am I afraid that my 5 year old nephew elias will find something on the internet he might be too young to see?outrageous sex and violence surrounds us. I was surely damaged by his death, but I can not imagine it hidden from me.at 8, was I too young to have my real time father commit suicide?
if a child is old enough to hunt degrading images of the human body, there's not much you can do to stop them. between school and home and a library and the internet, they're going to find them somewhere. To try to keep them from doing so doesn't kill the desire, it only drives it underground, where it festers into fetishism.
when I was about 11, I found a penthouse. I told my mom I had. she said it was a bad thing, and that I should get rid of it. she never mentioned it again. six years later I tossed it. I needed to explore porn. by the time I had, I found it vulgar and alienating. but if she had just taken it from me, I would still have the hunger.
it comes down to a question of trust. do we trust kids curious about sex? do we trust peopleto talk about it responsibly? do we trust kids to make the right decision when they encounter irresponsible information?
do your kids trust you to listen to them without judgement?
you can't make people shut up. they will find a way to say what they want to, if they really need to. that's what's wonderful about the internet. they can say it, and you don't have to read it.
if you try to make them shut up, you will spend a lot of energy trying to stop other people from doing their thing.
instead, spend your energy doing your thing.
knowing that I can't expect to stop someone else's stupid shit, I wanted to provide a positive alternative. Perhaps if folks are after sex and images of naked folks, if they see something relatively healthy and comfortable, they won't feel so weird about themselves or those issues.