-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Why exactly is porn 18+?
- Thread starter KDR_11k
- Start date
- Status
One of the most ineffective restriction ever. And it's quite hard to argue for it, when - after counting all the possible harm porn can do - you close your thought with "but actually, I saw it before I was 18, and I turn out just fine."
I wonder if there are gaffers who didn't see a single porn scene before 18.
I wonder if there are gaffers who didn't see a single porn scene before 18.
stan423321
Member
huzzah
I'm sure most male gaffers will feel that porn (which predominantly features male fantasies) had no negative affect on them. Meanwhile...
I think girls are feeling pressured to change their appearance and to perform sexual acts that, absent porn normalizing or establishing as a sexual requirement, they would have waited to engage in or opted out of.
hydrophilic attack
Member
So, I would say we should strive to keep people younger than 18 from watching, because of what I said, but also acknowledge that this will never succeed, and thus start thinking about how to talk to our kids about these problematic things in porn and how to give them a healthier view on sexuality
Audioboxer
Member
The question that is more important to ask is why are there people under the age of 18 turning to porn to get their sex education?
If you really want to harp on about porn being 18+, it's most likely largely because of the actors age, age of consent varying in certain places and to fall in line with other restrictions we place on "adult" content. As I said though, porn being 18+ isn't a fucking issue, education and teens being shamed around sex is.
If you really want to harp on about porn being 18+, it's most likely largely because of the actors age, age of consent varying in certain places and to fall in line with other restrictions we place on "adult" content. As I said though, porn being 18+ isn't a fucking issue, education and teens being shamed around sex is.
I'd be lying if I said porn had no negative effect on me. I think this is true for a ton of other males too.
Porn stars often see themselves as performers.
Somebody at a young age could have some difficulty to separate what is a professional performance from the reality.
The reality that being he'll last a couple of minutes on a good day, and that double anal isn't necessarily something that his high school sweetheart Jenna is very eager to try.
Somebody at a young age could have some difficulty to separate what is a professional performance from the reality.
The reality that being he'll last a couple of minutes on a good day, and that double anal isn't necessarily something that his high school sweetheart Jenna is very eager to try.
If you read about it that isn't really true either though. Porn-induced ED is at an all time high and I'm pretty sure there's studies on what effects porn has on someone's brain as well as long-term behavioral effects. Maybe it's this proud macho thing to claim it has no negative effect (and of course for some it really doesn't have any effect), but I'm pretty sure most have experienced at least less sexual arousal / urge to have sex after a week of porn sessions. And I could imagine that it does also, at least subconsciously, place wrong expectations in men's heads regarding their penis size.
Astral Dog
Member
It isnt, access to porn is as easy as ever and above 12 many things should be valid imo.
The age rating is more of a face or legal thing, you dont go to the movies expecting to see explicit sexual content unless the age rating is 17+.
The age rating is more of a face or legal thing, you dont go to the movies expecting to see explicit sexual content unless the age rating is 17+.
Astral Dog
Member
Same as videogames, really.
You think teens are looking up porn for education? I thought it was all about fapping.
I'd guess it's 90%fap / 10% picking up moves for the future aka "education".
InfiniteBento
Member
Its definitely more a legality thing.
If kids want to access porn all they have to do is google it.
However, sites will put disclaimers/verification's simply because if the kid gets caught, they don't want to deal with the pathetic lawsuit from the parent pulling the whole "you provided porn to my innocent child" nonsense.
If kids want to access porn all they have to do is google it.
However, sites will put disclaimers/verification's simply because if the kid gets caught, they don't want to deal with the pathetic lawsuit from the parent pulling the whole "you provided porn to my innocent child" nonsense.
Yeah, I can absolutely believe that porn has a negative effect on men too although I do think that men are much less likely to admit to it or less likely to see past the shallow benefits (i.e. it helped convince their teenage girlfriend that certain sex acts are totally normal and what everyone does).
I think it's cool that you've thought about it and are willing to admit that. A lot of men get really defensive about porn.
Mammoth Jones
Member
I mean, these companies have to protect themselves from legal issues. Can't just say "this shit is good for kids!"
I expect that people will fap come puberty (as they should. perfectly normal) but don't be shocked companies engage in superficial efforts to protect themselves from state-to-state legal issues by making their content "18 and up".
I expect that people will fap come puberty (as they should. perfectly normal) but don't be shocked companies engage in superficial efforts to protect themselves from state-to-state legal issues by making their content "18 and up".
KillerMan91
Member
If I remember right porn magazines have age restriction of 15 here in Finland. Videos though probably still have 18 on them. Not that anyone buys porn magazines or videos anymore lol.
