Exposure

Kotrla, Bowie. "Sex and Violence: Is Exposure to Media Content Harmful to Children?" //Children & Libraries: The Journal of the Association for Library Service to Children// 5.2 (2007): 50-52. Web. 26 Aug. 2010. -“The specific category of person, the type of content, and the nature of the harm it may induce vary over intervening centuries and across cultures.” (50) - “This doctrine of variable obscenity promoted passage of federal, state, and local laws preventing children’s access to material that is constitutionally protected for adults but regarded as “harmful to minors.”” (50) - “Although the assumption that children are harmed by exposure to sexually explicit material is well entrenched in the United States, there is very little research to support or refute it.” (50) - “According to Mitchell, in 2005, percent more ten- to twelve-year-olds and 35 percent more thirteen- to fifteen-year-olds reported encountering unwanted exposure to pornography on the Internet than in 2000.” (50) -“These correlations occur both for passive television and film viewing and for interactive engagement with video and computer games. Almost all studies are of short-term effects only.” (51) -“In the only longitudinal study on childhood exposure to violent content, Huesmann et al. found a correlation between six- to nine year- olds’ viewing of violence on television and aggressive behaviors, including criminal ones, of these same subjects in their early twenties.” (51) -“Recent studies on Internet filtering demonstrate the potential harm of lack of access to specific content, rather than the harm of exposure.” (51) - “The inability of students to access assigned content and explore topics that are part of the curriculum was perceived as frustrating and demoralizing, as well as a serious impediment to learning.” (51) -“They point out the significance of the Internet as a source of health information, especially for lower-income adolescents who are more dependent on libraries for access.” (51) - “It cannot demonstrate chronological relationships; for example, we don’t know whether violent content promotes violent behavior, or whether violent youth preferentially select violent content and are innately more susceptible to its effects.” (51) -“In the United States, the identification of children as a distinct group particularly vulnerable to putative harmful effects of exposure to certain types of content began in the late nineteenth century.” (50) -“More recently, materials depicting or including violence, illegal drug use, and other topics have been proposed as harmful to youth. Sex and violence are two of the most frequently mentioned areas of concern, thus are the focus of this article.” (50) -“Richardson et al. found that an average of 24 percent of health information sites were blocked when six Internet filtering products commonly used in schools and libraries were tested at the most restrictive setting,” (51) -“The perceived realism of the content is a significant factor in promoting aggressive behavior.” (51) -“ A particularly interesting topic about which we don’t know is whether or how the content of material printed in books is harmful to minors, as there seems to be no research on it!” (51)