Age Limit in Porn?

[PennLady]

This opinion column in the Washington Post proposes that the porn industry be required to have a minimum age limit of 21. I wouldn't argue.

 

[lovecraft68]

I disagree. At 18 you can vote and you can enlist in the armed forces and potentially die for your country.

They want to have sex for pay let them

 

[PennLady]

I disagree. At 18 you can vote and you can enlist in the armed forces and potentially die for your country.

They want to have sex for pay let them

Did you read the article? At 18 you can't drink, or gamble in a casino, and a couple of other things. Some of the sports leagues have minimum ages as well.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

There was a time when 21 was the legal age for most things, and then it dropped to 18. The real angst is about creating work for idle prosecutors and detectives.

 

[oggbashan]

In the UK the legal age for consensual sex, and for marriage with parental consent, is 16.

We UK writers abide by Literotica's rules even though we could legally write erotica with 16 year old participants.

I think they are addressing the wrong problem. The problem is children accessing porn well below the legal age. It is very easy to click a button to state "I am 18 years of age" when you are not.

Children and teenagers have always tried to push the boundaries of what is allowed. Underage drinking, smoking and sex are seen as rites of passage even if the child doesn't understand the consequences.

 

[ishtat]

18 is no magic number nor is 21. The age of consent for example may be as low as 12 or as high as 20. Similarly the age of adult criminal responsibility varies from as low as 8 up to 21.

To suggest that if one age is right for one thing it is good for all as LC seems to imply, is a very weak argument.

I agree with PL, and further suggest that anyone trading themselves, either in porn or on the street is a prostitute, and that 21 is a reasonable minimum age.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

In the UK the legal age for consensual sex, and for marriage with parental consent, is 16.

We UK writers abide by Literotica's rules even though we could legally write erotica with 16 year old participants.

I think they are addressing the wrong problem. The problem is children accessing porn well below the legal age. It is very easy to click a button to state "I am 18 years of age" when you are not.

Children and teenagers have always tried to push the boundaries of what is allowed. Underage drinking, smoking and sex are seen as rites of passage even if the child doesn't understand the consequences.

Having worked in the social sewer for decades I know that most kids are sexually active from 12, on. I took it for granted that there were no naifs or virgins after 12. They fuck step dad, they fuck moms boyfriend (girl friend), they fuck best friends dad, they fuck the neighbor. The easiest lay in the world is a 15 year old girl.

 

[SecondCircle]

18 is no magic number nor is 21. The age of consent for example may be as low as 12 or as high as 20. Similarly the age of adult criminal responsibility varies from as low as 8 up to 21.

To suggest that if one age is right for one thing it is good for all as LC seems to imply, is a very weak argument.

I agree with PL, and further suggest that anyone trading themselves, either in porn or on the street is a prostitute, and that 21 is a reasonable minimum age.

I think I agree with this sentiment. Different things should have different age limits, and as pertains to porn and sex, waiting three more years isn't such a stretch.

Still, something doesn't sit well for me with the whole "age" dilemma. It does bother me that a person is considered mature enough to make the decision to sacrifice themselves for their country, but not to drink or ANYTHING else we may consider. It seems laughable to me, like the punchline to some twisted immoral joke. Armed forces, but not porn? While I tend to agree with having different ages for different things, it just seems wrong in this one case.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I think I agree with this sentiment. Different things should have different age limits, and as pertains to porn and sex, waiting three more years isn't such a stretch.

Still, something doesn't sit well for me with the whole "age" dilemma. It does bother me that a person is considered mature enough to make the decision to sacrifice themselves for their country, but not to drink or ANYTHING else we may consider. It seems laughable to me, like the punchline to some twisted immoral joke. Armed forces, but not porn? While I tend to agree with having different ages for different things, it just seems wrong in this one case.

We're speaking of political decisions, and political decisions are always about money.

I know 6 year olds who are more mature than many 30 year olds.

Age limits are almost always designed to increase special interest profit centers.

 

[SecondCircle]

We're speaking of political decisions, and political decisions are always about money.

I know 6 year olds who are more mature than many 30 year olds.

Age limits are almost always designed to increase special interest profit centers.

Nail on the head sir. At age 18, the candidates are ripe for service, and they know it. And maturity is different with different people. I've seen it first hand. In the end, it all trickles back to wicked bullshit served to us as upstanding morals.

Pity. At least we "seem" like we do things for the good of all.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

Strange...I find myself largely in agreement with James...

The age limits are purely arbitrary in terms of any realities other than making money and/or satisfying some group's moral notions. Many at the time argued that the Bill of Rights wasn't necessary, but it is there to safeguard individual rights against the tyranny of the majority (or even the plurality); since then, we have always had those who impose their view of what's right on everyone.