Mammoth Jones
Member
Doesn't this really depend on the amount of pron consumed? Like yea, you at it 2-3 times a day you may be likely to have some issues. Or if you'd RATHER fap than be with your spouse. Or you can't get it up for your spouse only when you watch [insert obscure porn here].
Once a week tho? Twice or even thrice a week? You good.
That's the thing tho. They already have unchecked access, and porn comsumption is already rampant at puberty's age. The law really doesnt change anything other than they have to click a box saying "i'm over 18" like that mattered.
What is really needed is better sex ed, which would be much better at explaing how you shouldnt look into porn as a guideline for real relationships
I'd say part of it is impulse control as well as the brain always craving something even more exciting. Maybe a good way would be to keep it in relation to your girlfriend/wife - the moment you notice you are less aroused by your gf it's probably time to quit porn for some time at least. If you take it further from there you also have to think that eventually your girlfriend/wife will notice you're not as aroused anymore or in the worst case can't even get it up/keep it up anymore, so you are also hurting your SO in a way.
Agreed.
andythinkpad
Member
18 is just a number a culture uses to separate teenagers from adults. Nobody gets punished for watching porn too young.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Just gotta ask them what their fetish is.
O.v.e.rlord
Banned
Bam. This!
I saw this video. Can't forget that hairy vagina. I've tried to.
Mammoth Jones
Member
I don't disagree but that's for people that supplant human sexual contact w/ pornography. Not people that watch it on the side.
Too much of anything is bad for you. Key is moderation. Do I believe porn can't be consumed reasonably? No. The overwhelming majority are fine (or single, lol).
You're talking about outliers. Not the norm.
Jon Carter
Member
I agree with OP. Teenagers masturbate and they don't masturbate to sweet, passionate love-making by the fireplace between two adults in love in a committed relationship. I thought the age restrictions were silly back when I was a teenager and I still do now. As has been said, teens will find ways to watch porn anyway, so it's not like those restrictions matter that much, but they're futile.
Airola
Member
Porn being addicting must be one of the reasons too.
Today in Finland all porn is prohibited from anyone under the age of 18.
That wasn't always the case though. When I was a kid it was possible for a 12-year-old to buy a hardcore porn magazine. I recall it was a recommendation that the magazines shouldn't be sold to people under 15 or 16 (and I think even this recommendation wasn't always a thing). But selling it to younger kids wasn't prohibited. I bought many porn magazines when I was about 14 or 15 years old. I used to go to a thrift shop and buy comics and I always secretly oogled the porn magazines that were right next to the comics. One day I had courage enough to take a few magazines and go pay them. The man who owned the store just gave a chukle and said "now you are buying real magazines."
And a couple of my friends bought porn magazines from a kiosk when they were 12.
Now, while this was allowed for magazines, porn movies were totally prohibited from anyone under 18. We used to have this weird video law which made it illegal to sell any movies that would get a "K18" rating. The law was from 1987 to 2001. If a movie was about to get that rating it needed to be cut until the censors didn't anymore feel it should get the K18 rating. Most of the gore effects were cut and uncut porn films had to be sold from "under the desk" on sex shops. There were some exceptions during the years of that law. For example Catherine Breillat's Romance X got a K16 rating and also a legit HC-porn film called Zazel got K16 rating.
I think the ratings weren't that restrictive either. They were more like recommendations too. It was up to the seller to decide whether he wants to sell K16 movies to 12 year olds. He wasn't punished from it.
Anyways, HC porn films cut to softcore versions usually got K16 ratings so younger people were able to see them. I remember softcore versions of Clockwork Orgy and Edward Penishands being sold right next to "normal" movies at markets. In fact I remember a sale bin where they were mixed with all other movies. They were right there for anyone to look at or buy.
Today things are waaaayyyy different in Finland. While we have been able to get uncut K18 movies since 2001 we now have laws that will get people in jail if they sell porn to minors. Porn magazines are now prohibited from people under 18 and in stores they have to be placed in places where kids can't see them. They need to be somewhere high and there has to be some sort of a block on front of them.
What comes to my personal history with porn, I have been interested in all kinds of "boob things" since the age of 6. I especially liked a German strip tease show called Tutti Frutti. I saw some softcore porn movies from 8 to 10, and I watched the boob scenes from normal movies over and over again and I saw my first hardcore porn film when I was 11. Around that time I read my first porn magazines too.
We had this movie channel and I secretly taped the late night porn movies. Most of the movies shown were softcore versions but sometimes they showed uncut porn too.
