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5. Children, Media, and Exposure to Sexually Explicit Material
Pages 115-142

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From page 115...
... Knowledge of search strategies is limited if not nonexistent, and typing skills are undeveloped. These factors tend to limit young children's potential exposure to sexually explicit material on the Internet until about age 10, the transition from childhood to the preadolescent years.
From page 116...
... · Typing and spelling skills still problematic · Sexual development beginning for many or at least for their peers; sexuality becoming more interesting; likely a sensitive period for exposure to sexual content · Information needs expanding and increasingly require materials that are not in the immediate physical environment Early adolescence · Abstract cognitive skills in place that are the same ones that (13-15) adults have, though skill set not fully developed · Decision-making skills and reasoning skills better developed than in preadolescence, but often impulsive; faith in own decision-making skills (especially in the face of parental positions)
From page 117...
... Media use is heavy among adolescents, with television, music, teen magazines, and movies as well as the Internet and video games being important elements. Television use tends to peak at about age 12 and decreases during middle and late adolescence, and use of other media music, music videos, magazines, and the Internet increases during this period.
From page 118...
... As a result, many parents are not in a position to monitor their children's media activity, nor can they readily provide any feedback or support for children's online activities. The Kaiser Family Foundation's report Kids and Media at the New Millennium: A Comprehensive National Analysis of Children's Media Use (1999)
From page 119...
... The Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation, Menlo Park, Calif.
From page 120...
... . 5.2 SEXUALITY IN CULTURE This report is concerned with the protection of children from inappropriate sexually explicit material on the Internet.
From page 121...
... These videos often combine sexuality with violence or aggression, and with objectification and sex~3Material in the list below has been adapted from Aletha c. Huston, Ellen Wartella, and Edward Donnerstein, 1998, Measuring the Effects of Sexual Content in the Media: A Report to the Kaiser Family Foundation, The Henry J
From page 122...
... Although sexual images and behavior are common in the media described above, most of those media generally do not portray sexually explicit material involving full frontal nudity. Rather, they are important elements of a culture at large that seems to accept such portrayals of sexuality.
From page 123...
... In addition, because it is often difficult for parents to talk about passion and desire and other such matters with their children, young people sometimes find it difficult to "buy into" a clinical discussion.l7 Considering that young people are often surrounded by media images of sexuality that are com16The discussion in Section 5.3 is based largely on Aletha C Huston, Ellen Wartella, and Edward Donnerstein, 1998, Measuring the Effects of Sexual Content in the Media: A Report to the Kaiser Family Foundation, The Henry J
From page 124...
... Brown and S Stern, "Sex and the Media," Encyclopedia of Communication and Information, Macmillan, New York, in press; and Kaiser Family Foundation, 2000, Sex Education in the U.S.: Policy and Practice, Report No.
From page 125...
... On the one hand, many young people may find 22On the flip side, the anonymity of the Internet is highly attractive for children actively seeking sexually explicit materials for fantasy purposes. This anonymity provides a freedom to explore a wide range of material without having to reveal one's identity or to engage an adult to assist in the search.
From page 126...
... Pardun, 2001, "Romancing the Script: Identifying the Romantic Agenda in Top-grossing Movies," Sexual Teens, Sexual Media, J.D. Brown, J.R.
From page 127...
... Adult-oriented sexually explicit material may "up the ante" in that the messages are very explicit and overt, and certainly this type of material can be found easily online. 5.4 DIMENSIONS OF EXPOSURE AND ACCESS TO THE INTERNET 5.4.1 Venues of Access As noted in Chapter 2, individuals obtain access to the Internet through an Internet service provider (ISP)
From page 128...
... The commercial online adult entertainment industry that makes sexually explicit material available for profit is generally thought of as the most significant source of sexually explicit material that may be regarded as inappropriate for minors. As described in Chapters 1 and 3, the type of content on such Web sites includes images equivalent to those viewed in music videos 34Joseph Turow with Lilach Nir.
From page 129...
... · Newsgroups containing sexually explicit material do not exist as the result of any financial reward inherent in their existence. Instead, they provide a convenient method for exchanging material according to a much less rigid ethos than that which governs those who exchange child pornography.
From page 130...
... Because such links often do take the user to a Web site with personal information about the owner, this expectation is not unreasonable. But when the profile owner is the operator of an adult Web site, the link takes the user unexpectedly to one containing sexually explicit material.
From page 131...
... Box 5.1 highlights one recent report on the use of peer-to-peer networks for obtaining sexually explicit material. The role of Usenet is important as well.
From page 132...
... conducted a nationally representative, interview-based survey with 1,501 youths aged 10 to 17 who use the Internet regularly (Box 5.2~. This survey measured the extent to which young people came in contact with sexually explicit material, received sexual solicitations from other users, and were
From page 133...
... The Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation, Menlo Park, Calif.
From page 134...
... Girls in the survey were targeted for sexual solicitations and approaches
From page 135...
... For example, the children to whom the committee spoke during site visits (mostly older adolescents) were in general not particularly concerned by exposure to sexually explicit material.
From page 136...
... Table 5.2 summarizes the various types of inappropriate sexually explicit materials and experiences discussed in this report. 42One suggestion of such a wider range comes from the case of a Utah video-store-chain owner who was indicted in 2000 for selling obscene material.
From page 137...
... A category of speech unprotected by the First Amendment, involving sexually explicit material that the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest, depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law, and lacks, when taken as a whole, serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. A category of speech involving material that meets the legal test of obscenity as applied in the context of exposing minors to such material.
From page 138...
... Or he or she may search for sexually explicit material using a search engine, typing in terms likely to return links to such material (such as "sex pick". Or a minor in a chat room might broadcast a message to other chat room participants asking for pictures with explicit sexual content.
From page 139...
... CHILDREN, MEDIA, AND EXPOSURE TO SEXUALLY EXPLICIT MATERIAL 139 misspell the address of a Web site, and the mistakenly spelled Web address points to an adult-oriented Web site that has obtained the misspelling.44 Or domain names that are most likely innocuous may have been appropriated by owners of adult Web sites.45 Confusion between .com and .gov or .edu suffixes can also be exploited to the advantage of the 44Note that exploitation of misspellings is a time-honored tradition in marketing. One of the most famous stories in this area involved the AT&T 1-800-OPERATOR advertising campaign for collect calls.
From page 140...
... For those receiving email that resulted in inadvertent exposure, 63 percent were associated with an e-mail address used solely by the individual; for 93 percent of the inadvertent exposures resulting from e-mail, the sender of the e-mail was unknown to the individual. 46For example, the New York Times reported on a children's financial Web site designed to teach children about money that had been closely associated with a Web site offering adult-oriented sexually explicit material.
From page 141...
... If that text includes terms such as "hot sex" and "XXX," careful users can avoid such materials. 5.5.3 Sexual Solicitations and Approaches About 3 percent of youth Internet users surveyed by the CACRC received an aggressive sexual solicitation, a rate of exposure far lower than the rate of exposure to sexually explicit material.
From page 142...
... When it does, it is introduced gradually and slowly in order to reduce the inhibitions of the victim and make him or her more likely to be willing to meet. 5.5.4 Harassment In addition to encountering sexual solicitations and inadvertent exposure to sexually explicit material, youth on the Internet are subject to other threatening or offensive behavior directed toward them, including threats of assault aimed at them, their friends, family, or property, as well as efforts to embarrass or humiliate them.


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