7th Grader Surfs Porn at Grandma's House...Uff da!

[MineralMan]

Late on Christmas evening, when my Mother-in-Law went in to check her emails and visit some sites, she did her usual wierd method of surfing the web. She drops down the History list, rather than her bookmarks, to find the sites she wants to visit. What did she find there? Someone had visited several X-rated anime sites, some site with pornographic animations of the Simpsons, and several Google searches for "FREE PORN," and other such nasty sites.

Who was the porn-surfing culprit? Why, no other than her 12-year-old grandson, who was ostensibly in her computer room playing the video game he got for Christmas. Shocked, I tell you, would be an understatement to describe my MiL's reaction. Since she's 81 years old, I'm hardly surprised.

I explained to her that all 12-year-old boys who have already entered puberty look for porn at any opportunity they can find. I also pointed out that most of what he had looked at were cartoon characters involved sexually. "Well!" she huffed, "When I was that age, boys didn't look at pornography like that." In the small farming town where she lived those many years ago, I'm not surprised. I did mention to her that the Internet makes it a lot easier, but that boys in puberty have always taken whatever opportunities to see such things.

It didn't work at all to mollify her, and that's OK. It's her computer, after all. So, she had her daughter (not my wife) install some parental control software. Inexpertly installed, with maximum protection enabled, my MiL now has to enter a password before viewing even her favorite quilting site. So, I'll have to go over there now and customize the program for her.

I suggested that she might consider just closing the room and banning the kid from it when he visited, but that didn't meet her approval. "But he watches TV in that room," she retorted, missing the point entirely. I could only shrug.

Now, the question she faces is whether, and how, to tell the boy's parents about his transgression. I suggested that she do that, but told her that the boy's father watches porn all the time on his computer (he's forever telling me about "cool" URLs), and that it's likely that the son started doing the same by looking at his father's history list. So, informing the parents is unlikely to have beneficial results.

So, I guess what I'll have to do is take the brat aside next time I see him and explain that it's not at all nice to view porn on his grandmother's computer. He sometimes listens to my advice. Sometimes. The moral issue won't play, I'm sure, but maybe I can shame him into avoiding such activities on her computer, since he does like Gramma. Who knows?

At least, I now know where the adware and other crap on my MiL's computer comes from. Free porn sites are notorious for installing adware and other malware on visitor's computers. Uff da!

[NJmaverick]

1. If the 12 year old was smart he would have claimed the machine was infected

with spyware and that he had nothing to do with all the porn.:evilgrin:

[MineralMan]

3. Not smart at all. If he was smart, he'd clear the history.

Maybe I should just teach him how to do that, but then gramma wouldn't be able to use the History list to find her sites, and that would be a disaster.

We've tried to teach her about the Favorites list, but that takes an additional step, and she likes the History list for getting to sites. She only looks at about six sites.

A two-generation gap is going to be difficult to fix easily. I still think banning the little urchin from her sewing/computer room is the best solution. I could put a key lock on the door, if that would help. I imagine it will end up coming to that.

She also has a wireless router in her house, so visitors can use their notebooks when they visit. Maybe the kid needs a netbook, so he can look at porn anywhere in the house. I just don't know, but I do know that getting a pubescent 12-year-old boy to stop hunting for porn is a losing battle.

[Withywindle]

36. He doesn't have to clear it totally, just go back through today's records

one by one and specifically delete the incriminating stuff.

Might still come up on an autocomplete, but if Grandma only has a few regular sites and none of the URLs are similar, should be fine.

[Mari333]

2. LOL

[MineralMan]

4. That's my reaction, too, really.

Poor Grandma, though. Every time she looks at the kid, she's going to imagine him staring at lewd stuff on the computer. I'm sure she thinks he is just looking at still photos of naked people, and I'm not going to expand her horizons. No, ma'am!

[Mari333]

5. I remember when I caught my own 16 yr old son doing that

I was mortified, than, realized, um, yeah. they do that.
Him finding out his MOM knew it sort of ruined it, tho.
poor gramma. My mom is 83, she would freak out, too.

[MineralMan]

9. Yah. Extreme embarrassment is probably the best

tool to use in this case. Maybe we could all talk about it around the dinner table next time we're all together. :evilgrin:

[Mari333]

16. so hahaha remember when we were at Grandmas on christmas

and you tried to download all those naked ladies?
hahahaha
(child sits, head down, red faced)

awww dont worry son, I used to look thru the Sears catalogue when I was your age.

(child starts to cry, swearing to himself )

Dont worry about it son! (ruffles childs hair) Grandma understands.

