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What would you consider a major "culture war" battleground?

TragicMonkey said:
At the risk of looking like I'm trying to be overly clever, I'm going to say the biggest "culture war" battle is the notion that there even is a "culture war". Every individual has a set of opinions on things, and most individuals can group themselves into sets with others who agree with them on at least some of those opinions. But most of the time these groups can do nothing but talk (or complain). Until and unless anybody can actually take action and cause change (or prevent change, of course) it doesn't make a difference (except possibly with people's blood pressure as they lose their tempers).

Just because you feel a certain way about a certain thing doesn't make it true, or important. Or even interesting.
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Pretty much. Culture wars are pretty much a distraction by the right to hide the fact that they've no ideas about how to solve the problems besetting the world, nor any intention of working to find solutions.
 
The culture war over porn has begun - some parents are complaining to school boards about books found in their children's school libraries. One such book is 'Let’s Talk About It' by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan (for 14 year olds and up). Here are some quotes:

"A great place to research fantasies and kinks safely is on the internet!"

"Sometimes I worry I watch too much porn."
"I know that worry. But there is nothing wrong with watching some porn. It's a fun sugary treat!"

"But, depending on your age and where you found it, porn can also be unethical or illegal to watch. So do your research! Look up interviews with your favourite porn performers, go to the sites they recommend and pay for your porn."

The inscription at the beginning of the book reads: “To whoever needs it, whatever your age.”

What the parents don't seem to recognise is that watching porn fuels the industry; it has led to the very situation they are railing against....the normalization of it...even for children.
 
It's already normal.

No cite, but I heard about a study in the UK which proposed to look at the sex lives of people who watched porn compared to people who didn't.

The couldn't find anybody who didn't.
 
arthwollipot said:
It's already normal.

No cite, but I heard about a study in the UK which proposed to look at the sex lives of people who watched porn compared to people who didn't.

The couldn't find anybody who didn't.
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Though, of course, that does not mean that there aren't any.

It isn't right or normal to facilitate children in watching porn. It is a sign of grooming.
 
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Gulliver Foyle said:
Culture wars are pretty much a distraction by the right to hide the fact that they've no ideas about how to solve the problems besetting the world, nor any intention of working to find solutions.
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This is obviously false and strategically shortsighted. If you don't care to understand your opposition, you won't begin to comprehend why they act as they do.
 
d4m10n said:
I could, but then I'd have to guess which specific document you were talking about when you made that claim.
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No, you wouldn't, particularly since I didn't have a specific document in mind. Any evidence will do, and there's plenty of evidence that Heritage has a hate-on for pornography.
 
This thread is about the right wing wanting the left wing to tell them what to try and cancel next.
 
Orphia Nay said:
This thread is about the right wing wanting the left wing to tell them what to try and cancel next.
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Private health insurance, lord how my leftist soul just loves it. I would absolutely hate hate hate if somebody instituted universal single-payor healthcare, that would make me cry into my avocado toast latte with all my gay transgender illegal alien pagan friends. So much. They'd really show me if they did that, my stars.
 
d4m10n said:
Are you seriously contending that I ought to do your homework?
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No, I'm saying that when I answer your question, responding that you'll have to take my word for it is plainly false. You had an option that you didn't exercise, because you're more interested in policing misbegotten notions of burden of proof than in genuinely trying to understand the world around you.

How about instead everyone backs up their own claims.
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I wasn't making a claim. I was answering your question.
 
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Poem said:
Though, of course, that does not mean that there aren't any.

It isn't right or normal to facilitate children in watching porn. It is a sign of grooming.
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Facilitate? No kid needs to be facilitated. They're going to find it anyway. The appropriate course of action is to have a conversation with them about sex, what it is and what it's for, what porn is and what it's for, why it exists, and if they're going to go looking for it anyway, how to do so safely. And this conversation should be had as early as a child is capable of understanding it.

And this is my opinion as a parent of two wonderful and well-adjusted children.
 
Poem said:
Though, of course, that does not mean that there aren't any.

It isn't right or normal to facilitate children in watching porn. It is a sign of grooming.
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this wasn't actually a huge issue until the New Prudes made it one. I mean back in the day when young adults had sex more on average, and people married younger, that wasn't grooming right?
 
d4m10n said:
This is obviously false and strategically shortsighted. If you don't care to understand your opposition, you won't begin to comprehend why they act as they do.
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Conspiracy theories and antiscience driving the pitchfork class to do their masters' bidding is very easy to understand. See: history.

Thumb-sucking cowardice and a preference for mythical, ethno-religious grounds for "policy" are the hallmark of noodle-spined, lo-neuron bigots, no mystery to the fact-based heroes of modern science and the rule of law. You boys been throwing stones and weeping about others doing it to you since 200,000 BCE. D'uh!
 
arthwollipot said:
Facilitate? No kid needs to be facilitated. They're going to find it anyway. The appropriate course of action is to have a conversation with them about sex, what it is and what it's for, what porn is and what it's for, why it exists, and if they're going to go looking for it anyway, how to do so safely. And this conversation should be had as early as a child is capable of understanding it.

And this is my opinion as a parent of two wonderful and well-adjusted children.
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Yes, facilitated, but that is too mild a word - 'enabled' would be more appropriate.

Your opinion is at odds with a whole bunch of children's charities, child experts, the police (NPCC) and the Children's Commissioner (UK). In the UK, 52% of child sexual abuse is now perpetrated by other children (there were around 107,000 offences reported in 2022, nearly quadruple what it is was 10 years ago).

Ian Critchley, the NPCC lead for child protection: sexual offences were predominantly committed by boys against girls, ‘exacerbated by the accessibility of violent pornography’ on smartphones.
 
Venom said:
this wasn't actually a huge issue until the New Prudes made it one. I mean back in the day when young adults had sex more on average, and people married younger, that wasn't grooming right?
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Who said there was anything wrong with sexual desire? Or marrying young?
 
Poem said:
Yes, facilitated, but that is too mild a word - 'enabled' would be more appropriate.

Your opinion is at odds with a whole bunch of children's charities, child experts, the police (NPCC) and the Children's Commissioner (UK). In the UK, 52% of child sexual abuse is now perpetrated by other children (there were around 107,000 offences reported in 2022, nearly quadruple what it is was 10 years ago).
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That doesn't mean I'm wrong. Personally I think much of the establishment's prudishness regarding sexuality retards healthy sexual development by inducing anxiety and hiding valuable information.

Poem said:
Ian Critchley, the NPCC lead for child protection: sexual offences were predominantly committed by boys against girls, ‘exacerbated by the accessibility of violent pornography’ on smartphones.
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Well based on nothing other than what you say here, it is my considered opinion that Ian Critchley is an idiot.

People have blamed violence on media for decades, and never once has the connection been conclusively proved. Violent movies and violent video games do not induce real-world violence and there is no reason to think that pornography is any different.

One problem that I do have with pornography is that there is a risk of creating unrealistic expectations. Porn performers are paid professionals, and the antics they get up to on video should not be expected to be emulated in the bedrooms of average age-of-consent youths.

This is why it is important to have this conversation with kids, as early as possible. They need to understand consent, they need to understand the risks of pregnancy and STIs, and they need to understand that porn is manufactured entertainment, not a realistic depiction. That way, when they do decide to become sexually active, they are well-informed, and the experience will be a positive and pleasurable one.

Like I said, kids are going to find porn regardless. You can't stop it. If you try to hide it from them, they will go behind your back and you do not want kids to learn what sex is from porn alone.

Look at us, engaging in the culture war already.
 
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