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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Porn and childline

42 replies

littlbrowndog · 08/10/2019 11:56

Porn is fun

This vid was done for childline ffs

OP posts:
Angryresister · 08/10/2019 12:14

No mention of violence ,coercion, grooming...more of an invitation. I believe we have to talk to young people and children about this but this light hearted , just a bit of fun approach is not the right way.

Juells · 08/10/2019 12:20

WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF CHILDLINE? Why are they instructing children into how to search for porn, and making it sound like something everyone uses? This is so sick.

TheChampagneGalop · 08/10/2019 12:26

Grooming.

BernardBlacksWineIceLolly · 08/10/2019 12:32

Eh? NSFW so I’ll watch later

NSFW and made by child line for children Sad

SarahTancredi · 08/10/2019 12:54

I lasted 2 mins...

Wtf Is that. Besides a list of things to look up and some penis envy Hmm

Please tell me this isnt being shown to kids. It's a joke right

CaptainKirksSpikeyGhost · 08/10/2019 12:55

And people will still pretend they don't see what's happening here.

truthisarevolutionaryact · 08/10/2019 13:10

The first section does come over as an invitation agreed BUT the rest of it is serious and clearly identifies the risks and legal situation. I think he's (rightly) trying to get a light hearted approach to a serious subject. We know from experience that young people often react negatively to stern warnings about dangers and I think this is a laudable attempt to engage young people in a tricky subject.
You need to watch the whole thing to see this.

clevername · 08/10/2019 13:16

I lurk on this board a lot (have never posted) and I nearly always agree with you all about everything. I saw that thread about the Warwickshire (I think) SRE stuff the other day and am in total agreement about how gross that is. But I've just watched this video and I think it's OK... If you watch to the end, it makes some very good points. And it makes them well.

Surely we can't just say 'porn is bad. Don't watch porn' as that message is likely to be ignored. This video accepts the 'attractions' of porn (it's 'fun'), and explains how it's not real, it's a performance and it's, ultimately, quite dangerous if you don't use it carefully.

clevername · 08/10/2019 13:16

Ha! Cross posted with someone who put it much better than me!

littlbrowndog · 08/10/2019 13:18

Yeah but first message I got was porn is fun

That’s what is sticking in my brain

Not the bit at the end

OP posts:
truthisarevolutionaryact · 08/10/2019 13:22

I can see that littlbrowndog . The first section does that. But my instinct is that it's an attempt to hook young people in by not seeming initially judgemental.
It's all such a bloody mess and you're right to be suspicious. We know how many extreme porn advocates are out there being given access to children to promote their sick values.

SarahTancredi · 08/10/2019 13:25

Trouble is the guy talks too fast and is trying to be "down with the kids" I'm so much of an over the top way that I doubt it will even hold a childs attention fir 6 mins. It certainly couldn't hold mine.

I cant see kids getting far enough into it to get the rest of the message. They will get as far as pausing and rewinding the.list to put into Google.

BeMoreMagdalen · 08/10/2019 13:30

quite dangerous if you don't use it carefully.

Not wishing to unfairly clip out words and assign bad motives, to be clear, but if this conclusion is what you got from the video then yes, I'm happy to say that is a video I wouldn't think was appropriate for kids.

There are not ways to use porn carefully. You are always potentially watching a rape, you are often seeing abusive behaviour presented as exciting ('fun?'), you are training yourself to need more and more extreme boundary pushing to repeat the initial thrill once it has waned. There are ways to get this across to curious kids who have sadly been exposed to the reality of a pornsick culture without warning sternly. It's just the captured organizations are riddling with queer theory trained people who are dedicated to blurring any sensible boundary and who are not interested in that outcome.

howonearthdidwegethere · 08/10/2019 13:31

This video is included in the Scottish Government's new guidance on sex education: rshp.scot/senior-phase/

I still can't get over the fact it was commissioned by ChildLine. Shows how far down the rabbit hole we are.

So what if he moves onto 'why some porn might be bad'. His top take is: porn is just fine (well, most of it).

littlbrowndog · 08/10/2019 13:35

Yes that is the message I got. And the one that is staying with me

Porn is fun

OP posts:
littlbrowndog · 08/10/2019 13:37

Just thinking more

It was like a validation of porn

Everybody watches it so cool so fun

OP posts:
howonearthdidwegethere · 08/10/2019 13:44

He ends with a line about it being okay so long as you don't view the illegal stuff and only watch in moderation.

