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Promoting Intimacy and Other-Centered Sexuality
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A Wise 17 Year Old On the Internet About Censorship of Porn
Frankly, I must put in my two cents on this censorship issue and input my thoughts of it all knowing that it won't matter either way. But at least you'll know what's on my mind... I am a 17 year old male who was born and lived half of my life time in Europe. Of course, it goes without saying that Europe is much more liberal and open when it comes to sex and mainly censorship. Anyway, after hearing all this nonsense about censorship and over priced penalties for postings of pornography, I must rebut. I am underage, and I have been surfing the net collecting all sorts of "adult" and pornographic material for almost a year now. I feel that I am healthy, well educated and a good human being through out. I am also considered a teenager and apparently not adult enough to view certain types of material. I also want to add that I have been neither physically nor mentally affected by viewing all the explicit material that I have retrieved over the internet.
(Note: Probably anti-porn crusaders would respond that this guy is being harmed, at least long-term, but doesn't know it.)
I don't and am not willing to understand why it is such a problem for me to look at a pair of breasts or a vagina or a couple engaging in intercourse or another type of explicit sexual activity. WHAT TYPE OF DAMAGE IS BEING DONE HERE?
Of course, my parents are not aware that I collect this material just like when I'm 27 and married I'm not going to call them up to simply say "I'm going to fuck my wife now, dad, and I just wanted to let you know." My main point is, sex is not a bad thing and neither is the human body unless people make it bad and that's what is happening at this moment... I mean, here we are in 1995, at the turn of the century where society is being liberated from racism, sexism, homophobia and many other ism's instead of making our futures feel less intimidated about the "s" word, we keep it censored and sort of something you shouldn't do....
After the age of 14, my head began to graphically portray my fantasies of being with the opposite sex. It was a normal process of the change going on in me that was happening to millions of other 14 year olds going through puberty.... IT WAS A NORMAL THING... [W]hy was it NORMAL for me to view these things in my head and NORMALLY fantasize about sexually explicit activities and it is not OK and it is very ILLEGAL to take a look at a Playboy once in and watch a pornographic film once in a while...
All I'm saying is that it is a time of self discovery and change and parents shouldn't take it so seriously that their kids are viewing sexual material...
I just think that that little child being dragged up the street by it's abusive father will never get to live a NORMAL childhood like me and will grow up to be a violent human being. And what is the government doing about that? I just can't stop thinking about the hundreds of thousands of kids selling their bodies to survive, will never get to live a NORMAL childhood like me. And what is the government doing about that? I just don't want to think of the 10 year old sitting home in a corner watching their family injecting themselves with heroin and how he will never get to live a normal (normal, normal, normal, normal, normal, normal) childhood like me. And what is the government doing about that? Nothing....
Simply put, the government will never have control over the internet mainly because it's an international medium of communication, and frankly no matter how powerful they are, the US is not the world. I am 17 years old, I have a family, I have home, I am healthy and I first saw a porno mag at the age of 13 under my father's bed. I am admitting this, and maybe sooner than we think, 80% of all fathers in the country will be issued summons and forced to pay 6-digit fees for unintentionally providing their child with something they are not suppose to be seeing. I have let my 13 yo cousin surf the internet... he seemed nonetheless interested. I have let my 15 yo cousin surf the internet, she didn't know how to. And basically, most of the internet community is 16 and above... Sure the material is available, but you have to know were to get. It is much easier for any kid to walk downtown and get a hard packed issue of Hustler than it is to get stuff over the internet....
But what it all comes down to is, what is the big deal about kids and pornography? It is a normal step of growing up and there are many other not so normal issues that are corrupting teens and society that need to be dealt with and taken care of before one has to worry about their kids getting their hands on a computer and accessing sexual explicit material....
Porn Can Be Healthy and Reduce Sexual Violence
In his book “Pornography and Sexual Violence,” Gary E. McCuen made this connection between pornography and crime control:
“Besides being basically harmless, pornography may indeed have positive benefits as an instrument of crime control. Unfortunately, the lack of academic respectability attached to the subject has tended to block empirical investigation of this possibility…
“Many psychiatrists and clinical psychologists believe that potential sex offenders use pornography in order to obtain a non-criminal sexual outlet—that is, fantasy and masturbation(Kronhausen and Kronhausen; Committee on Obscenity and Film Censorship). It is therefore hypothesized that the greater the opportunity potential offenders have to obtain pornography, the more they will be diverted from committing sexual offenses.
“…studies in Denmark show that the actual incidence of voyeurism and ‘physical indecency toward girls’(that is, child molesting) declined sharply between 1967 and 1973—precisely the years in which all forms of pornography became readily available. Complex and detailed analysis of the evidence seems to indicate that pornography may be useful in treating the psychological and sexual dysfunctions of child molesters, individuals who turn to children because they are unable to establish normal sexual relations with mature girls and women.”
For "normal" adults it may also just be a good source of healthy sexual stimulation when a women is not available.
Some comments from Liberated Christians Forum (http://www.libchrist.com)
I see nothing wrong with "pornography." It has helped me tremendously in stripping away my sexual inhibitions of the past. I used to think practically all sex was sinful/wrong. I subscribe to the Playboy channel....Adult literature & films have helped improve many people's sex lives; something you rarely hear in the media.
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I too have found pornography a tool for liberation from a kind of Catholic guilt regarding sexuality. (The Liberated Christian Website is helping a great deal as well.)