While selling and showing porn to minors wasn't illegal, looking at porn still had this aura of "doing something secret." So watching stuff like that felt like it had to be done in secret. It's weird since no-one thought it's wrong for kids to see nude people in magazines. And even porn wasn't that much of a hush-hush thing. Yet it still was something that felt like a secret thing.
Looking back, I kinda fondly remember those days of having these "porn secrets" and having making effort in getting to see nudity and porn and even more effort in hiding them. It was an exciting sensation to go through all that. However, I guess it would've been better for me had porn been restricted as much as it is these days. Even alone the amounts of hours spent around that instead of doing something more important is almost terrifying. And I must admit I was totally hooked in that stuff, and I guess I still am.
But back in the day kids could even play slot machines. I remember being under 12 and winning 200 Finnish Marks from a machine and older people around me just congratulated me. No-one saw anything wrong with that. And even today I kinda struggle against gambling addiction from time to time.
Today minors can't even go near the slot machines. Not even if they are there with their parents. Sure many minors try it but as soon as they get noticed they are taken out. But back in the day no-one thought it was a problem.
I kinda see porn as a same kind of a problem than gambling. And I think that's one of the reasons the laws today are what they are. With porn there is more at stake than just losing your money though. I think being desensitized to porn is far bigger problem than what being desensitized to gambling is.
But damn, even though I aknowledge the problems of porn and would perhaps like to be able to change my history with porn, I kinda miss those days when you needed to have an effort to get your "fix."
Today in Finland all porn is prohibited from anyone under the age of 18.
That wasn't always the case though. When I was a kid it was possible for a 12-year-old to buy a hardcore porn magazine. I recall it was a recommendation that the magazines shouldn't be sold to people under 15 or 16 (and I think even this recommendation wasn't always a thing). But selling it to younger kids wasn't prohibited. I bought many porn magazines when I was about 14 or 15 years old. I used to go to a thrift shop and buy comics and I always secretly oogled the porn magazines that were right next to the comics. One day I had courage enough to take a few magazines and go pay them. The man who owned the store just gave a chukle and said "now you are buying real magazines."
And a couple of my friends bought porn magazines from a kiosk when they were 12.
Now, while this was allowed for magazines, porn movies were totally prohibited from anyone under 18. We used to have this weird video law which made it illegal to sell any movies that would get a "K18" rating. The law was from 1987 to 2001. If a movie was about to get that rating it needed to be cut until the censors didn't anymore feel it should get the K18 rating. Most of the gore effects were cut and uncut porn films had to be sold from "under the desk" on sex shops. There were some exceptions during the years of that law. For example Catherine Breillat's Romance X got a K16 rating and also a legit HC-porn film called Zazel got K16 rating.
I think the ratings weren't that restrictive either. They were more like recommendations too. It was up to the seller to decide whether he wants to sell K16 movies to 12 year olds. He wasn't punished from it.
Anyways, HC porn films cut to softcore versions usually got K16 ratings so younger people were able to see them. I remember softcore versions of Clockwork Orgy and Edward Penishands being sold right next to "normal" movies at markets. In fact I remember a sale bin where they were mixed with all other movies. They were right there for anyone to look at or buy.
Today things are waaaayyyy different in Finland. While we have been able to get uncut K18 movies since 2001 we now have laws that will get people in jail if they sell porn to minors. Porn magazines are now prohibited from people under 18 and in stores they have to be placed in places where kids can't see them. They need to be somewhere high and there has to be some sort of a block on front of them.
What comes to my personal history with porn, I have been interested in all kinds of "boob things" since the age of 6. I especially liked a German strip tease show called Tutti Frutti. I saw some softcore porn movies from 8 to 10, and I watched the boob scenes from normal movies over and over again and I saw my first hardcore porn film when I was 11. Around that time I read my first porn magazines too.
We had this movie channel and I secretly taped the late night porn movies. Most of the movies shown were softcore versions but sometimes they showed uncut porn too.
While selling and showing porn to minors wasn't illegal, looking at porn still had this aura of "doing something secret." So watching stuff like that felt like it had to be done in secret. It's weird since no-one thought it's wrong for kids to see nude people in magazines. And even porn wasn't that much of a hush-hush thing. Yet it still was something that felt like a secret thing.
Looking back, I kinda fondly remember those days of having these "porn secrets" and having making effort in getting to see nudity and porn and even more effort in hiding them. It was an exciting sensation to go through all that. However, I guess it would've been better for me had porn been restricted as much as it is these days. Even alone the amounts of hours spent around that instead of doing something more important is almost terrifying. And I must admit I was totally hooked in that stuff, and I guess I still am.
