If in 30 years we live in a society where people post nudes like they do facebook posts, is there anything wrong about this? Could you describe the harm caused which doesn't boil down to attitudes of society?
..then the calculus will be different. Current culture is what it is, and we live within it.
Imagine a culture where prostitution is "no big deal." It's acceptable for parents to encourage college kids to take a summer job in a brothel and it affects their life in the same way as a summer job at a car wash. Just because you can imagine such a culture doesn't mean that the same advice applies in our world
Similarly, there are plenty of cultures where premarital sex is totally unacceptable, especially for girls. You might think that's silly, and other cultures do exist that aren't like this. Taking your advice might profoundly affect their life, their ability to marry and live within their culture.
We only get to "then" by challenging the norms we are faced with "now". The question is do we want to move forward to a more accepting world, or settle for the narrow, judgmental mess we've inherited.
Seems perfectly reasonable that OP doesn't want his kids engaged in it.
And yes, I absolutely do think that normalization of sex, both for profit and otherwise, is an indispensable part of a more accepting world. OnlyFans has already helped move that needle considerably.
[0]: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1095186/tiktok-us-users-...
The smarter one won’t tell me how he installs apps on his iPad after his mom uninstalls it. I suspect he figured out his moms password.
Personally, I don't see why subscribing to a $9 onlyfans account in order to see some tits is so much worse than buying a game.
Just think of most women's opinion of the majority of pornography, sure they could pick out some they like, but they find a lot of it disgusting. I can't imagine having to grow up with the feeling that the opposite sex is constantly consuming content that's exploitative of your sex.
At least most of these TikTok/OF creators have some level of dignity, and power over their own lives.
There's nothing that special about sex work. If you are a parent, teach your children to build respectful, healthy relationships.
> If you are a parent, teach your children to build respectful, healthy relationships.
If you actually think it's that easy you're minimizing the fight for equality and rights for all women.
The harm caused is that an action you take that is socially normative, legal, and accepted today, may not be in the future, and if that action is documented online, it will inevitably be judged by an ever-changing set of standards and morals as time marches on.
Well, a main issue is society isn't a monolith. Some people might not want to post nudes (just like some people don't want a FB account) but feel societally pressured to do so. Some people, specifically people hiring or electing, might look down on those posting nudes, making people whose nudes happen to be better known more difficult to get jobs. Some people may post nudes and then regret it later, and combined with pressure could lead to them developing some complexes.
Personally, I wouldn't want to live in that society. I can already get porn when I want, so I don't see a huge upside for me. On the other hand, if you think FB/IG/SC stalking post breakups is insane now, let me introduce you to the future.
This happens... subconsciously and, I think, unavoidably. Commodifying core human interactions will affect sellers whether they want to or not.
It doesn't devalue personal interactions offline or make me feel like a soulless void. I feel like most of the issues that the general public has on this issue is not fundamental parts of humans or society, but simply norms which we have come to embed so deeply they feel fundamental.
I used to think porn is pretty neutral in the terms of the harm it does to the consumer, but over my years in the internet, I encountered many people who invest much of their time into porn, or structure the way they view others (women mostly) based on porn and I've come to the conclusion that consumption of porn, specifically during one's teenage years, is psychologically damaging. It does change the way you view sexuality, what you perceive as attractive and your sexual preferences. I was exposed to porn at a young age and I'm pretty sure it did me no good. I worry that kids who are nowadays exposed at even younger age might develop maladaptive sexual preferences and views.
> Have you considered the alternative that this is not an evil
We have considered it, and came to the conclusion that it is evil. A society that has its morality purely based on "consent" has accepted its own demise.
We are allowed to rank them by our preferences.
I do not wish males to be treated more expendable than necessary. I wish they would live fulfilling life.
Catholic church was around in Europe as a force since early Middle ages. Wouldn't call it new, unless you have sources to contrary.
You mean the kind in which we live right now, and where birth rates are well below replacement values?
> The current society we are in where we expect or desire pair bonding for life with an exclusive mate is rather new and unstable.
This is wrong. Stable pair bonds are a feature of nearly all advanced societies. The reasons are game theoretic.
You can argue that about literally anything. Everything is a matter of "a different society" once it's been accepted as the new default
I’m fine with de-stigmatizing sex work and pornography, but a lot of the content you find online is hyper-stylized and portrays some really unhealthy views on sex and both women and men.
I disagree, I think it's perverse that creators try to create artificial one-way relationships with their viewers, especially for kids, but also for people at large which aren't adapted to deal with these kinds of relationships (which imo is abusive).
They specifically talk about their kids being targeted with porn. Targeting kids with porn is grooming behaviour it results in a lot of evil, not something we want to normalise.
Prostitution is legal in my country and it should remain this way. But there are mechanism to keep it in certain locations. I think that should also apply to adult content on the net.
Of course there are also repercussion to most forms of intimacy you experience or do not experience later in life. The average 18 year old doesn't pay too much mind to it.
So far, the results aren't good. But for the sake of science apparently we have to run the experiment to the end.
Trauma, anxiety and desperation are so common that I'm not sure what isn't impacted by them, I guess is my meaning.
But it wasn’t always this way. Not even close. I’ve met many people who grew up in pre- and post-WWII Germany, and from how they describe it, the concept of status didn’t really exist then as it does now.
Yes, there were rich and poor. But people fell in love with and married people in their towns and villages, and were not unhappy in doing so. With the exception of the war (a significant exemption, true) people’s lives seemed clear-cut, and no one felt the need to constantly be posting or drip-feeding off of likes or views or even money.
These apps and platforms are recent inventions, and they are dangerous. Status is no longer a local or regional commodity, it is global. And your status is constantly being evaluated against every metric.
Instead of being satisfied with being the best wine-grower in the region, for example, one is now forced to also compare oneself to the best bodybuilders in the world and the richest businesspeople.
Though at times overdramatized, ”The Social Dilemma” is a great documentary on this topic. I would also recommend Tristan Harris’s podcast episode with Joe Rogan.
We're just like polar bears being confined in a zoo and pacing up and down.
Some people and marriages were happy, but definitely not all of them were happy.
The society was changing on all directions leading to conflicts. Young women in particular tended to move away from villages to cities for greater freedom and economic options, followed by backslash over proper female place.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I'd like to go back and live in the 20th century, but I do think some ways of life in those times were simpler and better acclimated to human nature.
From after WWI till dictatorship, Germany was violent place with regular street fights and tons on social problems. After Hitler took power, it continued to be violent place, tho in somewhat different way.
Why is it bad? First, teaching children to monetize and sexualize in a capitalistic system, rather than how they evolved which is a more personal and toned down sexual experience. Their psyche is developing, their habits from teenage time will carry forward and affect their only life. It's too risky to gamble on our society's minds by letting any company sell whatever they like to children.
Second, do we want young people wasting their limited money on this content? There's a lot of free things, even if someone is 18, why should they be giving away money for what they can get for free? Is that a sound financial habit?
A very similar comparison would be “thots” on Twitch, though.