Before I undertake the weighty topic of internet freedom, I want to say that the opinions and sentiments expressed in this column are not representative of my own experiences, rather the traditional portrayal of the typical male adolescent experience. I refer you to Philip Roth's book "Portnoy's Complaint" for more entertaining elaborations on this topic. So don't giggle at me.
Internet privacy. An oxymoron made in heaven. There are few people in the world who can honestly say that they feel completely at ease typing their credit card info into a computer and sending it around the globe via wires, hubs, satellites, llamas, etc. But, like television, condoms, and handguns, the internet has become an integral part of almost every child's life in the U.S., and we, the educated citizenry, must trust in our fellow man to keep the Internet safe.
But what is safe? Do condom commercials and sex on TV lead to greater sex among young people in the real world? Is that a bad thing? Does the body image portrayed on Baywatch lead the world to believe that a certain type of body is better than another? In my case, no, but you could easily see how this could prove to be true. Male actors these days have makeup added to their chests in order to make them look even more jacked than they already are. No joke. And women watching at home swoon. Female thespians get plastic surgery to give them the Barbie doll look or at least give themselves huge breasts and incredibly slim waists, if not the blond hair and exaggerated height. And men at home swoon, or head to the bathroom.
And that's where the Internet comes in. More men and boys are laying aside the trusty Victoria's Secret catalogs, Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues, and subscriptions to Playboy and instead entering the world of cyberporn. The sanctity of a man's bathroom, i.e. the place where he does the unmentionable, has now become the sanctity of a man's computer den. Pretty weird, right? Not really. There are thousands of websites available totally free on the Internet that allow men, or anyone else for that matter, to see a hell of a lot of stuff that is way sketchier than what you can find in Playboy or a Sears' catalog.so I've heard.
These sites are required to advertise that they are for people above a certain age, depending on the national statute of the host country, but they allow one to simply click on the "Yes, I'm 21, and I wish to enter" and gain instant access to all the porn they could possibly need or desire, without the hassle of a trip to a sketchy liquor store for the really really nasty pornI've been told.
Other sites seeking to profit from the carnal needs of the male will charge a nominal monthly fee, which does prevent non-credit card holding people from accessing, and still others require age verification through a web company to gain access even if the site is free. But it seems as though only those sights deadset on making a profit really make an effort to keep people out ... or something like that.
The point is this: parents are losing control over what their kids can and cannot see. Even the most liberal European parent would not want their 6 year olds seeing some of what grown men and women are paying their hard earned dollars to see. And even if some wouldn't give a damn, it seems reasonable to say that a parent, given the awesome responsibility of raising a competent, educated, and understanding member of society, should be given some leeway over what children can and cannot see.
We are perhaps foolish to think that kids will stop having sex because they don't have the internet guidebook to show them every conceivable manner in which this can be accomplished, but there is or there should be something deep inside everyone telling them that this probably isn't the best way to go about making kids into adults. As society advances at a breakneck speed towards whatever unknown oblivion awaits us, there are those who are moving a little more cautiously, perhaps a little more prudently, and it is the duty of the U.S. Constitution to protect that person's rights just as much as Larry Flynt's.
When Congress passed legislation to require V-chips on all TV's, giving parents control over what shows kids could and could not watch, they quickly followed up by asking networks and cable stations to rate their shows. The networks, knowing that the government is not to be trifled with, eventually complied. Congress then put forward legislation asking that an "E-chip" be included with Internet software that allowed parents to block sites that were not suitable in their opinion for children. This type of software would not restrict the distributor's right to post information or "Freedom of speech" anywhere they wanted on the Internet, and for those of you who no longer have parents looking over your shoulders, your lives could go on as usual, but instead of finding their kids in front of the computer at Hustler.com or persiankitty.com, the conscientious parent could storm into a room and find his or her progeny calmly browsing through the semiautomatic page at smithandwesson.com. Then all we would have to do is prove that sexual frustration doesn't lead to violence.
