Laws on age of consent for porn

[Integritas0]

This is a poll to indicate your opinion on either increasing or decreasing the age of consent to (i) watch/access porn and/or (ii) act/model in porn. Various proposed measures are currently being examined in the U.S. House of Congress that would strengthen/clarify existing legislation with respect to age of consent (2257). In the U.K. the laws are equivalent to those of the U.S., i.e. 18+ to either watch porn or star in it. However, a political party --the Liberal Democrats (currently in power by way of a coalition with the Tories), have stated and stood by their policy of reducing the age of consent for both viewing and modelling in porn to 16+. There policy states that:

"The Working Group recommends that it should be an offence to publish, sell,
electronically transmit or display material which exploits for sexual purposes unlawful
acts involving (or appearing to involve) persons under the age of 16, non-consenting
adults (or adults consenting to very serious harm) or animals" (Censorship and Freedom of Expression, Policy Paper 63, p. 12). (Emphasis added.)
Full Policy doent:

http://rapidshare.com/files/400960969/libdem04.pdf
Mirror: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BBSLNEWF

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some would argue that the age of consent might be increased to 21+.

Personally I feel that 18+ is the best option both for viewing and modelling in porn --however, various political groups are campaigning to either move the age up or down... so it will be interesting to see what our opinions are? :thinking:

 

[Squallmuzza]

I've said 16/16 since it's the age of consent here. It seems pretty weird that you can have sex, but not WATCH people having sex or be watched. It doesn't make sense. So I guess it should really keep in-line with the age of consent all along.

I know some kids might get pulled into doing it without fully realising what they're getting into, but those same kids would probably do it at 18 anyway.

Some people are born with the brains, some with the body, that's basically the way it goes.

 

[Squallmuzza]

There is a difference for sure, but I believe that the ones that'd do it at 18 would do it at 16 really.

For example, Dak0ta Sh1ne wanted to do it from when I knew him... that way at least (15) and possibly before. A lot of other guys in the industry that I've talked to/known have said much the same.

I think some wouldn't be ready for it, some would. It's a case of how mature the individual is really. Fact of the matter is, some 18 year old guys aren't mentally old enough to make that decision, perhaps won't be for many years, yet are given the choice. They aren't stopped from doing it due to their actual mental capability of taking part in such an activity.

I think that should be the real deciding factor. I couldn't tell you how would be best to judge it, but it should be based on the individual's capability and copeability with the activities and fact that they will be forever on display and culpable for those actions.

 

[Squallmuzza]

I still think it should go alongside the age of sexual consent elsewise. Just makes sense to me that way. Especially for watching it. There is no way on earth that watching something you can already take part in is going to cause you any distress.

 

[Squallmuzza]

There's no online way of realistically ensuring that no minor can get hold of porn. What would they do? Force you to put in your passport number every time you go on a site? Also that'd apply to the US only, or at least only the countries that go along with it (so basically the UK and a few European ones). So I doubt that's going to throw up anything worthwhile.

And everyone tries to emulate porn nowadays. Whether they're under OR over 18. Everyone watches shedloads of the stuff and expects sex to be this picture perfect, wonderful thing always. It's only through experience that they find this out.

Even if everything was censored and 'unavailable' we'd still be back to the days of yore where everyone stole dad's porn stash and shared it with his friends. However nowadays it'd be dad's USB or external HD. Porn is just one of those things.

Hell, if I've gone without for a while, even I start to think sex is like this porn-perfect act. Everyone knows exactly what to do, how when and where and it's gonna be amazing. And then when you get down to it and you're like 'oh yeah'.

Just a bit of half decent sex education wouldn't go amiss. I remember mine (and keeping in mind I've only been out of school for 5 years) and it was essentially 'the penis goes in the vagina and then -awkward look- read your text books'.

Porn is only way I really learned ANYTHING about sex. And I wouldn't have been ready or in fact had ANY clue how it worked unless I'd watched porn from a very early (comparatively) age. I'd have been totally lost without it.

And then as a result of that, I think being able to watch something and not take part in it is a little odd. It just seems right that everything should fall in line and be uniform with the age being the same across the board.

