Why should we teach minors that porn is absolutely evil?
The news of porn sites with Spid (badly reported, as always, just to create a sensation), is circulating everywhere. The controversy has focused above all on the risk of violation of privacy for adults who access porn sites (although it is not yet known which tools the platforms would use, and they would certainly find ways to guarantee anonymity in any case), while very little it was said about the real recipients of the provision, i.e. minors.
Minors and pornography
That their relationship with pornography is a problem is now attested by many studies, and we know that they are exposed to it too early and without having the tools to enjoy it in a healthy way; for this reason it is certainly positive that solutions are being sought. However, we always move towards repressive actions, and never towards educational ones: every time we talk about sexual and emotional education, the hysterics of gender theory pop up, who are afraid that their children will be taught to become trans. It is believed to solve the problem at its root by preventing access to porn until adulthood; but this is crazy, first of all because it is not really achievable, concretely. Even if we actually find a system that guarantees that only adults are able to access the platforms, it is quite likely that we will also find ways to get around it, as always happens on the internet. Furthermore, it is very naive and shows little knowledge of the current world to think that kids only see porn on specific sites: in reality, all you need is the Telegram application, on which in addition to porn you can easily come into contact with gambling and scams various. Twitter, although not widely used by very young people, does not censor pornographic images: it takes a fifteen year old thirty seconds to create an account just for this.
It is short-sighted to focus only on porn in the strict sense
Not only that: we only care about porn in the strict sense, therefore explicit sexual acts, but Instagram and Tiktok are full of equally, if not more, problematic content: from the profiles of sex workers, which link to their Onlyfans accounts (also they are theoretically accessible only if you are of age, but the block can be easily circumvented) and publish – obviously – suggestive photos and videos, decidedly more disturbing profiles in which the minors themselves show themselves in clothes and attitudes not suited to their age (often on indication of the parents). In short, young people are surrounded by variously erotic contents, among which it is not even clear that actual porn is the most dangerous. If the point is to protect them from certain images for which they are not ready and which could have negative repercussions on their development, ignoring the enormous amount of content that is suggestive and in some cases bordering on child pornography is certainly not a sensible choice. Moreover, there is a lack of a serious education policy on the use of the internet in general, and social networks in particular, and children are left in the hands of algorithms. And here’s the second reason why this plan is crazy: it is impossible to completely block this content at present. It’s like thinking about protecting minors from violence by pretending it doesn’t exist: they will inevitably encounter it, they just won’t be ready. The only truly effective thing is, as always, education: pornography exists, it is not evil in itself, but rather it has a utility, and adolescents will look for it because they have sexual impulses, they need to discover that world and therefore look for material that promotes their arousal. Much simpler and more sensible to teach them what it is, how it works, what purpose it has and how it should be used.
We must first remove the taboo on sex
But to do this, we first need to, as a society, consider sex a normal thing, which is part of everyday life, and which children approach during pre-adolescence (even if many parents will certainly like to tell themselves that their children they don’t); why present sex as a forbidden thing, to be done secretly, under penalty of parental reprimand or punishment? And the same goes, of course, for masturbation. Even the stones know that prohibiting doesn’t work very well, but if it is certainly right to do so in the case of hard drugs for example (even there, however, the prohibition is completely useless without education), it makes no sense in the case of perfectly fine impulses and desires. natural. In short, it is impossible that in a socio-cultural climate like the current one, in which we move schizophrenically between preachers and eighteen-year-olds who go to Rocco Siffredi, any results can be achieved in the protection and education of minors about sex and pornography. Cultural work is essential which first of all leads to finally freeing ourselves from this terror of sex, from this repressive attitude, which also causes suffering in many adults.