But back in the day kids could even play slot machines. I remember being under 12 and winning 200 Finnish Marks from a machine and older people around me just congratulated me. No-one saw anything wrong with that. And even today I kinda struggle against gambling addiction from time to time.
Today minors can't even go near the slot machines. Not even if they are there with their parents. Sure many minors try it but as soon as they get noticed they are taken out. But back in the day no-one thought it was a problem.
I kinda see porn as a same kind of a problem than gambling. And I think that's one of the reasons the laws today are what they are. With porn there is more at stake than just losing your money though. I think being desensitized to porn is far bigger problem than what being desensitized to gambling is.
But damn, even though I aknowledge the problems of porn and would perhaps like to be able to change my history with porn, I kinda miss those days when you needed to have an effort to get your "fix."
Kellog's Cornflakes, though, those are very real.
Cornflakes were invented to be the dullest food possible because Kellog thought that stimulating food makes teens wank.
Rest
All these years later I still chuckle at what a fucking moron that guy is.
Short answer: Puritanism, and the vestiges of puritanism in US culture.
Any modern practical reason would be as a way to help make sure pedophiles aren't using it to groom victims. Show Little Jimmy or Janine a porno book before you fiddle them? Get a few more years on your sentence.
Any modern practical reason would be as a way to help make sure pedophiles aren't using it to groom victims. Show Little Jimmy or Janine a porno book before you fiddle them? Get a few more years on your sentence.
I'm pretty sure Federal laws require that people that own porn not allow minors to see it or for it to fall into possession of minors. Anybody that knows better please correct me if I'm wrong.
Airola
Member
I don't think they are.
If they were, they would be buying or watching all those real sex education videos with HC imagery. But no, that's not what they are looking for. They are looking for excitement. And they get their excitement from fantasy.
And while they are getting their excitement from porn, they are consciously or subconsciously looking for tips on how to get the same excitement from real life. And that's how you get some relationships getting ruined because real life tried to imitate fantasy.
But getting sex education most definitely isn't the reason they are watching porn.
Maximus P
Member
I think it's more to do with the maturity level of the people obtaining porn. A 18+ year old is far more likely to keep their porn private than someone younger who would likely distribute and show porn to younger children for a laugh.
I actually witnessed my first porn video when I was just 10 years old, my dad had loaned a VCR tape from a work friend that had a bootleg copy of a movie on it (some 80s action movie iirc). What my dad didn't know at the time is that his friend had recorded the movie over one of his old porn videos which kicked in just as the credits started to roll. My mother was mortified at the time, i can still remember her shouting at me not to look as she fumbled to get the tape to stop.
I actually witnessed my first porn video when I was just 10 years old, my dad had loaned a VCR tape from a work friend that had a bootleg copy of a movie on it (some 80s action movie iirc). What my dad didn't know at the time is that his friend had recorded the movie over one of his old porn videos which kicked in just as the credits started to roll. My mother was mortified at the time, i can still remember her shouting at me not to look as she fumbled to get the tape to stop.
Audioboxer
Member
Watch this and get back to me - http://www.channel4.com/programmes/sex-in-class
Then imagine it being 100x worse in Christian Conservative America.
It is a problem and to dismiss it is to either be genuinely ignorant, so I'm providing evidence, or purposefully ignorant because "porn is only viewed by totally educated adults who know it's 100% acting and want a cheeky fap". If the later then meh, I'd rather take this more seriously as like it or not education systems fail woefully around sex education.
EstoyBlackWaldo
Member
Porn is accessible anywhere regardless of age. You can easily check the latest websites when you do that google search, you can go into image search, you can use Tumblr. Its everywhere, age restrictions mean little anymore considering all of this, so it becomes a moot point, the restriction is simply for lawful purposes.
Will you let your son or daughter open to your porn collection, or collect their own, rather create their own profile on Porn Hub and etc? Now, that's up to you or anyone else as a parent or individual.
Will you let your son or daughter open to your porn collection, or collect their own, rather create their own profile on Porn Hub and etc? Now, that's up to you or anyone else as a parent or individual.
The Hermit
Member
n00bsauce87
Member
Didn't know Ken M was an infamous troll.
He got me
He got me
SapientWolf
Trucker Sexologist
Porn is full of roast beef and dog ears. I think people tend to have their own internalized sense of body aesthetics and choose media that matches them.
Yeah, I think that adult men can use porn in moderation and have perfectly healthy and happy lives and relationships. I mostly worry about teenagers using porn to shape their ideas of how sex is suppose to look and go, especially because most porn tends to demonstrate a pretty one-sided experience. I think it changes the power balance too, between two teenagers. A 16 year old boy has probably seen a lot more porn than an equivalent 16 year old girl and he can easily point to porn to suggest that any sexual act he wants performed is totally normal and what everyone does. In a perfect world, I think both 16 year olds would be figuring things out together, themselves, before relying on porn to show them how sex works, but I'm not certain that's what's happening, in a world where boys are seeking out and finding hardcore porn as early as 10.
