Thursday, August 13, 2009

Sex education starts early in the Internet age

Thanks to the Internet, kids are learning about the birds and the bees earlier than ever.
A recent study found that “sex” and “porn” are two of the top 10 Web search terms among minors. Sex-oriented words and phrases make up at least 10% of the top 100 search terms used by children, according to Symantec’s OnlineFamily.Norton service.
Other terms used by kids include “naked girls," “Playboy,” “XXX,” “boobs” and “pussy.” I assume that most of these young Web surfers were adolescent boys. Other popular searches were for hotties like Megan Fox (see above photo) and Britney Spears.
The OnlineFamily.Norton service is marketed to parents with children 5 to 13, but has settings for ages up to 18. Children have individual log-ins to track their activities online.
When I was an adolescent, getting your hands on a copy of Playboy was a major coup for a boy. Now kids are a couple of clicks away from the raunchiest, hardcore porn imaginable.
Parents likely will have to have “the talk” much earlier with their kids because of the stuff they see online. But in today’s world, the kids might have to educate the adults.

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