 

[D_Lynn]

I've argued both sides of this argument in my mind this morning. I'm dizzy now.

It came down to a single question for me: Has raising the age limit worked in the past?

I can only think of one instance where we've (U.S.) raised the limit from 18 to 21, and that was alcohol. I searched the internet to find arguments about whether or not this strategy achieved the desired goal. I couldn't find a lot of evidence that it had, but I found these arguments that suggested it had other consequences:

1. Any benefits of the 21 year-old drinking age have come to be more than offset by unintended and largely negative consequences.
2. The 21 year-old drinking age is an abridgement of the age of majority.
3. The 21 year-old drinking age marginalizes the role of parents in the process of teaching and encouraging responsible decisions about alcohol use.
4. Under the 21 year-old drinking age, fewer young people are drinking, but those who do choose to are drinking more. This alarming rise in the rates of binge drinking on campuses and in communities around the nation has caused a major, national public health problem.
5. The 21 year-old drinking age breeds disrespect for law and ethical compromises.

This begs the next question: What makes anyone think that raising the age limit in porn will do any good?

Further, one might add: What would they be trying to accomplish by doing this? The only hint in the article at any reasoning behind doing this came from this statement: "...some choices can’t be fully entrusted to men and women still transitioning to adulthood." Obviously, defining the age of 'adulthood' can be argued.

And still doesn't answer the question about what they hope to accomplish.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Nail on the head sir. At age 18, the candidates are ripe for service, and they know it. And maturity is different with different people. I've seen it first hand. In the end, it all trickles back to wicked bullshit served to us as upstanding morals.

Pity. At least we "seem" like we do things for the good of all.

It all boils down to make work for lawyers. We herd people one way and another, to enrich this one and that one.

Jesus! When I started work for the Department of Health no kid got a free lawyer from the state, cuz juvenile penalties are always a joke. When the cops brought a kid in, I got on the phone with the judge and prosecutor, and we worked out a deal. If the kid was a chronic asshole he usually went to detention until court the next day. If he was a newbie and wasnt violent we usually released him to his ma or dad, and Juvenile Justice evaluated him for intervention. Twenty years later I saw kids with 5 free lawyers. Unreal. They had criminal lawyers and dependency lawyers and attorney ad litems, and special lawyers assigned to watch the other lawyers. All for a fucking 12 year old who hit his therapist.

I remember moms calling me to scream about the evil 17 year old slut who was fucking her 15 year old Sonny Boy. We laughed. Twenty years later it was a federal case.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Did you read the article? At 18 you can't drink, or gamble in a casino, and a couple of other things. Some of the sports leagues have minimum ages as well.

The 21 year limit on drinking is one of the reasons the USA has so many binge drinking alcoholics.

And the only reason you can't gamble in a casino is because of all of the free alcohol. It has nothing to do with the gambling.

 

[oggbashan]

The 21 year limit on drinking is one of the reasons the USA has so many binge drinking alcoholics.

And the only reason you can't gamble in a casino is because of all of the free alcohol. It has nothing to do with the gambling.

In the UK there is a minimum age for drinking alcohol at home - 5! But gripe water sold for babies suffering from wind used to contain a substantial percentage of alcohol. In Victorian times, gin was used...

A 16-year-old can drink some alcohol in public with a meal, but not buy it.

At 18 there are no restrictions but most retailers will expect a valid ID if they think you are under 25.

 

[sr71plt]

The elephant in the corner is that you can't dictate what age bracket is most hyped up for the subject matter--and what subject matter people interested in it want to see. You can raise the minimum age to 65 if you want. It's not going to stop it from centering where it's most wanted.

 

[3113]

18 is old enough

I think I agree with this sentiment. Different things should have different age limits, and as pertains to porn and sex, waiting three more years isn't such a stretch.

At 18 not only is a person considered mature enough to decide to enlist in the army--sacrifice their life for their country--but also to vote for elected representatives. That, I consider a very adult decision. AND they can get married and they can be tried as an adult for murder. They may not be mature enough for any of that, but if we're going to say that they are--if we're going to draft them into the army at that age, try them as an adult for criminal actions, etc.--then we can't say that they're not mature enough to have sex on camera for money if that is what they want to do.

And three years of making money off that might make a huge difference to them. Pay off student loans, take care of their kids (let's not forget that any girl can end up a mother before she's 18--now she has mouths to feed), pay their rent and keep them off the streets. Three years may make no difference when it comes to drinking alcohol, but it make a ton of difference if jobs are scarce, if one's parents have thrown one out, and if one very much needs to do something to feed, cloth, house oneself and, perhaps, one's children. I don't think we should blithely say, "oh, they can wait three years unemployed or working for next-to-nothing at McDonald's rather than deciding to do this and have a respectable amount of money in the bank--not to mention healthcare benefits."

