Sex, Lies And Statistics

[mongo]

Sex, Lies And Statistics
Seth Lubove, 11.23.05, 3:00 PM ET

LOS ANGELES - When Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) introduced the Internet Safety & Child Protection Act in July, aiming to slap a 25% excise tax on online purchases of porn, she cited a startling statistic: Children in the U.S. now typically get their first exposure to porn at age 11. It got picked up in several press reports. "The average age at which a child first views Internet porn is 11," pronounced a Denver Post editorial. "The average age a child first views Internet pornography is 11, and those kids don't look away," intoned Matt Lauer on General Electric-owned NBC's Today show.

"The Internet has changed the whole dynamic of porn," declares Tim Wildmon, president of the fundamentalist American Family Association founded by his father, Donald Wildmon, in Tupelo, Miss. "The average age of the introduction to pornography is now 11 years old."

Just one problem: The assertion is untrue, unsupported and likely of dubious origin, none of which has stopped porn's opponents from using it. Sen. Lincoln lifted the factoid from a report issued in July by Third Way, a new Washington think tank that helps Democrats grab on to red-state issues. A press release accompanying the report, by Third Way staffer Sean Barney, proclaimed, "While it is as difficult as ever for a teenager to walk into a store and buy a pornographic magazine, it is as easy as 'point-and-click' for an 11-year-old child to view streaming pornographic video online."

Where did Third Way get that notion? From a May 12 story in the New York Times-owned (nyse: NYT - news - people ) Boston Globe headlined "The Secret Life of Boys," which cites an outfit called Family Safe Media. The small firm in Provo, Utah, is in the business of scaring parents into buying software to protect their kids from Internet smut. Jared Martin, who owns Family Safe Media, says he got his porn statistics from Internet Filter Review, a Web site that recommends content-blocking software. It is run by tech entrepreneur Jerry Ropelato of Huntsville, Utah, who pens antiporn screeds, such as "Tricks Pornographers Play," and publishes curious and uncredited stats (for example, "17% of all women struggle with pornography addiction").

more http://www.forbes.com/services/2005/11/22/internet-pornography-children-cz_sl_1123internet.html?partner=rss

[WritingIsMyReligion]

1. Why am I not surprised people are going bonkers over this?

SEX! AHHHHHHHHH!! NOOOOO!!! ANYTHING BUT!!!!

:sarcasm:

Repugs need to grow up and stop having orgasms whenever people mention porn. They get WAY too overexcited.

[NYCGirl]

12. But it's not only the GOP that's using these bogus stats. When the

electioneering starts, look to our party to start demonizing the devil PORN, too.

[eyesroll]

2. I think the average age for introduction to pornography has always been

young (depending on your definition of pornography).

I stumbled upon some amateur mags when I was 12 or so, at a house where I was babysitting. (They were not-very-well hidden in the linen closet, and I was looking for towels or toilet paper or some such.)

[WritingIsMyReligion]

3. OMG---Is your avatar an African Grey parrot?

Adorable! I have one--a Congo!

:D :D :D

[eyesroll]

21. Meyer's Parrot -- and the tiny green speck is a parrotlet.

:D

[WritingIsMyReligion]

22. Damn! So close! (Not Really)

Oh well...

[mongo]

4. I don't doubt that it is young

but making up statistics to advance your political agenda, which is more about trying to punish adults than protect children, is deplorable.

[bammertheblue]

8. That's pretty much

exactly how I found my first Playboys- I was babysitting and needed more TP and they were in the bathroom, under the sink. Really, who hides their porn in the cabinet under the sink?
I was a little older, probably 16, and I neither became addicted to porn, or really thought it was all that dirty- in a moral sense.

Gotta love it when people just make things up to advance their goals. Yuck.

[Gormy Cuss]

10. Wow I think we have a trend here

I first saw porn when I was babysitting.

TIME TO BAN BABYSITTING!:+

[chaumont58]

5. On a similar path, there was a story about Sen. Feinstein recently

She didn't want to establish a Senate website because she told the Minority Leader that there was nothing on the internet but porn! She is registered as a Democrat and so am I, but I sure as hell didn't vote for her.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

6. Pfft. That's ridiculous.

"Nothing but porn."

Pfft.

:eyes:

[mongo]

7. Would that make DU political porn? n/t

[Viva_La_Revolution]

9. probably...

I do feel pleasure when I'm here. Does that make me a sinner? :9

[omega minimo]

19. Why are you at DU?

when porn is your priority?

:shrug:

No, really-- please tell us.

[blogslut]

20. I can answer that

Because people that work in adult entertainment vote, pay taxes and raise families like everyone else. People in our profession constantly face assaults on our free speech and privacy rights. We are the canaries in your coal mine.

[Greyhound]

11. The old politician two-step

re:puke: style. Tell your RWW friend some lie, they repeat the lie to their RWW friends who are then used as 'sources' to 'confirm' the lie, then call a M$M shill to broadcast the new 'truth'.
And the sheeple eat it up as fast as they can manufacture it.

[MindPilot]

14. Make a law prohibiting something that never happens like flag-burning.

Then shout from every media outlet about how well your law is working.

The ole politician's two-step -- you got it!

[MindPilot]

13. 17% of all women struggle with pornography addiction?!

I can volunteer to help with that struggle. Is it too high on the shelf? Problems with the VCR or DVD? Need a ride to the adult video store? :evilgrin:

[mongo]

17. LOL!

Maybe I need a courtesy van.

[Igel]

15. People are predisposed to uncritically accept that which supports

their world view. Meanwhile, things opposing one's worldview need to be supported by many witnesses or much evidence from those sharing one's worldview.

It just takes one report for a 'fact' to become fact, for one token instance to be generalized to the entire phenomenon.

And they say our schools teach critical thinking.

[porphyrian]

16. Porn "addiction" is such bullshit anyway.

People get addicted heroin or nicotine. Their bodies change in such a manner that they not only accomodate the chemical, but they suffer physical side effects in that chemical's absence. That doesn't fucking happen with porn.

People who are "addicted" to porn are most often dodging a legal charge in court. The closest thing to real porn "addiction" would be simple obsessive-compulsive disorder with porn as the focus, and it can be treated with the same therapy and medication.

I guess in circles where people are afraid of their own erections, attacking porn continues to be the best way for them to reconcile the empirical data contradicting the sociopathic dogma they espouse, by externalizing all responsibility for their actions (and, more specifically, their bodies' reactions to stimuli).

I guess I'm not really surprised that they are willing to make shit up to support their beliefs; they do it with everything else. I was willing to live and let live until they started fucking with my life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Now, they're all on my shit list, and I'm not getting happier.

[mongo]

18. Well said

And the whole "addiction" thing gets on my nerves too - whether it's food, porn or shoes.

Using the term addiction for compulsive behavior really cheapens the struggle of all recovering addicts/alcoholics.

Besides, in my 3 years running this store, I've never encountered anyone who I could say was "addicted" to porn - or even that compulsive about it.

And yes, I have regular customers. But I'm sure the blockbuster down the road does too.

[johnaries]

23. I was going to post that I agree, but I have to go surf some porn.

I just can't help myself....
:evilgrin: