Sexual Ads

FISHERMAN
So you are telling me that all the crap put out by the popular media has no effect at all on our kids? I agree with the parent thing. But you have to admit that parents have a tougher time today then they did in past generations. Also, what happens to kids that have poor parental supervision. When I was growing up, I had parents that kept an eye on me. But even if I had negligent parents, it would have been difficult for me to obtain sexualy explicit material. It was not readily available. I Dream of Jeannie was the most scantily dressed woman on television. The nudie magazines at the corner store were kept behind the counter. My dad's gun magazines did not have suggestive ads.

Contrast that with today. Access to certain things is easy. Prime time television has stuff on there that some children shouldn't view. Or at least without parental supervision and explanation. In other words, todays parents have to be top notch compared to the past.

HANDY
My last remark mentioning liberals did not mention anyone in specific here.
 
Lizziedog1,

Glad to hear you weren't trying to insult or belittle anyone with veiled references to "some people" and a specific reference to my post.


In other words, todays parents have to be top notch compared to the past.
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Only if being a "top notch" parent means you're better at insulating your kid from reality.

150 years ago and earlier many American families lived in one room houses. Do you really believe those farm children grew up completely insulated from sexuality?
 
So you are telling me that all the crap put out by the popular media has no effect at all on our kids? I agree with the parent thing. But you have to admit that parents have a tougher time today then they did in past generations.
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I feel that all that crap has much less effect than good parenting. I will admit that parents have much more to "counsel" over with their children in today's world. I think that gives good parents more opportunities to shape their children and impact the future.
 
Fisherman
You are right, great parnets can over come most obstacles. What about marginal parents? What if a set of parents did not want their children exposed to any sexual material at all? You can call them old fashioned, ill-informed, or any thing else, but they would have little choice. Unless they moved into the Alaskan wilderness or became Amish, it would be difficult to insulate them. In other words, the way thing are, parents have little choice.

Take television. If some parents felt that exposure to adult themes was healthy for there kids, then they should have access to channels that show that stuff. However, parents that feel the opposite will have to keep their television locked away or monitor their kids viewing around the clock.

Those here that have the position that people have the right to raise their kids and view what they want are absolutely correct. What about the other folks that don't?
 
There's a difference between equipping your kids to maturely evaluate sexual media, and purposely inundating them with it.


A child that knows what's going on is not going to have some sort of melt down from a condom ad. That isn't the same as putting them down in front of the TV and making them watch porn.


The difference here is emphasis. If a child grows up recognizing sex as something that happens, but is not particularly important, they will filter what they see. If they are lead to believe it is either taboo or exceptionally interesting, they will divert their attention to it.


Sex, like alcohol, is best treated as a fact of life. I grew up aware of sex, and I grew up with the occasional glass of wine at special dinners. I didn't turn into a pervert or alcoholic, and have less interest in drinking than any social drinker I know, much like many European societies.


Moderation is a concept that applies well to parenting. Insulation is a concept beloved by extremists.
 
What about marginal parents?
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They will be marginal regardless of how our culture treats/views flesh.

Take television. If some parents felt that exposure to adult themes was healthy for there kids, then they should have access to channels that show that stuff. However, parents that feel the opposite will have to keep their television locked away or monitor their kids viewing around the clock.
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The "V" chip is a fair solution. My parents never had cable. That is no longer a solution for sheltering children, but it today is still much "tamer" on broadcast. TV is a pretty poor babysitter. Don't blame that on the TV. Blame it on those that use it as a babysitter.

Those here that have the position that people have the right to raise their kids and view what they want are absolutely correct. What about the other folks that don't?
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I'm not sure I understand. No parents have the right to raise their children; it's a responsibility. You control the aspects of the environment that you can and instill values to protect them from the things you can't. There are no excuses for not being an involved parent.
 
FISHERMAN
Companies like Pepsi, GM, Anheuser Busch, and others spend millions and millions of dollars a year on advertisements. Why? To influence the populace to purchase their products. They do this by running sixty second televsion and radio spots. They also have one page ads in different publications. These small ads must work, the companies are mutli-billion dollar entities and if the ads didn't work, they wouldn't do them.

You are now going to tell me that hour upon hour of smut will have no effect on children, or even adults for that matter. If you have a daughter or granddaughter that is coming of dating age you have to remember one thing. All that so called "harmless" media has instilled in young men that having casual sex in fine. The girl's message is the same.

If you think all this sex influenced media is not affecting our youth, then Nike is wasting their time getting kids to want $200.00 tennis shoes.
 
You are now going to tell me that hour upon hour of smut will have no effect on children, or even adults for that matter.
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You are not reading my posts for content, because I never suggested that.

I said that parents must police the content, not society. Turn your TV off and take your kids fishing. Quit blaming others.
 
All that so called "harmless" media has instilled in young men that having casual sex in fine. The girl's message is the same.
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So as a parent it should make perfect sense to teach children the realities of sex before they're exposed to all these things. Be careful though; teaching them that casual sex is wrong and evil and harmful is not going to quell their desire for it. Casual sex can be perfectly harmless to all involved but like any aspect of life from alcohol, cars, guns, etc is must be done responsibly. A woman can feel free to have all the casual sex she wants but if she's responsible about it she can avoid the risks of pregnancy, STDs, and assault.
 
Advertising is designed to produce a specific outcome to a specific target audience.

A condom ad is supposed to make a sexually active adult consider buying that brand condom over another. It is not designed to make kids more curious about sex, as that is unlikely to sell anymore condoms.