I can see the dangers but I think a decent education would ward that off truly.

 

[LuiM]

To me it also doesn't make sense why you're allowed by society to have sex at 16 or below but you're not allowed to watch it. I don't see a reasonable reason for the existence of this gap between the age of consent and the age when you're allowed to watch sex. It's ridiculous you can have sex but you must not watch it. Actually as we can see here some societies have already eliminated this gap which makes more sense to me.

The other question is the age when you're allowed to take part in porn. 18 is currently a general limit worldwide. It's because of US political and economical domination in the world. That's why other countries willingly submit to US norms, otherwise world's (porn-)market would be closed for them. I'd say nature already expressed its opinion about when human being is capable of having sex. Some decades ago when even US society was less rigid and less frightened we could even listen to songs like "Sweet Little Sixteen" or in Europe "Once In a Lifetime" and many others with more or less hidden messages. Today again we burden ourselves with sexuality like this is the most important issue there is. Fear of human body and nudity still rules our minds, maybe even more than before.

I don't know society can set the limit for making porn up to 21+ or even 30+, but in my opinion - for those who believe human body basically is something ugly, worth of hiding or being ashamed of, any age limit will represent a problem.

​

 

[LuiM]

No. I vote for 30+!

 

[Bo.]

I voted 18+ for both.

I don't have enough free time now, and I will try to explain my opinion longer in any of my next replies.

...there is a difference between having sex in private, in a personal context... and having sex in front of a camera, for money, in a commercial context? I see a big difference between the two.

I completely agree with you.

Another thing is: kids reach their sexual maturity at age 12, but they reach their mental maturity 10 years later. Sometimes I even understand why in some countries they pick 21+ instead 18+

 

[XMan101]

16 is too young. It's expected that those under 18 will get hold of X rated material sometime, the age you can buy drink is 18 because 16 & 17 year olds will drink it, if it was 16 then you'd have more 14 & 15 year olds than we do now drinking, same with porn.

If it's legal at 16 then we'd have very vulnerable 14 & 15 year olds not only watching but being coerced into taking part. A person is a child at that age regardless.

We have enough supposedly 18 year olds in porn now that could pass for 16, so it wouldn't be difficult to actually use a 16/17 year old with a forged ID. If the age was 16 then it wouldn't be difficult to get a few 15 & 14 year olds roped in, we're then into child exploitation.

A line must be drawn to protect the majority.

Part of childhood is the exploring and finding out slowly. If you can do everything at once there is no time to explore and form opinions. A 16 year old who enters porn because it's "fun" is not ready to make that judgement and could well regret it 5 years later. An 18 year old has had that bit more time, still probably naive about the world, but 2 years at that age makes a difference.

A bit tired tonight so I've probably rambled

 

[josh_the_hot_boy]

18 for sure.

 

[ritsuka]

I would say more like 13+ for accessing/watching porn. I looked at porn when I was 15, and it is/was no one elses business that I did so--if you're old enough to masturbate, then no bystander should presume to decide what you masturbate to. People change, develop, and move on in teen years--what is important is absolutely not music, games, porn, movies...but the things in one's concrete physical reality--how peers and older people are treating them. Moralistic condescension is certainly harmful in itself. 21+ would be fine for porn modeling, but still, the sociopolitical issues leading to porn have to be addressed as well.

 

[ritsuka]

I believe it's none of my or your business what a boy who's gone through puberty masturbates to. What someone else in an age group you no longer belong to "should" do is a question that shouldn't be contemplated too much. Most people have those sexual fetishes from the beginning (at puberty)--it isn't looking at the porn that causes the fetish, but their real-life, probably not consensual experiences in childhood; most people wouldn't spend countless hours watching that kind of thing unless it appealed to them, so for most people, it would be flowery, kind, vanilla porn. Making spanking children illegal would do a lot more good than making it illegal for teens to look at spanking porn. As a side note, I think it's kind of sad that you include 'anal' in the extreme category--why would that be more disturbing than vaginal, straight sex?

