Is protecting underage teenagers from sex really such a high priority?

[Cruzan]

Every time I see threads like this one:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1620323

or for that matter any number of the teacher student sex threads -- often female teacher in her twenties or thirties and an underage teenage male -- and I just can't quite comprehend not only the seemingly obsessive fascination but the obligatory shock and outrage these threads inevitably generate. All I have to do is conjure an image of an Iraqi family reduced to an exploding mass of bloody body parts by yet another insane suicide bomber to know that this chronic fixation on all things sexual is just bizarre.

[mzteris]

1. you don't have kids,

do you?

Is it worse to have kids blown up or being raped by an adult?

ok - you got me. Being blown up is really really bad.

But being raped by an adult can and will cause life long problems that may never be overcome. Creating adults who *may* abuse others (including children), have low self-esteem, have difficulty forming and keeping HEALTHY relationships.

And - they may grow up to be politicians who think nothing of starting wars that blow up little children because - hey - no one gave a shit about THEM so why should they give a shit about anyone else.

[Realityhack]

10. self delet for stupidity.

[Warren DeMontague]

2. I don't think what the DOJ is doing has anything to do with "protecting teenagers from sex".

I used to work for a chain of indie video stores. They carried porn. The owners had been in business long enough to remember the whole Traci Lords thing, and I was around enough of the stuff to know, the idea that there are underage people popping up in commercially available porn is ludicrous. The penalties are so severe (as they should be) and the reprecussions so harsh (as they should be) that the industry is religious about policing itself and ensuring that everyone is of age.

The Idea that the DOJ needs to slap additional requirements on to "protect" anyone is ludicrous. All you have to do is see who is running the government and what their real agenda is to figure out what is going on. They don't want to keep underage performers out of adult porn- that already happens- what they want to do is outlaw ALL adult porn. Period, end of story. This is like Roe v. Wade- they'll chip away at it gradually, making things more difficult for people involved.

[immoderate]

3. Yeah! They don't want to protect; they want to "prevent!"

You only need protection from bad things.

--IMM

[Warren DeMontague]

5. Pictures of naked people having sex cause brain damage, according to religious right "scientists".

http://www.alternet.org/election04/20744/

Of course, these are the folks who are still trying to wrap their minds around the idea that the moon doesn't generate its own light.. :crazy:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1611568

[angrycarpenter]

6. distraction

it's to seem that they are too busy protecting our children to get on that corruption scandal, take your pick which one.

[Realityhack]

8. Ding.

Very well put and right on all the facts.

This is a solution to a non-existant problem aimed at promoting a particular view of 'morality' by slowly regulating all porn out of existance.

O.T. I wonder what such a ban would do to the econnomy. Especialy with respect to the internet.

[TahitiNut]

4. I don't think there's much question that our societal attitudes toward all things sexual ...

... exacerbates the psychological/emotional harms, not only of everything ranging from PRE-consensual intercourse to sexual harassment to rape, but even of the exploitation of consenting adults and (supposedly) 'normal' mini-traumas in many of our sexual relationships. While I doubt many even think about it, we're saturated with the taboos and cultural nitroglycerin of S.E.X.! So, in a sense, we're culturally complicit in these traumas and injuries.

As much as I might be perplexed at this when standing back, however, I know that much of our 'reality' is a cultural creation that we cannot ignore. Just as a psychosomatic illness is every bit as serious and disabling (and often more so) as one with an identifiable anatomical basis, so are the cultural attitudes in which we swim.

In the final analysis, it's just not mine to say how much 'harm' another has experienced. (Nor is it the fundies' role to be such arbiters.)

[Colobo]

7. It's not about teens having sex. It's about teens not having responsible sex.

Sex is part of us, but if you don't know how to deal with it appropiately, it might carry consequences you might not be ready to face.

[treestar]

9. Too true. And the only way to bring down repukes is their sexual

indiscretions. Their corruption and undermining of the Constitution doesn't bother the average American. But find some sexual indiscretion and they are doomed.