What harm is porn?

Question

It is generally accepted that porn shouldn't be seen by children, and we even sometimes punish parents who fail to stop their children from finding porn.

What is the justification? The only "damage" I've seen caused by porn is other adults' outrage. Like, the child gets suspended from school because a teacher found lewd pictures on his Nintendo DS or something.

Is it okay to let a kid view porn provided you warn him not to share knowledge of it with other people? Why?

Note that I also posted this question on cogsci.se.

Answer 1

"Porn" runs a wide gamut of idealized or fantasy scenarios. Many, if not most, of pornographic materials, portray intimate relations in a way that is not typical.

I would imagine a pornographic movie that depicts the awkward "getting to know each other" phase, dating, and the social and emotional intimacy that most parents would hope their children would seek prior to sexual activity would be pretty boring.

Instead, at best you'll get scenarios which encourage casual sexual encounters, which increase risk of sexually transmitted diseases. At worst, the material could depict sexual scenarios or fantasies that could include BDSM, rape fantasy, or general physical aggression. The main dangers of this is that the child could confuse these behaviors for "normal", and try to replicate them during actual situations.

In other words, pornographic materials are based upon an implicit level of consent that may be obscured by the fact that they are fake portrayals by actors or actresses, and a child viewing the materials may not be aware that the acts seen in the materials should not be engaged in without explicit consent by their partner.

Edit I included the following references to highlight that there are other areas of potential concern. However, please note that the Psychology Today blog entry does not list its sources, and the 2003 survey is just that: a survey. Surveys aren't the most effective method of scientific research, although that doesn't mean it should be dismissed out of hand. Still, take the conclusions from both these sources with a grain of salt. In my opinion, the primary concern is the unrealistic depiction of intimate relationships, as described in the previous portion of my answer.

This article in Psychology Today raises several areas of concern (articles linked are possible matches found):

Early Sex

A 2012 study shows that movies influence teens’ sexual attitudes and behaviors as well. The study, published in Psychological Science, found that the more teens were exposed to sexual content in movies, the earlier they started having sex and the likelier they were to have casual, unprotected sex.

In another study, boys who were exposed to sexually explicit media were three times more likely to engage in oral sex and intercourse two years after exposure than non-exposed boys. Young girls exposed to sexual content in the media were twice as likely to engage in oral sex and one and a half times more likely to have intercourse.

High Risk Sex

Research shows that children who have sex by age 13 are more likely to have multiple sexual partners, engage in frequent intercourse, have unprotected sex and use drugs or alcohol before sex. In a study by researcher Dr. Jennings Bryant, more than 66 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls reported wanting to try some of the sexual behaviors they saw in the media (and by high school, many had done so), which increases the risk of sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies.

Intimacy Disorders

research shows that early exposure to pornography is a risk factor for sex addictions and other intimacy disorders. In one study of 932 sex addicts, 90 percent of men and 77 percent of women reported that pornography was a factor in their addiction.

Sexual Violence

According to some studies, early exposure (by age 14) to pornography and other explicit material may increase the risk of a child becoming a victim of sexual violence or acting out sexually against another child.

A 2003 survey of youth exposure to unwanted sexual materials(original if link breaks) highlights another risk: a child may simply find pornographic material disturbing or upsetting. Without the hormonal changes and normal desires driving them to explore intimacy in a "normal" context, sudden exposure to pornographic material can be... well, gross. According to the survey, about 1/4 of the youth exposed to unwanted sexual materials were actively and extremely upset about what they saw. 17% avoided the Internet as a result of the exposure, and 6% thought about it and couldn't stop.

Answer 2

Porn is, even to adults, the junk food of sex; it is a complete fantasy, and while some of it may be plausible, the primary reason to watch porn is to see something you're not getting in your everyday life. While a certain amount of such escapism is normal and even healthy, it depicts activities that are typically more fun to do than to watch. A few genres depict acts that are unsafe and even illegal to perform in "real life", even between consenting adults. And porn doesn't show what happens behind the scenes or when the cameras stop rolling; there's a lot of more than slightly illegal activities like prostitution, drugs, human trafficking, kickbacks/shakedowns, and other organized criminal activity that are inextricably linked to pornography.

The general harm that pornography and other "mature content" like violence, language etc have on young children is that they contribute towards the child's definition of "normal". Children often lack the "content filter" (heck, even many adults don't have it) that allows them to differentiate reality from fantasy. We tell children stories, and those stories mold their understanding of the world. The same happens when they view TV or play video games.

Thus, by watching pornography, kids absorb what's on screen and think that behavior is "normal". While sex itself is indeed normal, between consenting, loving adult partners, the actors are just that, and they're picked for, ahem, measurements and other physical traits that are typically found in a small minority of the "real world" (if at all; a lot of what you see in porn is the result of often-dangerous and damaging surgical enhancement), the same as supermodels, movie celebs and other people who spend a significant time in front of a camera. The plots and situations the actors play out are extremely unlikely (if not, as I said, illegal), the behavior is often degrading and even humiliating, and virtually every emotion you see played on screen is fake. In short, it's an act, a fantasy. It's not normal.

Answer 3

Based on my comment on Beofett's post, some would say "well, look at you just defending porn."

Yeah? So?

