Let’s Talk About Sex

It’s ok for kids to see it in the stores everyday…just not online!

When reading this blog, I thought about something I had never really considered before.  If we can put certain things in and on magazines shouldn’t these things be allowed on the web? How many times have you walked into the grocery store and see a Cosmopolitan magazine sitting in the magazine holder?  This is perfectly acceptable, although some chains such as Wal-Mart are beginning to put plastic “covers” over these magazines so that children aren’t able to read what’s written on them.  However, these “covers” fail to cover the very seductively dressed female that’s on the front.  In the web labeling idea these pictures would clearly get a rating that would require a warning, but if you think about it, a child is much more likely to view these images on store shelves with their parents than online.

This is a very scary thought.  We’re looking to control the Internet so much that things such as magazines and newspapers are being neglected.  Everyone’s trying to limit what children can view on the Internet but no-ones even considering what their children are seeing when they walk into Wegmans with their parents every week.  Why is the Internet getting so much more attention than these magazines which children see on a regular basis? 

Maybe because the Internet is a new technology and therefore our government believes that this should be more regulated in order for people to support it.  However, in our day in age we couldn’t live without the Internet.  Without the Internet we couldn’t even be taking this class.  We couldn’t ask our teachers questions and get answers in a split second.  However, without magazines we would be able to move on.  We could subscribe to these magazines online, which would prevent children from viewing “half-naked” people on magazine covers, since a warning site would precede these pictures. 

My opinion on this is that we shouldn’t attempt to block things on the Internet that are mainstream things in real-life.  Why is it ok for children to view these images in a store, but as soon as they see them online it alarms adults everywhere.  Maybe everyone needs to take a step back and look at what we’re really trying to regulate on the Internet: lots of stuff that children can see in typical stores such as Wegmans and Wal-Mart.