The study of Human Sexuality is centered towards the teaching, counselling, and therapy of various issues that pertains to sexuality from a professional view. The worth of studying sexuality is that it informs people about the necessary information about sex and their sexuality; hence it aids them to have balanced physical, sociological, and psychological aspects of human sexuality. Factors like masturbation, intimacy and orgasm are issues that determine future relationships between heterosexual partners yet they are caused by sexual dysfunctions like Child Pornography. Child pornography is a significant sexual disorder that impacts individual behaviors in their future sexual relationships and it is therefore an issue that is worth discussing under Human Sexuality. Human sexuality especially the study of psychoactive sexual traits is essential today.
Today, the advancement of technology has enabled the young people to explore the various ways of negotiating and interacting sexually through the online contexts. McLelland (2017), states that the new form of sexuality can be regarded as “intimate citizenship” and it involves the control, access, and choices. Our major topic of discussion is the prevalence online sexuality among young people in the world
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A Case Study of Online Sexuality “Child Pornography” Among Young People
The world has countries that exist in varying landscapes. The variations also make the legality to perform sexual acts to 16 to 17 years, and this varies among various countries (McClelland, 2017). Other countries have bizarre jurisdictions that may permit young people as young as age 12, and other states have the legal sex age as late as age 21. The prevalence of the internet, particularly with the UN recommendations that children are entitled to information such as oral education, through unlimited sources, sexuality legalization has taken a different turn. The existing jurisdictions can no longer consolidate authority over issues such as child pornography. There are now instances of digital transmission of sexual digitality that are dominating the internet, and child pornography is becoming a thorn in the flesh to deal. The internet is streaming with loads of depictions of numerous sexual acts that are being performed using fictional characters who appear to be under 18, which makes the characters to be vulnerable to jurisdiction offense acts in countries such as Australia, Canada, and the UK.
The digitalization of intimacies has confused the new generation of the digital age. It is important to note that the engagement of a wide variety of sexual play online has been perpetuated by the fact that there has been a lack of grounded research about the online activities of the young people. Besides, the attraction of young people to online sexual activities is perpetuated by the kinds of activities of sexualized subcultures that the young people are exposed to. While negative factors such as drug use, inadequate monitoring of the young people by the authorities, and ideological differences towards sexual orientation are to blame, it is fundamental to look into the Psychological reasons that can be related to the prevalence of Child Pornography.
How Ethical Standards Guide the Issue of Child Pornography
Child pornography is a crime, and various jurisdictions have provisions to ensure that young people are prevented from sexual predation and exploitation. A breach of these codes can be used to criminalize and prosecute any form of sexual expression that is directed to a minor who falls below the age of 18, in a majority of the countries, 16, 12 or 21, depending on the different states (McMenemy, Poulter, & Burton, 2014). The United Nations through the Be-Free program has therefore developed codes of Ethics that protect children from online pornography. The Code of Ethics pertains to the parliament, the police, the judiciary, the Ministry of education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, non-governmental organizations, religious leaders, the internet service providers, and the religious leaders (McMenemy, Poulter, & Burton, 2014). The Code of Ethics is meant to protect the children first when disseminating, distributing, or making available any information.
The Ethical Standard That Guides Professionalism Against Child Pornography In The US
According to the US federal law, Child Pornography is illegal in all states and is punishable by a minimum of 20 years or a fine of $5000 (Rafferty, 2013). There is Federal sentencing that is aligned to the first source of the ethical standard that has to be adhered as found in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The moral rule here, therefore, provides a framework that contains the guidelines on child pornography including the production, distribution, receiving/purchasing pornographic materials especially with the age variance of the minors (Rafferty, 2013). There is a noteworthy increment of charges against child pornography as the charges can be increased when the case involves prepubescent children at the age of 12 and below. The legal framework is, therefore, the essential guidance that guides the professional behavior of producers of extracted contents against the filming of children in any pornographic content (Rafferty, 2013). Consequently, it also oversees the distributors and vendors of pornographic contents from distributing pornographic materials to underage adolescents and children.
Psychodynamic Personality Approach of Explaining Child Pornography
Sigmund Freud, one of the Psychodynamic theorists, states that human sexuality can be described in the structural model of a person’s personality as found in the is ego, and superego (Stoléru. 2014). Freud’s Psychodynamic theory can explain the state of child pornography since it expounds on numerous aspects of the vice as a Psychosexual Disorder. According to Stoléru (2014), Freud’s school of thought, states that a person is endowed with ID, a pleasure-seeking portion of personality that is presented at birth. The id is therefore essential since it drives personalities to get their basic needs. In our case, when young adults want to fulfill their sexual fantasies, they cannot stop until their need is gratified through fulfilling of their desires using the available content that is readily available online (Stoléru, 2014). The Id here cares about its satisfaction. The Ego is the next structure, and it is rooted in the principle of reality as it comprises the person’s personality (Stoléru, 2014). Stoléru states that while the ego is preoccupied with the satisfaction of the id, it considers the situation at hand hence it balances between the id and superego (2014). Lastly, the superego is based on the moral principles that aid in the judgment between the right and wrong.
One underlying assumption that connects Freud’s Psychodynamic theory that can be used to explain the incidences of child pornography is that feelings are powerfully affected by unconscious motives (Birkhold, 2012). The unconscious mind comprises mental processes such as sexuality, and these are inaccessible to consciousness, but they influence judgments, behavior, and feelings (Birkhold, 2012). Birkhold (2012) states that any human behavior at any stage of life is therefore connected to the unconscious mind which is the primary source of their traits. Most of the mind can never be seen. Consequently, motives, feelings and decisions are powerful influences by the environment and they get stored in the unconscious.
The Relevance of Applying Freud’s Psychodynamic Theories in Resolving Child Pornography
Even though several developments in child pornography law are troubling, the growing number of cases where children are getting charged with the violation of pornography laws is a disconcerting fact (Birkhold, 2012). It is therefore vital to understand the right motives for juveniles involved in sexting cases. The best motivation that can aid in the analysis of behind the charging of juveniles is correlated between Freud’s theory of sexuality and sexting jurisprudence (Birkhold, 2012). The alignment with Freud is subconscious, and court decisions rest on the reading of Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory. This is since Freud offers an accurate theoretical account of what judges do in child sexting case files.
Conclusion
Comprehending Child Pornography casefiles in light of Freud does a lot more than just explaining the bewildering decisions of state and federal courts to uphold convictions against children for violating child pornography laws. Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory provides the basis from which to access the ethical standards that govern teenage sexting. Freud also provides the suggestions about how to enhance or better deal with the teenagers who are sext. Besides, Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory explains the need of developing dispute centers that are appropriate to respond to the adolescents who voluntarily disseminate and produce sexually explicit images of themselves. To prevent constitutional conflicts that arise from child pornography cases, rehabilitation centers can be established by legal scholars who base their debate on Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory to aid in behavior reformation for the affected young adults.
References
Birkhold, M. H. (2012). Freud on the Court: re-interpreting sexting & child pornography laws. Fordham Intell. Prop. Media & Ent. LJ, 23, 897.
McLelland, M. (2017). ‘Not in front of the parents! ’Young People, sexual literacies and intimate citizenship in the internet age. Sexualities, 20(1-2), 234-254.
McMenemy, D., Poulter, A., & Burton, P. (2014). A handbook of ethical practice: a practical guide to dealing with ethical issues in information and library work. Elsevier.
Rafferty, Y. (2013). Child trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation: A review of promising prevention policies and programs. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 83(4), 559.
Stoléru, S. (2014). Reading the Freudian theory of sexual drives from a functional neuroimaging perspective. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 8, 157.