Porn -- like sex, drugs, and rock n roll -- is a subject to be discussed with your kids. It's not to be taken lightly or assumed that it'll take care of itself in due course... that's honestly how babies get made.

I grew up in suburbia and started sneaking my dads porn at like 10 or 11. From mags to film (yes I'm that old) to vids. And I'm nowhere near the basket case that these studies make out. I have a great fambly, my kids love me, even the step, and I'm generally thought of as a swell guy in my neighborhood.

_{(Side note, I asked my 10 yr old y'day "have you ever thought about running away?" He looked at me like I was crazy and said "why would you ask me that? do you WANT me to run away?" This is the house I live in.)}

Lets consider some reality. In another post here about television, I said...

I always find the topic of children vs TV as an odd dichotomy. It's like everyone watches tv but nobody wants their kids to watch tv.

The fact is that the most profitable sites on the web are porn. Cam, streaming, download, you name it. I read somewhere that 100m Americans 'consume' some kind of porn on a daily basis. I'll bet that there are regular users of this forum that watch porn regularly. Statistically, this is truth. Join the club.

The numbers for the industry are so vast, so mind bogglingly huge, that I find it extremely difficult to believe that "it's harmful" is even vaguely a true statement. So many people partake on a daily basis without giving any indication to the people around them, because they are normal, law-abiding citizens.

So let me rephrase the question a couple different ways...

• Can porn be harmful at all to a child? Yes.
• Can porn be harmful at all to an adult? Yes.

Wait a sec. . . Let's be specific.

• Will viewing porn as a child cause the adult person to inflict sexually related abuses? No.
• Will viewing porn as an adult cause the adult to inflict sexually related abuses on others? No.
• Will the subject (that watched porn as a child or that regularly watches porn as an adult) have a statistical propensity to inflicting sexually related abuses? Unknown.

Re point 3: I'm referring to the lack of specific statistics showing that a child subjected to porn only (not coupled with abuses or neglect) lead to that person being a sexually abusive adult.

As I said in the comment, causation vs correlation. An adult that sexually abuses children may very well have seen some amount of porn before they were of an age to handle it. I'd lay money that 99% of it was in an atmosphere of abuse or neglect; a mere factor in an atmosphere that, on the whole, was responsible for who they are.

Do I have statistics to back this up? No. The only thing I have is reality. Reality says that 200m people watch television for more than 2 hours a day, and 100m people watch at least some porn each day... And there aren't 200m idiots running around with their thumbs in their butts, or 100m people playing grabass in the workplace or hitting on 8 yr old girls.

"No, of course not, but sexual abuses happen way too often." Again, statistics. 0.1% of 100m is 100 thousand. When you have 100m people doing ANYTHING, even the most remote statistic is going to be a huge number. To say that it's a direct cause is at best inaccurate and at worst irresponsible when it's near impossible to carve out what causes what in a persons behaviour. Lets face it: people are people, and some people are just morons. These particular morons just happen to watch porn like 100m other people.

To answer directly the question of "What harm is porn"

I say that the harm isn't the porn... I say that the harm is in not discussing it and moderating it with your kids. At certain young ages, it warrants blocking. As they get older you can either give them a mental foundation to deal with it under your guardian's eye, O R you can pretend that it's not something they're into and continue to block it till they go to college... which is basically you throwing caution to the wind because as a teenager they will experiment and fool around at their [opposite sex] friend's house and either wind up needing antibiotics or making you a grandparent before you turn 40.

Answer 4

I won't reiterates the comprehensive answers provided by Beofett and Keith, Chrys and justkt, I'd like to add a few points.

I recall when this question first appeared on SE cogsci, and I believe in it's current form, that is the better site for this question. As you are asking about the possible and psychological damage of children viewing porn.

As your question stands on a parenting site I am alarmed for more than one reason.

• firstly, the notion that the only harm could be from the outrage of other adults This is a rather glib interpretation of a community reaction to something that is considered harmful to children. Ok, I will accept you are philosophizing and asking is it truly harmful or an arbitrarily drawn moral line.

(but then you follow with)

• is it ok if you tell the child not to tell anyone Seriously, this disturbs me. This is the sort of things pedophiles do when grooming children. Encouraging children to keep activities, especially of a sexual nature, from others.

It is one thing for a couple of teenage boys getting their hands on a soft porn magazine, like playboy, it's quite another for an adult to watch pornography with a child!

Having said that, I agree with the others, porn is not a healthy or realistic introduction for sex education. Viewing "kinky" or adult fantasy porn is not helpful and potentially damaging.

No where is this an argument against sex education (to address monstos post) it is against porn per se being a healthy medium for children.

Question:
does one need to ask if watching r rated violence is helpful in teaching about domestic violence and playground dos and don'ts? Would encouraging children to watch r rated violence, if they don't tell anyone make it ok?
This question, essentially asks the same type of thing.

Answer 5

I am going to expound on user21179 answers.

TV viewing in general will cause immediate physiological changes in adults and children.

1. Watch a clip of a roller coaster.
2. Watch a clip of UFC fight.
3. Watch a clip of soccer match.
4. Heck just listening to certain podcasts or music is enough.

Now watch the reaction of those viewing. There's a reason people go to a big screen, etc.

So yes, escapism for both adults and children can be bad. Just watch viewers. However, is watching two adults in coitus harmful - highly doubtful. But that means a parent will need to moderate, as is expected with all forms of media.