I remember what it was like being a teenager back in the ‘80s. It seems strange to me that when you are basically a walking hormone you are not allowed to see girly pix. Fortunately my Dad left his old Playboys in the attic for my brothers and I to find. Thanks Dad! Of course today’s kids have the internet. Teenagers are not little children, they are grown ups in training and should be treated as such.
LOL
The hypocrisy about porn is so bad.
I had similar experiences when I was a younger adolescent. Almost all of my friends found their Dad’s magazine stash, or even were able to procure some for themselves and had to hide their own stash from their Mom. Some Mom’s didn’t even care.
If a kid full of hormones isn’t going to find porn one way or another, they are going to find something racey on TV or even resort to using their imagination. I may make some people uneasy to think about but it’s just a normal part of growing up.
Isolation doesn’t work. Children don’t become asexual saintly cherubs just because you kept them from seeing sexual things.
One point to remember: in the past the teenagers were not only "walking hormones" but they had full time jobs and married a lot earlier than they do now. I'm cool with the suggestion that teenagers be treated as "grown ups in training", as long as we're talking about at least most of the "training" time being dedicated to taking care of responsibilities, not porn and video games.
For example: My grandfather married and was getting it on at a lot earlier than I did ... but he also worked full time at the steel plant at the same age that I started my first job working part time at a grocery store (not counting earlier money I made cutting my elder neighbors' yards). He was man enough to make ends meet at an earlier age than I was, and by extension, one could argue, mature enough to have sex at an earlier age.
But in the modern world it's the opposite. It's expected for kids to be sexual long before they learn to be responsible. I'm not ready to agree to that.