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Writer's Block: Abandon hope, all ye who enter here
Monday, 11 January 2010 01:42 pm[Error: unknown template qotd]
Well, it is a convenient way to let minors know where the porn is...
I am old enough (just barely, thanks) to remember when Tipper Gore went to war on the music industry and introduced Parental Advisory stickers on the theory that it would make it easier for parents to protect their kids from what these prudes deemed offensive materials. The reality was that the stickers gave parents permission to opt out of their responsibilities. Instead of personally monitoring their children's music, parents assumed the stores would do something about it for them. When stores do restrict access to labeled materials (making them all the more desirable for a while), kids turn to their parents and ask them to buy it--and parents often do, without a look at that damn sticker.
The next time you go to rent a movie, if Netflix doesn't kill that industry in the meantime, ask about the more violent game titles, and how often they try to stop a parent from renting it for a ten-year-old. The labels are a false comfort.
Many adult websites already have adult content warnings, and they don't stop minors from entering or viewing. For some sites, the warning becomes a sort of advertisement. I don't worry about mandatory warnings hindering creativity, I worry about ten year olds with a computer in the bedroom and parents who put all their trust in Nanny software and content labels instead of monitoring their kids personally.
Well, it is a convenient way to let minors know where the porn is...
I am old enough (just barely, thanks) to remember when Tipper Gore went to war on the music industry and introduced Parental Advisory stickers on the theory that it would make it easier for parents to protect their kids from what these prudes deemed offensive materials. The reality was that the stickers gave parents permission to opt out of their responsibilities. Instead of personally monitoring their children's music, parents assumed the stores would do something about it for them. When stores do restrict access to labeled materials (making them all the more desirable for a while), kids turn to their parents and ask them to buy it--and parents often do, without a look at that damn sticker.
The next time you go to rent a movie, if Netflix doesn't kill that industry in the meantime, ask about the more violent game titles, and how often they try to stop a parent from renting it for a ten-year-old. The labels are a false comfort.
Many adult websites already have adult content warnings, and they don't stop minors from entering or viewing. For some sites, the warning becomes a sort of advertisement. I don't worry about mandatory warnings hindering creativity, I worry about ten year olds with a computer in the bedroom and parents who put all their trust in Nanny software and content labels instead of monitoring their kids personally.
