Harm to children

[cobaltburrito]

How have we came to the conclusion that viewing violence and/or sex is harmful to children? Is there any scientific evidence for this?

 

[knightlight72]

How? I think it was due to various studies and research.

http://www.apa.org/pubinfo/violence.html

 

[cobaltburrito]

I don't know where it is right this second but I have a book which explains the studies these findings were based on and it is not as clear-cut as it seems.How about sex?

 

[cobaltburrito]

Studies by George Gerbner, Ph.D., at the University of Pennsylvania, have shown that children's TV shows contain about 20 violent acts each hour and also that children who watch a lot of television are more likely to think that the world is a mean and dangerous place.

Ah, but it is.

 

[knightlight72]

I'm not sure about studies for children exposed to sex. I would assume that exposing children to sex violence and drugs would have a negative aspect.

Look at the result of an adult watching sex. They are more likely to think and do sexual actions. Ergo, children are probably more influenced, and since we do not want sexuually provoked adolescents, I would assume studies would back up the negatives we already can figure out.

Sure they are assumptions, but I do not feel a toddler should be exposed to sex, do you?

 

[Yusuf Evans]

How have we came to the conclusion that viewing violence and/or sex is harmful to children? Is there any scientific evidence for this?

Well, with sexual freedom being expressed more and more on TV, especially MTV and other channels aimed at that demographic, is it any wonder. Look at the number of teenagers getting pregnant, STDs, AIDS, HIV and other abnormalities. Before the Forum tells me I need to provide a source, it's been broadcast by Psychologist after another. It's been on TV, the radio, even books have been written about it.

As for violence, look at the rise in attacks in schools and the fact that more kids are being tried as adults for murders. Also, look at the view of the world that youth have, especially in the Middle East and Africa. They are bred to be violent and to hate the world. What do you get? 10yr old suicide bombers!

 

[morningstar2651]

How have we came to the conclusion that viewing violence and/or sex is harmful to children? Is there any scientific evidence for this?

It's more about parents being offended that their children are exposed to such things than anything else.

Well, with sexual freedom being expressed more and more on TV, especially MTV and other channels aimed at that demographic, is it any wonder. Look at the number of teenagers getting pregnant, STDs, AIDS, HIV and other abnormalities. Before the Forum tells me I need to provide a source, it's been broadcast by Psychologist after another. It's been on TV, the radio, even books have been written about it.

Sexual freedom is being less repressed than it was a couple hundred years ago, that I will admit. However, the FCC isn't going to allow Lord of the G-Strings to air on Cartoon Network -- period. As for teenagers getting pregnant: is that truly on the rise? We have come a long way with birth control over the years.

As for violence, look at the rise in attacks in schools and the fact that more kids are being tried as adults for murders. Also, look at the view of the world that youth have, especially in the Middle East and Africa. They are bred to be violent and to hate the world. What do you get? 10yr old suicide bombers!

Has their been a rise in school violence? If I recall correctly, school in England circa 1940's was brutal.

How are children bred to be violent and hate the world in the Middle East and Africa??

Correlation does not equal causation. I do not have sex because I played a videogame, listened to a CD, listened to the radio, watched television, read a book, viewed art, or read a thread on a discussion forum. I choose to have sex because I want to (it is, after all, a natural urge), not because the radio wants me to. It is my choice and I am the only one responsible for my choices.

 

[Yusuf Evans]

Sexual freedom is being less repressed than it was a couple hundred years ago, that I will admit. However, the FCC isn't going to allow Lord of the G-Strings to air on Cartoon Network -- period. As for teenagers getting pregnant: is that truly on the rise? We have come a long way with birth control over the years..

I'm about a decade older than you, and I can tell you that in that time span, allot has been allowed on TV, especially those that are geared towards your crowd. Maybe not pregnancy, but the risk is there, and so has the rise in STDs. If you mean abortions availablility, then yes, that is true.

Has their been a rise in school violence? If I recall correctly, school in England circa 1940's was brutal.

How are children bred to be violent and hate the world in the Middle East and Africa??.