It's his stupid jaunty delivery too. Evidently very pleased with himself for finding such a super clever way to pass on his wisdom to kids. And getting paid for it.

Thing is, there is good stuff in the new sex ed materials.

I see the Scottish Family Party are already seeking to capitalise from it.

Again: what's needed is a feminist analysis of why porn is bad.

Aberhonddu · 08/10/2019 13:46

I did manage to watch it until the end, he does make some good points in a ridiculously over the top manner, but repeating don't do that several times is plain stupid. We all know when you tell a child or even an adult not to do something many of them will just go ahead and do whatever they've been told not to do.

BeMoreMagdalen · 08/10/2019 13:53

Well, it's been said on this thread that saying 'porn is bad, don't watch porn' is not the way to go, but that entire video was 'porn is harmless entertainment, like Hollywood, with a few extreme exceptions, don't watch too much of it!' which I can't see is any more effective than dangling some poisoned sweeties in front of kids saying 'It's tasty, but don't have too much!'

butteryellow · 08/10/2019 13:56

explains how it's not real

I mean, it is - those things are really being done to some poor woman - it's not like a fake sword that disappears into a hilt when the actor stabs someone, some blokes penis really is going into one of that woman's orifices. And worse.

'Fun' is not how the the videos on the front page of pornhub could ever be described, and that's what kids are going to be watching - they're not popping down to blockbuster and renting a video from the naughty section.

clevername · 08/10/2019 14:34

I'm not advocating for porn, I just think that some of the messages that this video expresses are valid and, actually, fairly well put. I know that porn isn't 'not real' in the sense that it is definitely happening to the women/men that are taking part, I mean that it doesn't reflect real life, real bodies, real sex. That's an incredibly important message to share with young people (notwithstanding how you might feel about porn generally as, let's face it, porn is a fact right now) and one that I think this video gets across fairly well.

Gingerkittykat · 08/10/2019 14:45

Porn is like chicken nuggets.

Also the message that an under 18 starring in "porn" is acting illegally, not that the person making and distributing the images is the one acting in the wrong. That message is likely to put someone off who has been abused or exploited from going to get help.

Antibles · 08/10/2019 15:01

Appalling. Complete normalisation. A entire generation being told porn use is acceptable. Why don't they just add: "Girls, if you feel betrayed and upset that your boyfriend is wanking off to videos of hundreds of other naked women, many of whom are having quite painful, degrading and frightening things done to them, you'll simply have to adjust your thinking. Oh and no matter what Tom says, he will be wanting even expecting to try some of this shit with you."

Where is the argument that porn is the abuse of women on an industrial scale? Nowhere. Brushed off with the phrase "Porn is like chicken nuggets: if we knew how it was made, we'd probably lose our appetites. The porn industy is sketchy at best." Wtf?? No, let's not talk about coercion, trafficking, degradation, humiliation and physical harm. That would force men to confront the harm porn does and spoil their fun.

Yes they got the legal points over and something about how it affects the brain, but it's buried later on, having already given a thumbs up to porn use in general. It's the equivalent of letting the confectionary and soft drinks industry write public health materials on nutrition.

I agree with a PP that it's just plain wrong to say it is isn't real. Those are real women being subjected to real sex acts. It is real. And we know it's being replicated in the bedroom by young people.

Oh and the entitlement being fostered in the bit about imagination not being good enough.

Whatisthisfuckery · 08/10/2019 15:51

Yes yes yes there are some useful messages in amongst the fast talking, but I can’t get over the fact that this video is about porn, and aimed at kids. Let’s not lose sight of that fact.

BarbaraStrozzi · 08/10/2019 16:16

I'm kind of with Truthisnot on this. It is bloody hard to get through to teens. The clip does at least raise issues of consent, working conditions (that was what the chicken nuggets comment was about - we wouldn't eat them if we knew how they were made), lack of realism, impacts on your brain chemistry, that much of it is demeaning to women, that it's the male gaze writ large. But it does it so fast, as PP have said, most teens will only take away the message of "it's fun, fun, fun."

The problem (as others have said) is the bloody jaunty delivery and the "of course it's unproblematic fun if you only search for the nice stuff and only use it in moderation" (pro tip - the end user cannot tell, at the point of consumption, whether the participants were consenting).

I shall have a dig on the Childline website later and try to find out what age group this is aimed at. Hopefully 13-14 year olds rather than 8-9 year olds - now that would be horrific and utterly unjustifiable.

There's got to be something in between this and reading Gail Dines aloud to DS... Anyone got any ideas?