Airola
Member
That video doesn't play in any of my browsers so I can't watch it.
I'm not saying there aren't any problems with sex education.
I'm just saying that's not the main reason perhaps anyone goes and watches porn. Well, maybe yeah, I can see people first watching porn and later when they want to learn something about sex they get back to where they know they've seen sex, which is those porn videos they recall watching. And yeah, maybe you meant that. I agree that it is a problem when people can't find other outlets for education than porn. But I don't think that's entirely the fault of educational systems. It is also the fault of porn distributors making all kinds of porn so easy to get. Before the kids can actually even think of watching porn for education, they must've been introduced to it beforehand.
I mean, the first and foremost reason most people are watching porn in the first place is curiosity and excitement. That's what gets people interested. They wouldn't go looking for help from porn if they weren't somehow introduced to it beforehand. Sometimes they find it on their own. Sometimes someone else introduces them to it.
The porn industry could easily fill the front pages of porn streaming sites with real legit instructional videos. But that's not where the market is and I doubt they would be something kids would be more interested in when there are a lot more exciting videos to watch.
I'm not also sure if educating people about porn not being reality would really help that much, at least by itself. I mean, sure that's a good thing to say. Just like it's good to tell people about the dangers of drugs. But we as humans still tend to go for the more exciting avenues no matter how much we've been educated. And even though the teachers would say porn is fake people would still watch porn and get excited about what they see and even though they've been educated about it there would still be people who want to to learn to do what they've seen because watching it felt so good. Watching an instructional video just isn't nearly as exciting than a "raunchier" video that has purposedly created to often look more exciting than real sex. Back in the day we had access to educational sex VHS tapes. Those were mainly used for excitement and pleasure, and soon ditched because something else was much more interesting.
Education alone can't do much about it. Porn industry needs to come towards the issue too.
But yeah, I agree that sex education needs to be improved. Better sex education is never a bad thing. But the root of the issue isn't there alone.
I certainly know porn is viewed by people of nearly all ages. I saw my first hardcore porn when I was 11. And it was years before I even had any access to internet. I saw my first softcore porn when I was 7 or 8. So I know that if I've been able to see that then, kids today are certainly able to see more today. And they are probably just as willing to see it too.
You might be confusing pornography with "obscene materials" (bestiality, child porn, etc -- stuff that is already illegal). As far as I know, pornography is sort of like alcohol -- your kids can't buy it, but you won't get in trouble if they consume it (unless it's someone else's kids or, I guess, if they are actually harmed/endangered by it -- depending on the circumstances, it could probably be seen as child abuse). Might be different in certain states.
you are talking as if most people start with sex at 16 yo., isn't it (much) later than that?
M0nochromatic
Member
That's somewhat worrying.
Skellig Gra
Member
You are definitely right.
fart town usa
Member
I'm 31 and I have a friend like that. He just doesn't get it that these people are acting and real life is rarely like what is shown in porn. Kinda pathetic but he's a good guy. Some of the stuff he says kills me inside, lol.
There used to be this great farmers' market/flea market near where I live back in the day. It was a really rundown building with a huge variety of various stores, some considerably more shady than others. There was a great comic book store that I went to for years, as well as a lot of great food.
How this relates to the thread of course, is that there was a book store of sorts along one of the back wall stalls. It had a decent selection of porno mags, and either I looked 18 already (being Asian in ethnicity, not likely, as I was still getting carded for R movies well into my early 20s) or the owner just didn't give a crap when I just walked in and bought a few nice bondage magazines.
Damn I really miss places like that. Probably the same year, I also visited a table in the middle of the store with a guy just selling a pile of knives and swords, and bought a 5" buck-style knife with no questions asked.
How this relates to the thread of course, is that there was a book store of sorts along one of the back wall stalls. It had a decent selection of porno mags, and either I looked 18 already (being Asian in ethnicity, not likely, as I was still getting carded for R movies well into my early 20s) or the owner just didn't give a crap when I just walked in and bought a few nice bondage magazines.
Damn I really miss places like that. Probably the same year, I also visited a table in the middle of the store with a guy just selling a pile of knives and swords, and bought a 5" buck-style knife with no questions asked.
Yet in a hell of a lot of countries, the age of consent is lower than 18. So you can have sex at 18, but can't buy porn until 2 years later.
- Status