Do your kids get the hankering to buy real estate when exposed to Remax ads?
 
fisherman: Very well said.

If you, lizzie, were given your preferences, it appears that certain sex-related things would not appear in publications. Now it just so happens that there are a lot of people around with sensibilities every bit as delicate as yours. But there's variety in what people are offended by.

So, if you get your way, so should everyone else. By the time we're done, there will be no way to publish anything at all.

But if we decide that anything that the market supports can be published, we can all be happy. You can choose to not view/hear what YOU don't like. I can choose to not view/hear what I don't like.

The only people who aren't happy with this latter method are the busybodies. Their goal is to restrict ME from viewing/hearing that which THEY don't like.

And that's not going to fly.
 
How many parents tell their kids that a twenty dollar pair of shoes are just as good as the latest $200.. Air whatevers? How many kids are thrilled to go to school with those off brand shoes? Why, because Nike has influenced kids into thinking to be cool you have to wear those shoes. Kids are killing other kids over these shoes.

Many prime time television shows show that casual sex is just fine, A parent does need to counter that message or not expose their kid to it in the first place. But your kid is going to go to school with kids that don't have that discipline. Peer pressure is a mighty influence.

We are way off my original posting here. But, you all are making my point. We have become so desensitized to crap that having sexual ads in hunting and shooting magazines is no big deal. Many great societies started to unravel when their moral compass went out of whack. Remember, the Romans? They had reached a point were sex was free and open and the heck with consequences. They did suffer a major consequence, the Empire fell apart.
 
Reading what you all say I come to the conclusion that the liberal side wants a society that cares but doesn't care what society thinks. I going to leave it at that cause you know that conclusion fits if your honest about it.

I think America has a lack of maturity brought on by liberal thinking. Add technology into it and you have chaos that society isn't developed enough to handle and society in general becomes fragil enough to fall apart. Your own life may not reflect that but looking around you can see the desentigration. Especialy with the statistics reguarding family.

Sex adds are just part of the melt down and though you may see nothing wrong with it by itself add all the stuff with it and it is like a cancer in society.
Just my opinion and those that don't agree think your crap and those that do agree, well we see the same things and where it will lead by what has been done.

25
 
How many parents tell their kids that a twenty dollar pair of shoes are just as good as the latest $200..
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I hope not many because it's not true. ;)

Casual sex can be just fine. Every single day millions of people have casual sex with no harmful consequences. Those that do suffer consequences usually do so because of gross irresponsibility typically brought on by a lack of knowledge and education. When kids are sheltered from the realities of sex they're left with only one solid way to learn: experience it.
 
Good stuff.

I really like the reference to the Roman Empire. Apparently, the Romans had "good morals" when they worshipped gods that impregnated virgins when disguised as bulls, but had a loss of moral fiber after Contantine? I very much doubt you would have ever approved of the Roman's sexual mores for all of the many hundreds of years their society persisted.

And I also like the references to "liberal thinking". Liberals are the ones who like to pretend that inanimate objects, like guns, cause human actions. But it is the pinnacle of Conservative thinking that a black and white magazine ad deprives people of the ability to make good choices?


No one hear is selling the "anything goes" doctrine. We are just trying to point out that the best way for children to process the world around them and make good decisions is to start with knowledge and openness, not taboo and secrets. They WILL encounter sexual media, no matter what you do, and advertisements are about the least influential messages they'll find. If they already know what's going on, crap like that will just fade into the background noise.
 
Let's see...

Your typical "liberal" wants to be free. He wants to have available for his viewing/reading pleasure that a market will support. If you don't want your kids to see such stuff, it's your problem to prevent it. Welcome to the real world.

Your typical "conservative" wants to be free. He wants to have all the money he earns available to him and not to have to pay for things like Social Security. If you want to live someplace other than a refrigerator box when you're old, that's your problem to prevent by saving. Welcome to the real world.

Looks to me like every person wants to be free. He wants to have all that's due to him and not be restricted by anybody else.

Unfortunately, since everybody's a little different, we can't really have it that way. There has to be some sort of compromise. And there already is.

So, I'd say that if you are interested in teaching your grandson about hunting, and you KNOW about hunting, then do it the way MY dad did it, without a single magazine. Take him hunting! The only thing I was required to read back then was 'POSTED: NO HUNTING".

That's not to say you can't foster his interest through the written word. There's gotta be a book somewhere about hunting. Free. In a library. I've read one hell of a pile of library books and can't recall a single ad, sexy or otherwise, in any of them.

Most magazines are not written to make you informed about the subject their title touts. This is true from Electronic Design News to Hustler. They are published in order to SELL stuff to you. Their target is YOU (your wallet, really), not your grandson. Unless he's very unusual, he doesn't have the money they want him to spend.

That's what I'd do if it were me. Unless, of course, I just wanted something to complain about.
 
lizzie:

What do you need the magazine for anyway? Its target is your wallet, not your grandson.

How about you just take him hunting? That's what my dad and uncles did when I was 12, even younger. Never was a magazine involved.

If you want to foster his interest through the written word, there has to be at least one book about hunting. Free. At the library.

Unless you were just looking for a reason to complain about sexy ads.
 
Redworm
The Romans had the very same attitude.
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How so? Because they embraced the reality of sex? On the other hand regardless of the similarities in attitude one cannot imply that it will lead to the same results because the Romans had no knowledge of STDs or condoms or how the human body really works. But science has taught us the mechanics of sex and why every mammal on the planet desires to experience it once breeding age is reached.
 
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