1 comment

1. 

   maximus says:

   October 7, 2010 at 4:45 am (UTC -8)

   I originally sent this to editor@atheistnes.com and it was rejected so I copied/pasted it here hope it wasn’t to messed up on resend

   Subject: Sex violence and podcasts

   Joe and richard

   Sex and violence is something I’ve been really debating on, in my skull. My daughter being six we,my wife and I, are caught up in this debate. Movies and tv not video games is my big problem but it does lend itself Into many areas of our lives.

   My biggest concern is, we, as in americans, are very ready to teach our children violence through media and taboo any thing to do with sex and sexuality.

   This I feel is a direct influence of our protestant heritage. I say this in reference to europe which is much more open about sexuality than the u.s. With europe having had a much greater influence by the catholic church.

   I find my self having a kneejerk reaction whenever sex in any form comes up around my daughter. I want to block all references about sex until she is 38. However My wife and I have a very open house when it comes to nakedness. I stay modestly covered now, I took this up after my girl started to poke at and wanted to know way more than I was comfortable with, that was about the age of three to four. She is now six and has really been noticing the differences between sexes. Now that she has knowlage about the “weakness” that boys have she is dyeing to kick some boy in the nuts. Though we have tried very hard to curb this I feel sorry for the boy who pisses her off on the play ground. But I digress.

   In all of this I have become very aware of how violence and sexuality are presented to the younger children in movies tv and the web. It is almost completely sanitized until pg13. Yet violence and death are common themes.
   You can show a knife being stuck in someone in a movie but can’t show a boob, naked butt, or breast feeding with a pg13 rating.

   I completely disagree with richard on this topic. We are taught violence is good it solves problems. Sexuality is taboo. Parents are more likely to teach children how to handle alcohol before the age of drinking than we are to prepare them for sexuality before the desire sets in. (this is a reference to the parents who would allow/buy beer for after game parties in high school.)

   To show my point look at the cultures that teach sex as bad, they have the highest rate of early pregnancies, stds and sexual dysfunction (as an adult).

   What is really wrong with young children knowing what breasts, vaginas and penises look like? And understanding basic functions.

   Children do have a desire to know. My wife who was raised strict catholic, has a very hard time with this. My daughter was sitting side ways in the tub after a bath examining herself she asked mom what is this pointing to her “button”. The wife was horrified and said you deal with it. I simply told her it was where pee came out. Then she wanted to know why she could “feel” it. I told her it was so she could “feel” when she was peeing and when older it helps with making babies. This completely satisfied her. I could have blown it off or told her to keep her hands off ect. Which is what many parent would have done.

   We need to give children the basic data so when they reach the stage when hormones and emotions start to take over, they don’t have to figure out the tool box as well as how to deal with it.

   For an excellent example see the Simpsons episode 22 Itchi and Scratchi and Marge. Where marge gets violent cartoons band.

   Tanks for another good show
   Paul

   Ps shouldn’t the plural of penis be peni?