I also have to wonder if there isn't some sexism in this decision. Most who join the army at 18 are men. Most who go into porn at 18 are women. The law, like that of statutory rape, seems to want to keep females from having sex with males for as long as possible, as if all women under 21 are wide-eyed innocents, forced into such a life rather than adult enough to chose it. There is way too much talk these days about women "not knowing what they're doing" in regards to decisions about their bodies. This seems to be suggesting that.

I will grant that most 18 year olds are not mature. Nor are many 20-somethings come to that. But if you want to protect a person from bad decisions, then put the laws on the other side--like laws protecting porn workers from the spread of disease or physical abuse. In the end, if we're going to say an 18 year old knew what he/she was doing when he/she shot someone and send him/her to jail for it, then we can't say he/she doesn't know what they're doing if they decide to pick porn over McDonalds as the job for them.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Our 3113 suffers from terminal penis envy, and has a hardon for God and Mother Nature because women are made for fucking, and guys are made for fighting.

 

[3113]

The American Bar vs. the UK Pub

A 16-year-old can drink some alcohol in public with a meal, but not buy it. At 18 there are no restrictions but most retailers will expect a valid ID if they think you are under 25.

If you're going to compare and contrast you need to remember that there is a big difference between the English pub and the American bar. The English pub has always been a neighborhood meeting place, one where moms bring their kids, where politics and changes to the town are discussed, where, in the past, everyone went to listen to big announcements/events on the radio or television Said pubs have always served meals. Hence anyone can go into one and get food.

With a history where the population viewed pubs this way, and where, prior to the late 19th century, (1) the water could not be trusted and so one had to drink beer or something else where water was brewed and, (2) beer was drunk more for calories than for getting drunk, you end up with a culture more at ease when it comes to 16 year olds ordering up a pint.

But American bars are different. They used to be like pubs, but after the civil war things changed. Even though they still provided food and a social meeting place for arguing politics and such, they became a way for liquor companies to part a man from his money. The habit was to get a man, on pay-day, to come in for the free food, get drunk and leave behind his whole paycheck. This is what led to the prohibition movement--wives with drunk husbands and no money to care for the family. Prohibition led to speak-easies which led to a huge difference between the English pub and the American bar. Speak-easies were party places serving hard liquor--cocktails.

Prohibition was repealed, but American bars retained the speak-easy ambience; they were places where adults went before or after dinner to get buzzed on cocktails. Not a place where they went to discuss local politics and share a meal and a pint. This was not a place for kids. Hence, the 21 years of age part of the law.

That law was applied (unfairly I believe) across the board for all alcoholic drinks including wine and beer. A sixteen year old, I believe, should be able to have a beer at the brew pub with his burger or share a bottle of wine with his parents at a four-star restaurant, but should not be allowed to have a night of martinis at the local bar. Alas, the law doesn't make such distinctions in the U.S. and that is entirely due to prohibition--which created the American bar scene--and its repeal, which was as much a matter of keeping kids out places serving cocktails as it was to tax and regulate alcohol and get rid of mob violence.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

3113 is wrong on the facts. Taverns, she's speaking of taverns, were commonplace in America into the 1960s. A few survived into the 70s, replaced by chain meat shops where modern girls didnt need to worry about tales getting back to ma and pa.

 

[Cruel2BKind]

Silly JBJ, opinions aren't for trolls.

 

[TxRad]

JBJ is partially right.

3113 has never been to Texas.

You can take your kid(s) into a bar with you here for a meal and a beer or just drinks for that matter. They can't be there alone.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

JBJ is partially right.

3113 has never been to Texas.

You can take your kid(s) into a bar with you here for a meal and a beer or just drinks for that matter. They can't be there alone.

I'm going by here. The taverns are all gone, and a few redneck bars hangon. I know of one biker bar.

We opened a tavern up in Jacksonville back in 2006, it was a family style place but the faggots bankrupted us. A gay bar was across the street, and they fled to our place for their hissy fits. And naturally they fucked in the restrooms and scared the families off.

 

[TxRad]

I'm going by here. The taverns are all gone, and a few redneck bars hangon. I know of one biker bar.

We opened a tavern up in Jacksonville back in 2006, it was a family style place but the faggots bankrupted us. A gay bar was across the street, and they fled to our place for their hissy fits. And naturally they fucked in the restrooms and scared the families off.

Location, location, location

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Location, location, location

Aint that the truth.