 

[Squallmuzza]

They have the base. The central core of whatever fetish. People who get INTO fisting no doubt have some form of basis to it from their younger years that led to it. Some anal fixation from an early age. Maybe they were in the bath and sat on the soap, something simple like that.

Everything has a basis, it's just a degree of evolution from a base.

 

[ritsuka]

Sure, some people are given enemas as a child, so that might have been wired into their sexual neurons early on and come out as a strong interest at puberty. I really think what I said in my last post.

 

[brmstn69]

What, you mean like flower-porn?

Hadn't heard of that particular niche myself... but hey, whatever you're into.

Obviously, you have never seen the move "The Wall" (by Pink Floyd)...


P.S. I first saw this movie when I was about 8 or 9. I think that when I saw the "female" flower devour the "male" flower and transform into a dragon, that was the very moment I turned gay...:rofl:

 

[jaxfltop]

Age for porn

A lot of people (myself included) lose their virginity well before they turn 18 or even 16 in most cases. Most people, judge from my nephews and their friends, start watching porn around 13-14. Now I believe that most teens also wack off on web cams as can easily be seen if you go to many of the large webcam site (yes I know they arent supposed to but what teen actually writes their true age when asked). If they cant make a informed consent by the age of 16 they wont get far in life anyway. Heck the age of consent was much lower until women's religious groups got it raised anyway.

 

[raisinboy]

I know they already watch it, but the question is, do teenagers really need porn? Everything in our modern society is already sexualized and teenagers get turned on by, well, anything, so why give them "Hardcore Fisting Vol. 5" if the latest Britney Spears-video works fine enough?
Not everyone loses their virginity by the age of 14, and even if they did, let them have fun exploring and trying stuff out. Being a teenager is frustrating enough without constantly having to measure up to the oftentimes ridiculous fantasies dictated by porn. They still have a lifetime of porn ahead of them, so for now they should just live their sexuality without the stereotyping, misogyny and unrealistic expectations.

 

[Mamah]

Personally I think 18 is about right for taking part in recorded porn. It's also the age of consent for a wide variety of other rights & obligations across the world.

But 16 for watching porn! Hey, get real guys, you might just as well say 16 is the lower limit for jerking off! At that age most of the "porn" was in my imagination already (virtual porn), all the real stuff did was to make it manifest from time to time & give me a few more jerk-off ideas.
And how would a lower age limit of 16 for watching porn be enforced? I know what would be done in Europe - a highly paid asexual Eurocrat (lets call them Porn Busters) would be employed to accompany every under 18 year old for 24/7/52 going everywhere he/she went, sleeping in the same bed, etc to make sure they didn't look at any porn. But on second thoughts you'd need at least 2 per adolescent because of EU working hours directives, then there'd be others needed to cover for annual holidays, sick days etc.
OMG the Eurocrats are gonna love this idea!

 

[raisinboy]

And how would a lower age limit of 16 for watching porn be enforced?

Umm... Is that a real question? Why should it be enforced any differently than the age limit of 18 is enforced right now? I don't think you really thought that one through. :thinking:

 

[LuiM]

Umm... Is that a real question? Why should it be enforced any differently than the age limit of 18 is enforced right now? I don't think you really thought that one through. :thinking:

I guess this is all just about labels on the movies then? With a goal to keep society's conscience clear? (While knowing that youngsters search for porn at any age anyway...? :thinking: ) What's the point of having just some labels?

If this really is just about labels then it really makes no difference if there's 16+ or 18+ or 30+ warning on the cover.

I personally saw first porn magazine at the age of I don't know but it was very low (11, 12 maybe). And then in higher grades of primary school we watched porn movies together at home of one of my schoolmates.

We really didn't care if those movies were for audience older than 18. As the matter of fact the age limit was one more reason we wanted to watch those movies. To feel more adult.

So who needs these labels in the first place? As I said society needs them - to have a clear conscience - in a sense: "We did all that we could to raise our kids properly". But we all know what society does really if I just mention braking families when parents have to work all day long and have no time for their kids at all. But I won't go into this now.