You do see the ongoing slaughter between the Israelis and Palestinians, correct? As for the violence in schools, how come more and more public city schools have police w/dogs and installing metal detectors? Violence does not neccesarily equate more firearms violations. It is also sexually based crimes and drugs also.

 

[Shannonkish]

Any human when exposed to anything repeatedly begins internalizing what they are exposed to. For example, if someone is repeatedly called ugly, then eventually, they begin to believe that they are ugly.

The same concept works for violence on tv, etc. If you are exposed to something enough times, eventually you begin to believe that it is okay.

Watching sex and violence desensitizes us as humans. If you have noticed to evolution of television and movies since their conception you will realize that this is the case. When TV first came out, there was nothing vulgar. As time went on, the media has slowly exposed our culture to more and more and therefore desensitized us. I wouldn't be surprised if within the next few years full nudity is allowed on network television.

 

[Madcoil]

Could very well be because they ARE ugly...

 

[MERCY@GRACE]

This weekend dh and I went to see 'Jarhead" (we are military, and war movies are big w/ dh) Anyway they had a few explicit sex scenes and one masturbation scene. I could not believe my eyes when I saw the parents of a (guestimation) 5 and 7yro sitting there. The daughter covered her eyes during one scene...w/out any coaching from her parents.... but i noticed the parents didn't seemed phased by it. They didn't lean over and say cover your eyes or cover their eyes for them. I don't know about you, but there's no way that I'd be able to sit thru a movie that showed nudity, violence, and extreme language, and NOT worry what effect it would have on my kids.


I really couldn't even get into the movie after I noticed the kids were there! LET kids be kids whie they are kids. There's a reason they are called kids and not adults!

 

[Spinrad]

This weekend dh and I went to see 'Jarhead" (we are military, and war movies are big w/ dh) Anyway they had a few explicit sex scenes and one masturbation scene. I could not believe my eyes when I saw the parents of a (guestimation) 5 and 7yro sitting there. The daughter covered her eyes during one scene...w/out any coaching from her parents.... but i noticed the parents didn't seemed phased by it. They didn't lean over and say cover your eyes or cover their eyes for them. I don't know about you, but there's no way that I'd be able to sit thru a movie that showed nudity, violence, and extreme language, and NOT worry what effect it would have on my kids.


I really couldn't even get into the movie after I noticed the kids were there! LET kids be kids whie they are kids. There's a reason they are called kids and not adults!

Please help me out: you are not saying that the reason this disturbed you was that, during a WAR MOVIE the toddlers were sitting through SEX scenes, are you? Because, honestly, I would have to question your moral health. Surely you meant that you couldn't believe anyone brought toddlers to a violent movie in the first place.

But, no, why would even have mentioned the sex scenes if that were true? Sickening.

 

[MERCY@GRACE]

Please help me out: you are not saying that the reason this disturbed you was that, during a WAR MOVIE the toddlers were sitting through SEX scenes, are you? Because, honestly, I would have to question your moral health. Surely you meant that you couldn't believe anyone brought toddlers to a violent movie in the first place.

But, no, why would even have mentioned the sex scenes if that were true? Sickening.

Calm down bro. Even tho it was a 'war' movie there was VERY minimal violence(it was actually the flip side of war movie, where they didn't see any action) There were more sex scenes than violent.No blod or gore scenes which most war movies show! There was a disturbing scene where they showed dead corpses, which I don't think the kids should have scene, but I'm hoping since I had a hard time making out that they were corpses bc they were burned beyond recognition(a black charcoal look) that the kids didn't either. Geesh... I didn't want to give the WHOLE movie away LOL!


eta-I don't believe ANY parent should bring kids of that age to ANY rated R movie! Better?

 

[Spinrad]

Could very well be because they ARE ugly...

