It's Time to Talk About Pornography, Scholars Say

[Coventina]

Brian Willoughby knows he’s doing a good job when parents become uncomfortable. That’s because part of his job involves telling them that their teenagers are looking at pornography — hard-core, explicit, often violent. Sometimes, the conversation is with a church group.

Dr. Willoughby is a social scientist at Brigham Young University, where he studies the pornography habits of adolescents and the impact this has on relationships. When he goes into the community to explain what the modern world is like, he speaks plainly.

“I always have to be careful to couch things by saying, ‘I’m not saying porn is good — but I am saying it’s a reality,’” he said. “You can stick your head in the sand and pretend it doesn’t exist, and say this is bad and pray harder, or use addiction language, but you have to have a realistic understanding of what’s happening.”

In the past, many parents have tried to ignore the watching of pornography by their children, forbid its use or wish it away. But scholars who study the adolescent use of online pornography say that the behavior is so commonplace and impossible to prevent that a more pragmatic approach is required. When it comes to pornography, they want us to talk about it.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/12/science/pornography-adolescents-teenagers.html
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My nephew watched "2 Girls and a Cup" before he was 10 years old.

He told me this, and I was horrified.
I can't watch that stuff!!

[Irish_Dem]

1. Maybe this is one reason young males are so hostile and violent towards women.

[Ex Lurker]

2. I think it plays a part

maybe not the whole reason, but it contributes.

[milestogo]

3. Its not that pornography is inherently bad, but rather that the pornography which exists

for easy consumption gives teens and preteens a very distorted and disturbed view of what sex is like.

[Irish_Dem]

6. Researcher is talking about explicit, hardcore, often violent porn, which is inherently bad.

Violent porn with women as victims viewed by children and young males is not healthy
and could be dangerous.

[milestogo]

10. Agreed.

[Irish_Dem]

15. Adolescent sexual exploration is normal and to be expected.

But it can cross a line into unhealthy territory.

Unfortunately sometimes young children are exposed to highly sexualized or porn environments
and that is not healthy either.

So it is really about what is developmentally normal or not.
What is healthy or not.

[Voltaire2]

5. or it could be well funded social media 'influencers' persuading them to be hostile and violent.

But yeah, as always, lets go after some easy target instead of addressing the obvious problem.

[Avalon Sparks]

17. Likely both

Eom

[Johonny]

4. Not only can you stick your head in the sand

But you can find an Onlyfans page where you can pay to watch someone stick their head in the sand if you’re into that type of stuff . . .

[bucolic_frolic]

7. It's the same problem as the rest of society.

It's driven by money. Greed. It's an industry of dreams, employees, distribution, consumption. The fact that much of it can be viewed free is just the hook. Eyeballs. Lies. Same as M$M. No viewers, no industry.

[lindysalsagal]

8. IMHO men are so clueless about women, in all categories that of course

They're influenced by films and video games, as well as social media.

The problem is parenting requires no license or knowledge or training and kids are left to their own resources.


And the porn industry is unregulated.

[Oneironaut]

9. Porn is unambiguously harmful to everyone, but, especially women and social minorities.

However, the moralistic crusade against porn, and, attempts to ban it are absurd. Porn is clearly protected by free speech.

[MichMan]

14. Even for children to access?

Even when states tried to institute age restrictions, they were ridiculed here by some.

[peregrinus]

11. How do you explain "gangbang" to Mormons?

[Sympthsical]

12. "It's like soaking but with more people"

[FreeState]

16. Elders Quorum n/t

[usonian]

13. Yes, it's distorted reality, but a few thoughts

1. People tell me: it's not all slender or ripped models.

2. The article (and study) say nothing about the flood of AI-generated porn. A lot of it is far from realistic. It is fantasy, something an artist might have created before AI, and certainly not in the massive volume that computers provide.

Of course we had art and animation for a very long time, but we are talking about a quantitative change (push a button and get tons of results) creating qualitative change, namely #3, #4 and #5

3. Consumers of porn? Young people can be and are creators of porn, in particular "fakes" where faces of young people in their community are superimposed on sex acts, video included. I don't think this is addressed (I can't spend all day at the computer ).

To me, this qualitative change dwarfs all others. It has led to teen suicides.

4. I can only guess that all real model photography will largely be replaced with AI-generated work, and he labeled "vintage" like Polaroids are now.

5. Violence? Well, is it better that real or simulated violence is replaced with mathematical creations? I am not a film historian but violence in films no doubt came early on and who doesn't remember all the westerns and cop/crime movies, and then the Bond movies and so on. And CGI has been around for a while. It seems expected nowadays.

So, to me this study is backward-looking. It refers to a point in time of a rapidly moving target.
Don't forget, BYU is basically a "church school" with codes vastly different from other schools.

Things are changing faster than anyone can deal with, or even analyze.
"Move Fast and Break Things" ... Zuck

What horrified you? The fact that a 10 year old accessed a porn flick?
Everything just got easily accessible and age verification is a bad joke.

Also, I have to wonder about cause and effect, which people (myself included) often get wrong.
As a senior, I am familiar with the "loneliness" problem.
Nations (not ours) treat it as a social dilemma and address it.
I believe that France pays its post-people to spend a few minutes with seniors to break their isolation, but!
Teens experience loneliness. The "electronic" world is not real.
And society drives people apart.

So, back on point:
Do kids avoid real social interactions because of distorted reality of porn, or
do kids indulge in porn (fantasy) because they never learned to interact for whatever reason or it was difficult?

Reality is a moving target with kids as they learn and construct it.
Society is a beast whether in its uncaring lust for money or in some cases, Victorian/Calvinist beliefs.
Money comes before EVERYTHING

THINK ABOUT THIS.
The number one rule in schools is DO NOT COLLABORATE. It's called cheating and kids are expelled for it.
The number one rule in life is to COLLABORATE AND SHARE WITH OTHERS.

And there's a new God in town!



How can anyone develop healthy values or relationships in this wacko world?

[Elessar Zappa]

18. Meh.

Obviously I don’t think anyone should be coerced to perform but porn, even hardcore fetish type, doesn’t appear on my radar of important issues to address. I saw every type of porn at a very young age (the internet was already there) and it didn’t warp my mind or anything similar.

[Meowmee]

19. I hate porn period

never watched it.. gross people on drugs etc. exploitation, diseases, YUCK, and so on...
X is full of prostitutes also thanks to elunatic... Somehow I managed to get that off of my feed now, but they still try to follow me here and there.

[JR11]

20. It's a bit much

There is a distinct difference between a healthy vibrant individual, who maintains fully functioning physical attributes across the board and someone who may be a bit older, possibly overweight and who's physical attributes are stifled via routine medications, diet and sedentary behavior. The age ranges involving those traits, especially in todays world, could vary greatly across age brackets in the statistical sense, but there are generalities involved that are worth talking about.

People's moral standards are going to be influenced by the environment they were raised in, but where the rubber meets the road, people are going to privately practice eploratory personal experiences at some point in their lives; where they go with it, or if they decide it's just a phase, should be entirely up to them.

What I don't care to see are people casting judgement on others disclosed, or otherwise, undisclosed, sexual proclivities... especially if they're coming from the standpoint of a suppressed and waning sexual apptitude stemming from lowered sexual libido. That's not the time to chime in on your irreproachable chaste virtue as if its affording you to judge those with healthy libidos.

If the switches are on, desire is hardwired into our beingness. Discipline is one thing, but try to empathize with those who falter and go with the flow. At least with porn, sex is as safe as you can get.

[orangecrush]

21. Not to worry

Trump is going to let the Talivangilists decide what you can see on the Internet.