Youth, Pornography, and the Internet (2002) / Chapter Skim
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7. Beyond the Science: Perspectives on Impact and the Public Debate
7. Beyond the Science: Perspectives on Impact and the Public Debate
Pages 161-180
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From page 161... ...
Of married women with children aged 6 to 17, 39 percent worked outside the home in 1960, 49.2 percent in 1970, and 77.1 percent in 1999.~ Also, there are same-sex couples living together openly in virtually For the 1960 figure, see "Employment Status of Women, by Marital Status and Presence and Age of Children: 1960 to 1998," Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1999, Table No.
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From page 162... ...
Testimony to the committee provided one very clear example of this phenomenon. A teenager, knowing that her mother would "freak out" at the online solicitations and invitations to view commercial sexually explicit material that she was receiving,4 simply set up an AOL account for her mother with parental controls set to "young teen," thereby blocking her mother from receiving such material.
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From page 164... ...
Parents who once fought with kids about messy rooms and telephone time must now deal with conflicts over computer usage as well. Children who always resisted the notion of sharing diaries with their parents must contend with the possibility that their e-mail might be monitored or the history of their Web visits viewed.
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From page 165... ...
While some children may know the technology better than their parents, parents and other adults still have important roles to play in shaping the values of their children and in teaching critical thinking and moral skills that allow children to make informed and ethical choices according to the values that are important to them. In short, the parental role is still central in teaching children to protect themselves on the Internet.
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From page 166... ...
Further, there is no reason to suppose that all negative impacts are necessarily manifested in science-based research studies. One issue of concern mentioned by many parents in the committee's site visits as being far more troublesome to them than the issue of exposure to inappropriate sexually explicit material is the fear that children will be physically victimized by someone whom they met through the Internet.
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From page 167... ...
BEYOND THE SCIENCE: PERSPECTIVES ON IMPACT AND THE PUBLIC DEBATE 167 cation allows such rumors to be forwarded and disseminated much more rapidly with all of the attendant negative consequences.
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From page 168... ...
168 YOUTH, PORNOGRAPHY, AND THE INTERNET Still a different kind of negative impact of children's exposure to graphic, adult-oriented, sexually explicit material is attributable not so much to the material per se as to the fact that exposure to such material may occur in a setting when a parent is not available to place the material into context, to explain why viewing such material is inappropriate, or to impart parental values with respect to viewing such material. In this view, children exposed to such material lose the opportunity to hear from a responsible adult making a critical point about the social assumptions underlying such images and portrayals and about values in society.
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From page 169... ...
Finally, some parents at the committee's site visits said that they saw no problem at all regarding their children's exposure to sexually explicit material, even though they recognized in general terms that there are always some bumps in the path of any child who is growing up. One mother (of two daughters and no sons)
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From page 170... ...
" In a couple of cases, such material had a negative impact on the individual because his parent reacted vehemently with punishment and censure. A related issue was the concern of these youth that their parents or teachers would not believe that they had encountered sexually explicit material by accident.
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From page 171... ...
, it is common to see explicit sexual exchanges, joking about physical violence and assaults, degradation of others, aggression, and exchanges involving racial stereotypes and prejudice. Online propositions to engage in cybersex are common, especially for those with identifiably female screen names.
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From page 172... ...
7.3 RHETORICAL CONCERNS AND ISSUES OF PUBLIC DEBATE The research base described in Chapter 6 contrasts with many of the rhetorical points made in public debates over the issue of children's viewing of sexually explicit material. For example, some individuals who believe that exposure to "pornography" is harmful to children regularly cite the most extreme examples of sexual behavior to which most people would object (e.g., sadomasochism, bestiality)
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From page 173... ...
· Other materials depict what it means to be lesbian or gay in sexual orientation; what for some people is a description of positive feelings 10For example, the Surgeon General's Call to Action to Promote Sexual Health and Responsible Sexual Behavior noted that "programs that typically emphasize abstinence, but also cover condoms and other methods of contraception, have a larger body of evaluation evidence that indicates either no effect on initiation of sexual activity or, in some cases, a delay in the initiation of sexual activity. This evidence gives strong support to the conclusion that providing information about contraception does not increase adolescent sexual activity, either by hastening the onset of sexual intercourse, increasing the frequency of sexual intercourse, or increasing the number of sexual partners." See David Satcher.
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From page 174... ...
But much content is not so easily categorized. While some extreme sexually explicit material meets legal tests for obscenity (and therefore does not enjoy First Amendment protection)
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From page 175... ...
It is one's values that provide the basis for a determination of whether these effects are good or bad, desirable or undesirable. Consider, for the sake of argument, as a hypothetical example that is not demonstrated in the research literature, that there is a reasonably firm consensus that brief exposure to sexually explicit material does not change sexual behavior but that individual attitudes become more accepting of a variety of sexual behaviors.
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From page 176... ...
Individuals and communities will of course include as a part of their decision-making processes their own subjective evaluations and judgments of the impact of inappropriate material on children. Thus, one sees in the public debate that judgments about the impact of inappropriate sexually explicit material on children are closely tied to the values of those making the judgments.
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From page 177... ...
As noted in Chapter 1 and in the preface, the committee's task is to provide a clear explication of factors that enter into choices about appropriate approaches to protecting children from inappropriate sexually explicit material on the Internet. To the extent possible, this explication strives to provide reliable information about these different approaches, and it is intended to address that charge with analysis that is as value-neutral as possible.l4 In the end, however, values must enter into the process of selecting appropriate approaches to the issue of children and inappropriate sexually explicit material on the Internet.
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From page 178... ...
However, it is true that some such material has the potential to shock or surprise some people not expecting to be exposed to it, even if many children who accidentally encounter sexually explicit material report that they are not particularly bothered by the experience (Section 5.4.3~. The committee believes that there is a reasonably strong social consensus one reflected in its own deliberations that involuntary exposure to sexually explicit material is clearly inappropriate and undesirable and should not be occurring, regardless of one's views on the impact of voluntary exposure, and it is particularly inappropriate and undesirable in the context of minors being exposed to such material or when involuntary exposure is the result of intentionally misleading or deceiving a minor.
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From page 179... ...
Further, the committee has not established specific definitions of what constitutes inappropriate sexually explicit material, though it remains confident that there is some significant set of sexually explicit material on which it could reach consensus regarding inappropriateness. The inconclusive results from the sparse scientific literature regarding the impact of exposure to sexually explicit material on children are reflected in a wide spread of committee member views on this subject as well.
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From page 180... ...
Because science incorporates at its core techniques intended to safeguard the process against the influence of personal beliefs, it offers a more valueneutral form of knowledge, and as such offers a form of knowledge around which public consensus can be built. In the case of inappropriate sexually explicit material on the Internet, there is no scientific consensus on the impact of exposure to such material, and so informed decisions about practices and policies cannot be based on empirical evidence.
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