This is a real problem for me. I was told by authority figures that I was dirty, ugly and no one would love me at a very early age, and I did internalise to to an extent. It's how I feel about myself. Yet I am also insistent on seeing the world in an accurate way, and I have managed to woo and marry a woman who is, by any conievable critieria, pretty hot. In other words, the evidence, while not entirely disproving my internal biases, do not bear them out to a reasonable extent. If I look in the mirror I see an ogre, but i also see "just a guy". I have no illusions about being handsome, but not being handsome is not the same as being ugly. Most people are kind of neither, really. I see that in everyone else I meet. Maybe one woman out of every hundred is truly gorgeous. The rest range from attractive to not atractive, and a very few are actually hard to look at.

Being exposed to a particular oppinion every day does have real eefect, I believe, but it's not insurmountable, and it is not necessarily a bad thing anyway. We are so attuned to searching for "happiness" that anything that might cause any misery is not just to be avoided but feared and dispised. Love, kindness and friendship are a part of life, but no more a part than hate, cruelty and animosity. And the latter can be factors for improvement of one's lot in life just as much as the former.

As for sex in the media, I welcome it. We have spent ages treating sex like a holy icon. Idiocy. The conflicts we see with sex today are not the result of people becoming more open, but of people who are not as open fearing the changes. Why are we always biased toward the sickly and weak?

 

[Spinrad]

Calm down bro. Even tho it was a 'war' movie there was VERY minimal violence(it was actually the flip side of war movie, where they didn't see any action) There were more sex scenes than violent. There was a disturbing scene where they showed dead corpses, which I don't think the kids should have scene, but I'm hoping since I had a hard time making out that they were corpses bc they were burned beyond recognition(a black charcoal look) that the kids didn't either. Geesh... I didn't want to give the WHOLE movie away LOL!


eta-I don't believe ANY parent should bring kids of that age to ANY rated R movie! Better?

No. You already made your opinion clear about what disturbed you.

When I wen to see Jurassic Park I was amazed athow like a screaning of a Disney Cartoon the audience makeup was. When the Trex ate the guy on the tiolet the audience erupted into screams and whining. TOddlers all over the theater.

Had the movie been about paleontologists who are not wearing panties and cross their legs before being eaten by dinosaurs I bet there wouldn't have been a child within a mile.

 

[Corey]

I'm not sure about studies for children exposed to sex. I would assume that exposing children to sex violence and drugs would have a negative aspect.

Only if the children identify with the characters doing such things...and understand what's going on.

Look at the result of an adult watching sex. They are more likely to think and do sexual actions. Ergo, children are probably more influenced, and since we do not want sexuually provoked adolescents, I would assume studies would back up the negatives we already can figure out.

Well...there's an easy, though slightly flawed, way of looking-examine British children versus American children. British TV-more sex, but less violence.

 

[Corey]

Well, with sexual freedom being expressed more and more on TV, especially MTV and other channels aimed at that demographic, is it any wonder. Look at the number of teenagers getting pregnant, STDs, AIDS, HIV and other abnormalities. Before the Forum tells me I need to provide a source, it's been broadcast by Psychologist after another. It's been on TV, the radio, even books have been written about it.

The rise in pregnancy and STD is occuring in specific regions...regions that use the abstinence-only form of sex ed.

As for violence, look at the rise in attacks in schools and the fact that more kids are being tried as adults for murders. Also, look at the view of the world that youth have, especially in the Middle East and Africa. They are bred to be violent and to hate the world. What do you get? 10yr old suicide bombers!

School violence has decreased overall. You're suffering from the availability heuristic.

 

[loriersea]

There was a very controversial book out a few years ago, Harmful to Minors, that argued very persuasively that exposure to sexuality had no adverse affects on children whatsoever, based on decades of research by many scholars. There have been studies that have linked exposure to violence to negative outcomes, however.

 

[Spinrad]

There was a very controversial book out a few years ago, Harmful to Minors, that argued very persuasively that exposure to sexuality had no adverse affects on children whatsoever, based on decades of research by many scholars. There have been studies that have linked exposure to violence to negative outcomes, however.

I believe the adverse effects of exposure to sexuality is in how the adults react to their children's healthy curiosity and experiences.

 

[Madcoil]

Like when they walk in on their 5 year old daughter "playing" with a drumstick.
The problem here is "what the hell do I say?"