible stuff when he was only 11. That boy's mother was notorious for the number of men who went through her household and her DS had clearly been damaged by it, with very nasty ideas about women. It was sheer good luck that my son came to me to share the distress he felt over what he'd seen.

I've felt ever since that schools need to confront porn and its messages head on. Showing any form of porn is a terrible idea. It would be better to start by establishing benchmarks for what happy, healthy relationships are like and then comparing what porn says about men, about women, and about the relationship between the sexes.

There is an obvious need for good educational materials on sex, relationships, consent and critical thinking wrt societal messages around these topics.

Presenting kids with yet more porn seems to me like introducing them to fruit machines in the hope that this will inoculate them against a potential online poker addiction

Presenting children with any porn will allow little girls to see just what the world expects of them at a time when they should still be hopeful for their futures.

Ok, devil's advocate question here. The main argument against pornography from feminists is that it is exploitative of and misogynist towards women (which most of it is), and therefore perpetuates patriarchy. But just suppose that pornography was completely produced, scripted and performed by women for women. Yes, I know there might seem fat chance of this happening, but just hypothetically suppose such porn were to exist. Suppose these mums were to produce that represented female desires...would there still be an ethical problem? In short, is the media representation of sex for purposes of arousal inherently problematic, or is it only so when it takes place in a patriarchal society?

I think I understand the mums thinking. There is a lot of hardcore porn out there and having some tamer stuff for teenagers to watch might seem like a good way to combat them seeing the rougher stuff. However, the hardcore stuff will still be available for free so I’m not sure how it will help. Also, knowing your mum directed it and approves isn’t going to help you get off.

JulieMoolie The porn you have described with women directing etc already exists. You do have to pay to access it but it does exist. Search for feminist or ethical porn and some websites come up that have information on different sites for ethical porn.

Yes HUMANS CANNOT EVER CHANGE. Assuming you're right and such porn exists, would it be harmless? Or is porn only harmful if inscribed with patriarchal values? I'm just not clear on the feminist position on porn. Is it bad in whatever manifestation - say a cooperatively run porn company of female writers, directors and performers catering for a female audience - or just bad Inna patriarchal context?

I can't see a world of hope that teens are going to go "Oh yes I'll just stick to this nice watered down for teens porn. No chance I'll wander off and watch whatever piques my interest".
The point they're making is fair. The idea that mum approved porn will change anything is naive imo.

I think porn is fine to be honest. I don’t think it should be banned like some people think. I obviously think there are some who aren’t being treated right in the industry and a lot of people turn to doing porn for sad reasons or being pushed into etc. But if people choose to do this as a job and it is a choice then I don’t see the problem. But if you worry about people not wanting to be in it there is porn you can find that is confirmed to be by choice etc and is made by women for women.

Having read it's synopsis on the RadioTimes website I think it's going to be an interesting watch. Hopefully strengthening the argument for the forthcoming age block on porn sites. Very relieved that it doesn't sound like it's going to be a bunch of fruity mums making Peppa Pig porn.

On 'ethical' porn: I do not believe it is ever ethical to commodify sexual consent. Whether somebody wants to sell their sexual consent or not I do not believe it is ever all right to buy it. This is prostitution. Sexual consent should be freely and enthusiastically given - if it's paid for, it's coerced. As a consumer of commercial pornography you are also being extremely naive if you think you have any way of knowing whether the 'performers' you are watching are victims of abuse/trauma or financially desperate or vulnerable in some other way.

As for 'amateur' pornography where it may look like everyone is freely consenting and not getting paid - again you have no way to know the truth of what is going on. Commercial pornography is sometimes made to look like unpaid amateur pornography. In other cases the woman being filmed may not have consented to be filmed or may not have consented to have the footage shared publicly online (revenge porn).

I'm just not clear on the feminist position on porn. Is it bad in whatever manifestation - say a cooperatively run porn company of female writers, directors and performers catering for a female audience - or just bad Inna patriarchal context?

The liberal feminist position is that anything is OK if it's a choosy choice, pornographers absolutely have the right to purchase sexual consent, and selling your sexual boundaries for cash is totes empowering.

The radical feminist position is generally opposed to the commodification of women's bodies and sexuality (yes even if the pimp is a woman) and points out that the sex industry in all its manifestations is harmful to women as a class even if it may superficially benefit a handful of individual women.

So there are different schools of thought.