Teenagers and Porn, Is It Really a Bad Thing?

In talking with a mom of a teenager, she said that despite the filter on the family computer, she discovered that her son was cruising porn sites on the Internet.

I spoke to other friends with teenagers and soon realized that this isn’t just something that you read about in parenting magazines—it happens in the best of families. 

I thought about my boys. Would they do this if they had the chance? Had they already been exposed to it? We also have a filter on our family computer, but the Internet can be accessed through my computer, my husband’s computer, and now our mobile phones. 

I had to be honest. Would my kids do this? Probably. Have they done it? Maybe. Chances are, every teen will be exposed to porn in one way or another by the time they get to high school or before they graduate.

So I looked up articles about teens and porn. I was cautious when I did my search. I typed in the search terms, hit the return and held my breath to see what popped up. Phew! Just articles, no scary pictures.

The articles are mixed. From adults being busted by their children for having porn on their computers, to psychologists saying it satisfies a natural curiosity, to people who thought that their children should be sent away to boarding schools. 

This got me thinking—is this curiosity really so bad? Is Internet porn this generation’s version of going down to the corner liquor store or barber shop and stealing peeks at the adult magazines?

Somehow we’ve become accustomed to, and approving of, video games that make murder, violence, blood, and gore seem normal. But none of those things are part of normal everyday life—nor of becoming a normal adult in most places.

Nudity, and curiosity about the sex are normal, healthy, and a part of adolescence. But the question that's pressing in the minds of most parents with young men and women is: Teenagers and porn, is it really a bad thing?

Thank you for last week's very important and timely Moms Talk question, "How have you educated your children about 9/11"

Here is what some of our readers had to say:

the author responded "i don't know" when one of her children asked why the 9/11 attacks took place. its been ten years, we need to move past the glib self-induced myth that dark-skinned muslims just woke up one day and decided they couldn't stand the fact that we can vote and wear revealing clothes.

everywhere around the world, children receive stark and brutal lessons in geopolitics. its time our kids stopped being an exception to this. if we want to stop repeating painful errors, we need to start evaluating our world factually. don't people ever wonder why the US is even hip-deep in the mideast? OIL. we love paying less for gas than anyone else in the industrialized world, so we might as well come to grip with the implications.

since ww2, all the industrialized nations understood cheap oil would be the key to economic growth. in 1953 the US went on the offensive and orchestrated the coup of the *elected* leader of iran, who had the temerity to want to distribute oil profits among his citizens. its been downhill ever since, and we've bankrolled and supported anyone who will keep the oil flowing, regardless of how despotic or dictatorial. its been back and forth ever since.

indeed, osama bin laden published a document explaining exactly why he attacked us on 9/11: our support of repressive arab regimes, our soldiers in saudi arabia, and our support of israel.

Hi Dyan, thank you for this very important question. Even though the anniversary of 9/11 has passed, we should be talking about how the CDE still lacks formal curriculum on this. It's such a shame because without it being discussed in the classroom, children are left with wrong information about the attacks. I fear this is reason No. 1 why there are so many stereotypes against Muslims. It's time the CDE take action on this. Thanks again for contributing to our Moms Council and helping bring up a topic that not only parents, but teachers are concerned about.

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