The crux of the problem is the "Check this out!" scenario with the kids who have smartphones, or unsupervised Internet access at home. I simply can't protect them from that.
In addition to unabashed education, my focus will be on making sure they know how to put things into perspective; that shocking stuff they might see represents extremes of human behaviour, far removed from the world they know.
Banning porn doesn't even begin to address that problem. People talk. They boast about what they do, and the more naive people go ahead and do those things too because they believe that's what they should be doing. That's true in everything, not just sex. The answer is to educate people to make their own decisions, and have the understanding, knowledge and empowerment to know they can say no if they don't want to do a particular thing.
Extreme sex acts existed before the internet. Hiding it won't make it go away. "Security through obscurity" doesn't work.
This happens to be why my company is using a NoSQL database in one of its new projects.
To be fair, without porn lots of folks wouldn't know what was normal anyway - so it is easy to talk folks into something. All it takes is the more persuasive person to have these things in mind (and obviously folks do, considering this sort of porn isn't new to the internet). The same problem happens when discussing abusive relationships. Young folks don't know what normal and healthy contains.
The big thing that is missing in the US is comprehensive sex and relationship education. I don't see a problem with teaching kids about film making so they can understand that a porn shoot is set up to look good for the camera or be other-worldly. I don't see a problem telling young folks they can try some of the stuff out, with the caveat of respecting everyone's health and comfort while doing it. I don't mind telling folks it is OK to be into - or not into - something.
And to be fair, I'm not sure most folks do this stuff instead of loving someone, rather as part of the course of loving someone. I'm pretty sure my sex life with my spouse mirrors average porn more closely than the whole "making love" thing.
I understand different people have different views on censorship. In my opinion it is a lot more important to raise children – boys and girls – with a healthy and balanced view of sexuality, and teach especially girls to demand respect for their own sexual needs and not let horny guys waltz all over.
The other problem is that by letting governments regulate more and more of the internet, we are giving up the freedom the medium provides to all of us. Again, some might prefer to live in a curated bubble, but I prefer to see the world as-is with its raw edges and myriad of opinions, and it would be nice if teens would be raised to be strong and decide for themselves what is acceptable and when to close the browser window rather than letting the authorities decide what views are acceptable.
The norms of today might not be the best, but the norms of yesteryear were also pretty fucked-up. Age verification on sites is going to do squat in terms of changing young adult mindsets.
I think that the solution should be more acknowledge that fact (fiction is not real, and that's ok) and build from there. If we pretend people to have as only source of information the movies, we'll have a problem.
In other words, is the main problem here that gangbang videos exist or that some kids get a really shitty upbringing that leaves them full of gaping holes, incapable of handling life or making wise decisions?
The point I'm trying to make is that people are shifting the responsibility and consequently limiting freedom and varied views for all, like the ban on "gay propaganda" in Russia or "facesitting" pornography in the UK. It's the wrong solution to a (I assume for some) real problem.
And yeah, 6yo do have access to porn if they can read/write by then.
1) Parents should discuss sexuality issues with their children, so they understand them. 2) Schools should provide good sex education that isn't "if you play with it, it'll fall off" 3) If parents or schools want to block easy access to inappropriate materials on their networks, use one of the many many existing blacklist blocking programs available. No need for legislation to do that.
TL;DR: It's a non-problem
Have there even been evidence on how porn actually hurts people at a large scale? I'd love to see that evidence.
Porn is paradoxically minor. Most people are familiar with the arguments about the negative effects of porn (even if they don't believe the arguments), and reflects the way society already has a paranoid always-on-guard attitude towards porn.
We have first-pass mental filters regarding porn. If anything deserves to be made harder to access for it's negative repercussions, the prime targets are those we haven't yet (or can't) built mental filters against.
I won't even bother reiterating all the well known and widely accepted reasons half-baked social interventions are destined to fail, and likley make things worse.
I don't think this is the right approach either but what is the solution?
Maybe work on making a society that isn't outright terrified of sex? There will never be an adult conversation with the youth about sex until adults can have an adult conversation among themselves.
That does leave open the possibility that some children would be exposed to "extreme sex acts", and this would probably disproportionately affect the poor.
The government providing free voluntary filtering software would probably irk people less than the government policing morals.
This already exists, really. With the major providers, you get asked if you want filters turned on or off.
A solution that imposes costs but doesn't actually solve the problem is worse than doing nothing.