A new study published in the journal Sexuality & Culture has found that many adolescents in Spain, including those as young as 12, are not only aware of OnlyFans but also see it as a viable and even empowering way to make money. In group discussions with over 160 teenagers, researchers discovered that platforms promoting erotic content are influencing how young people—especially girls—view economic opportunity, self-worth, and sexuality. Teens frequently framed content creation as a personal choice or expression of agency, while minimizing the risks.
We are not religious in any way, for good reason. We also don’t necessarily shelter our kids. But my kids around this age don’t even know what Only Fans is. And them and their friend group never say or do anything even alluding to knowing or caring about these kinds of things.
These kids are being exposed to something and some kind of authority figures are failing them.
They know what it is. My 11 year old knows what it is because of YouTube, memes, and such.
Knowing what it is and actively viewing it because you know what it is are two separate things.
Your first failure in this response is a presumption that everyone’s kids have unrelenting access to YouTube, memes, or social media. Especially presuming parents are not at all making time to give the kids context as things come up due to school or otherwise, or as we open doors and give more independence.
I know lots of neighborhood kids who are clearly patented much more closely and have no clue about this stuff. I also know some neighborhood kids that play GTA online every night.
Parenting and children are not monoliths, and anecdotes aren’t truths for everyone.
Do you think most kids by the age of 12, haven’t seen any porn, at all?
You then know a lot of neighborhood kids who have lied to you about their knowledge of this stuff.
Lovely how so many of you are just settled that all kids are liars and all kids are ruined by the internet and all kids are exposed to porn.
Any other boomerisms from you? Sexist tropes? Bigoted stereotypes?
Yes, all kids (By and large) will lie to authority figures, if they feel they will be punished for a natural behavior they’ve been conditioned to believe is evil.
And, I never claimed kids are ruined by porn. Period. Internet porn, or otherwise.
Some of the truth is revealed.
Self-fulfilling prophecies are a thing. People struggle to grasp the alternative possibilities.
Either that, or the kids are simply lying to you because talking about porn with their parents is mortifying?
Nah, not possible…
What a r/nothingeverhappens crowd this sure is.
One of our kids friends also has zero fucking interest in TV, video games, or phones. Even when he has complete access, or his parents aren’t around. All he ever wants to do is go fishing or play outside. We SEE this happen in real time when they visit or at birthday parties.
Another one only ever wants to read and write books. Physical books. Rejected tablet reading.
Of course some kids we know play GTA. We talk with our kids and put context around things.
But you know, impossible that some of these kids today just aren’t all shitheads and might not have heard of some porn out there, and impossible that some anecdotes aren’t universal truths.
You missed, “and such.” Behold the power of peers and socialization! My point is, they likely have heard of it.
Most kids aren’t homeschooled
Mine have always been in public county schools. We’ve also moved. They’ve been in more than one. They have friends from school, from the neighborhood, from other events like sports.
Not everyone’s kids are the same. Not everyone kid wants to do or does the same shit.
how do you know they don’t know what it is? it’s hard to believe when every other twitch streamer and Instagram influencer has an account they promote from their main page.
Because I’m actually involved in their lives? They also don’t have unrelenting access to shit like Instagram and twitch.
You can see the difference with the school or neighborhood kids who do (some, not all, they’re all different). We don’t necessarily restrict them from associating with those kids, but we frequently check in, ask about things, watch some of the interactions, and provide context as necessary. Always focusing on what it means for them. What is their gain/loss. Essentially avoid the “because I said so” and focus on why they care about something (it helps to think selfishly if you were in their shoes).
Without aggressively steering their lives (like my parents did), it is interesting to me how when they’re just basically supported like independent humans, with respect, and some decent but not overbearing guardrails, they basically have no interest in some of that stuff. That’ll eventually change, but the peer pressure just doesn’t seem to click the same as 30 years ago.
I think when you either don’t parent at all, or aggressively parent, you inadvertently push kids where they shouldn’t go. I would know cause I lived it. There’s a balance somewhere in there and I’m watching it happen IRL for years now.
And to be clear, I am NOT tooting any horns. That’s what my parents did. It was all about their success being parents. Fuck no. My job is to raise functional adults. They are not my property or trophy. This isn’t about me or my success. Before anyone attacks that shit as usual. I’m just speaking honestly.
Um, I’m going to fill you in on a secret:
Kids as young as 13 have nearly certainly viewed porn at some point.
And yes, even when I was a kid, whose parents had pretty strict controls over things back in the 70s and 80s… Guess what? We had a porn stash in our “hideout” in the woods.
I don’t think like a parent at all. I’m 18. I just can’t imagine someone in junior high being that clueless because none of my classmates were. Heck even the Mormon kids in my class, arguably the most sheltered and naive, knew what content is available online because even if they didn’t consume it, because they have friends and talk to their classmates.
what’s more likely? that a bunch of hormonally charged teens don’t talk about sexual topics, or that some aspect of a teenager’s life isn’t known to their parents?
The odds seem to favor number two, in my opinion. sorry.