kodokan

Most parents don't let young kids watch horror and porn, but it's for other sensible reasons, not because they're worried Little Johnny/ Jemima will immediately start being influenced and imitating it, which is what we've been discussing.

Hubby and I have been happily sitting down this last year or so to watch things like Game of Thrones and Rome with our 15 year old, after our 11 year old is in bed. He's MUCH more likely to be wanting to try out some of the things shown than his younger sister, yet we allow him to watch shows with violence and soft porn in, and not her.

I recommend watching such shows with your teen kids, by the way - leads to all sorts of interesting discussions which they feel comfortable having because 'it's about the characters'.

SultanOfSwing

I think adverts work on certain people but to go from that to suggesting that simply seeing stylized visual representations of sex and violence in the context of a movie or TV show will somehow result in a string of murders and teen pregnancies is quite a leap of logic.

As far as movies go, the R-rating in America only restricts entry to those under 17 if they are unaccompanied by an adult. If a parent wants to let their child watch a horror movie, that is up to them and it is of no concern of mine, in the same way what I choose to allow my children to watch is of no concern to them.

Porn is made for adults. Obviously nobody is going to allow their child to watch it, but boys will seek it out. I did, as did a great many others and I can't think of many of us that had sex younger than 16 and none of us got a girl pregnant in school.

My point is, you can't go throwing out cause and effect statements like the original one that prompted this mini-discussion as there are so many more variables at play than just seeing sex and violence on the TV.

kodokan

And so did I. Despite not being a boy. As we've constantly been saying in this thread, girls get horny too only it's harder for them, because so many adults and cultural messages tell them they're not 'supposed' to.

Matt Sabre

Lots of words being put in my mouth here.

SultanOfSwing

I know they do, but I can only speak for my own kind, as it were. When I was at school, girls would, on the surface at least, make it appear that they found porn distasteful.

SultanOfSwing

Hyperbole. You must excuse me, I do tend to use it for emphasis.

Lorna at Vicenza

Following this thread avidly living in Vatican country and with an almost 16 year old daughter.
Condoms: no such thing as a free one in Italy. They're not cheap either.
The Pill : no such thing as getting it free at age 16 or 36.
An abortion : free as long as you pass the psycho tests and the local hospital does them every Tuesday.

Lorna at Vicenza

And I forgot to say that the waiting list is FULL.

Bob

People can be influenced by all manner of things. Doesn't make them violent or pervs.

You were blaming it on movie/games, which has been showed to be bollocks as a cause for people becoming violent/pervs.

Watching a violent movie or playing a violent game won't turn someone into such a person. They're already messed up in the head.

kodokan

At least some of them were lying. We found it FASCINATING - the girls with older brothers, with better access to porn, suddenly became very popular. Although we mostly found the magazines stupid, and switched to erotic novels.

SultanOfSwing

I'm surprised abortions are legal in Italy, let alone free. Though, one can't help but think that if birth control was a bit more accessible, the waiting lists wouldn't be so full.

SultanOfSwing

I wish I'd been armed with this kind of knowledge when I actually was at school though.

Lorna at Vicenza

Exactly what I think. And I've been quite vocal in my thoughts when a Gynaecologist has presented me with yet another brochure about birth control that starts off with the withdrawal method. Bollocks to that bullshit I told him. One of my sisters in the UK has a tiny microchip in her arm that will last for years. Not happening here. Doesn't even exist here. The Drs here have only read about this implant or seasonal injections for women. Like I said ...... free abortions but light years behind on contraception.

SultanOfSwing

Yeah, I'd be calling bullshit on any doctor who recommended withdrawal for me. I've had too many early morning trips to the chemist for a (thankfully negative) pregnancy test early on in our marriage because we had took a chance and now my wife was late.

kodokan

The huge uptick in erotic novels, along with the ability to read them anonymously on a Kindle, is making train commuting way more interesting for quite a few of my friends