Trash Folder is Full
Youth access to pornography on the Internet has become a serious problem. Minors are exposed to pornography everywhere all over the world, but the Internet has made it more available, more accessible, and harder to control. As stated in an Australian discussion paper by Sue Headley, "Nearly three-quarters of boys and 11 percent of girls watched an x-rated video, while 84% of boys and 60% of girls have accidentally encountered sex sites on the Internet"(61). If someone tried researching pornography censorship, several porn links would appear along with the results. The U.S. Supreme Court has tried to help reduce youth access by upholding a ruling that requires public libraries to have strict filtering programs (Rubin, 1). It is debated that the younger a child begins looking at pornography the higher the potential that youth will become a violent or sexually aggressive person. Although it may ultimately be impossible to completely censor adolescences from pornography even with parental support, the Internet needs to be one less place youths go to obtain pornography.
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DansGuardian filters pornography, DansGaurdian Int...
Food Pornography PosterEven if that censorship infringes on free speech.
Internet pornography allows adults to enjoy adult entertainment without embarrassment. However, as long as adults keep these sources available for themselves, youths will have access to controversial sites, as well. Whether a child searches for sexually explicit material consciously or is solicited, he or she will be bombarded with pornography. According to Roby Colman and Adrian Colman of Youth Studies Australia, tests show only thirty-eight percent of boys and two percent of girls intentionally look for pornography while online but it is easy to stumble upon provocative sites" (10). For example if a child looks for the White House web page but uses .com rather than .gov the child is brought to a porn site.