Diane Abbott: British Culture Being ' Increasingly Pornified'

[Bazile]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21127073

''For so long, it's been argued that overt, public displays of sexuality are an enlightened liberation ''

I would agree there .

A lot there - Do you concur with her opinions ?

[wildwood]

The Internet will probably never be shut down, so the sex content is going to be there forever too. Porno has been around for centuries and prozzies have been around since Noah was a nipper.

Indecent clips on video phones will be the next thing when data becomes cheaper. Where there is a demand, someone will provide.

Unsavoury sexual offending on young people has been happening for ages, it has just been publicly suppressed in ye olden days.

It would be more sensible to teach youngsters to have set boundaries and respect themselves, then they will not be intimidated by idiot 'sexting' or fold to sexual pressures.

[emmie]

to some extent, however i am not sure how you stop it, unless one doesn't give the youngsters access to computers, internet, mobile phones, which isn't possible.

[keyplus90]

It's civilisation, so calm down.

[society]

I see nothing civilized about porn, especially child porn.

[jno]

I think she is talking about young people among themselves - boys vs girls - rather than what adults might do. And better lessons in how to behave with the opposite sex, which might enable them to handle the constant pressures coming vae the internet, Twitter etc. Sounds sensible to me.

[LazyGun]

I hate that term, pornified. Nor would I necessarily agree with her that current generations of teenagers are "hypersexualised" in comparison to previous generations.

What has changed, a lot, is attitudes towards sex and sexuality, the willingness to discuss openly such issues, and the increased access to porn. That, coupled with the communications revolution that is being driven by the internet, smart phones and social media etc make for a very different world.

I would agree wth the more general point that we do need to have good sex education in schools, and probably from a fairly early age, if we are to prepare children for their transition to adulthood.

The risks need to be clearly explained. The consequences of unplanned pregancy also. But for sex education to be any use, it also needs to explain some of the concepts, of love, and lust and all the other associated emotions and drives, just as much as the mechanics of it all.

[whiskeryron]

I agree with Diane Abbott. I would also blame soaps for the rise in sexual content on tv ( see my op ' Emmerdale' Jan 19th) both soaps & modern films are falling over themselves to show more & more sleeping around as being the norm. It is not accidental that the spread of HIV & STD are so prevalent in this day & age.

WR.

[LazyGun]

@WR - You suggested that STDs are more prevelant now than in times past. Which times past are you talking about, and how do you know?

[whiskeryron]

Although STDs have been around for a long time I am suggesting that with the onset of HIV/AIDS, STDs are probably more life threatening than in the past.



HIV/AIDS (Wikipedia)

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) damages the body’s immune system which interferes with fighting off disease-causing agents. The virus kills CD4 cells, which are white blood cells that help fight off various infections. HIV is carried in body fluids, and is spread by sexual activity. It can also be spread by contact with infected blood, breast feeding, childbirth, and from mother to child during pregnancy.[109] When HIV is at its most advanced stage an individual is said to have acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).[110] There are different stages of the progression of and HIV infection. The stages include primary infection, asymptomatic infection, symptomatic infection, and AIDS. In the primary infection stage, an individual will have flu like symptoms (headache, fatigue, fever, muscle aches) for about 2 weeks. In the asymptomatic stage, symptoms usually disappear, and the patient can remain asymptomatic for years. When HIV progresses to the symptomatic stage, the immune system is weakened, and has a low cell count of CD4+ T Cells. When the HIV infection becomes life-threatening, it is called AIDS. People with AIDS fall prey to opportunistic infections and die as a result.[51] When the disease was first discovered in the 1980s, those who had AIDS were not likely to live longer than a few years. There are now antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) available to treat HIV infections. There is no known cure for HIV or AIDS but the drugs help suppress the virus. By suppressing the amount of virus in the body, people can lead longer and healthier lives. Even though their virus levels may be low they can still spread the virus to others.

WR.

[LazyGun]

HIV and AIDS is definitely something new to humans, although something similar, SIV has been around in apes for a lot longer, but thats not really the issues. Fact is that HIV is at heart an STD - one with potentially graver consequences, but that is what it is.

As to an increase in the spread of STDs - not sure that you can attribute that wholly to a falling away in morality from some sort of imagined golden age of chasteness and proper behaviour. Lots of factors other than sexual awareness will contribute to increased sexual activity -not least opportunity through modern living and working patterns, with access to many people and time and money to play and party.Social attitudes to things like marriage have changed, for sure, but you are not suggesting I am sure a desire for a return to the days when being a single mother for instance was a source of shame...

I was teenager in the early 80s, and I do not think that the level of sexual awareness demonstrated by young teenagers today, or their sexual activity come to that is markedly different to the memory of my own teenage years, although I will agree that porn is more easily available and "mainstream" than it was then.

[Booldawg]

has this women been to other places in Europe? anyone who's strolled down the Reeperbahn would probably think the UK has a long way to catch up!

[brionon]

In most towns you will find Porn shops selling Sex organs to perverts who sniff them. They call themselves Florists. !!