(child bolts from room)

[rug]

6. I think Grandma did it and is acting preemptively.

[MineralMan]

8. Well, that's a possibility, I admit.

The probability of that, though probably has a negative exponent in the double digits.

[KittyWampus]

7. I remember going through some old porn my first real boyfriend's father gave him

They were magazines from the early 50's. Such beautiful stuff. So different from much of the overt stuff around today.

Sigh.

I guess taste-level isn't an issue with 12 year old boys. Or grown men for that matter. At least when it comes to porn.

[MineralMan]

11. That stuff you saw wasn't really porn. Just erotica.

The real stuff existed in the '50s, but it was a rare event when kids got their hands on it. I do remember a neighbor kid, though, who found his father's stash of 8mm movies. We had a field day watching the entire collection.

Now, that was porn.

Still, I'm intrigued that your boyfriend showed that stuff to you. I wouldn't have dreamed of showing porn to my first real girlfriend, even if I had any at the time. Very enlightened, you were.

[izquierdista]

10. There's only one bigger shock

The only bigger shock in finding out that your children are interested in sex is finding out that your parents still are -- ewwwww, gross!! I'm sure the kid would be mortified to know that grandma knows what porn sites he was visiting.

[MineralMan]

14. That's what I'm thinking. Maybe she should bring it up around

the dinner table, next time they get together. I picture the discussion going something like this:

Grandma: Well, Billy, I noticed some of the sites you visited on my computer the last time you were over.

Billy: Aw, Geez!

Grandma: So, do you prefer the Japanese anime porn or the real video porn?

Billy: Aw, Geez!

Grandma: Personally, I find the Japanese anime porn disturbing, what with the octopus stuff and that sort of thing. I prefer real amateur home-made porn. It's so awkward and true to life.

Billy: Aw, Geez!

Grandma: You know, if they had camcorders back in the 40s, your grandpa and I could have really showed them something.

Billy: (gagging) Aw, Geez!


That'd probably put him off porn for at least a week, I think.

[Mari333]

20. LOL

[hootinholler]

21. ROFLMAO!

:rofl:

That would be perfect!

-Hoot

[SidDithers]

25. ROFL!...nt

Sid

[bemildred]

12. The internet was built on porn. It is a fountain of pornography.

Might as well get used to it. All these cultural taboos are toast, or soon will be.

[Cirque du So-What]

13. Ask any man from your MIL's generation about a 'Tijuana bible'

and chances are excellent that he's seen at least one. Prurient interest is not a new phenomenon - despite the fervent wishes to lay all societal ills at the feet of young whippersnappers.

[MineralMan]

15. Yup, or even geezers in their 60s, like me.

There has always been porn, and adolescent boys always find their dad's stash.

[Cirque du So-What]

19. I was fortunate

Until the late '60s, my great-uncle owned & operated a convenience store in a nearby town. Inside a glass display case, however, he sold Sex to Sexty comic books & pocket-sized pornographic novels. For the truly discerning connoisseur, he had 8mm short reels & leather-bound Swedish 'medical books' - complete with black-and-white photos - in a back room. Aside from the movies, he allowed me 'lending library' privileges on everything except the movies. I was the envy of my peers and a sought-after font of sexual lore during my early adolescence.

His sister - my grandmother - was a huge church lady, so her brother was a source of shame & embarrassment. She gloated when he finally retired & sold the store, but pornography most certainly didn't go away when Uncle Jess' store closed.

[peekaloo]

17. Could have been worse. He could have left Cheetos all over the keyboard.

:o

[POAS]

22. Well I can think of

one other thing he could have left on the keyboard worse than Cheetos.

[Dappleganger]

28. ewwwwww

*snort*

[peekaloo]

31. Cheetos hand pitches while the other hand catches.

kinda like the Freeper Olympics if ya catch my drift }(

[aikoaiko]

18. When I was 12, I came home from Boy Scout camping trip with 2 Penthouse mags the older kids sold me

My very Catholic mom who thought her son was an angel was devastated. While I still sought out porn every chance I could I never brought it home again.

[omega minimo]

23. What's available now to any 12 year old or grandma with a computer

is much different -- light years beyond -- what was available to most in the past.

[proud2BlibKansan]

24. Can't she just put a password on her computer?

That's what we did when our kids were younger.

[hunter]

26. I live in some fear of stumbling across my grandparents' old movies...

There's no way I'm going anywhere near those retro and stag movie sites of the '30s, '40s, and '50s...

:scared:

[Dappleganger]

27. Tell Grandma if that's the only bad thing her grandson does...

she's damn lucky.

[omega minimo]

29. Yeah she's lucky her 12 year old grandson's being indoctrinated

with sleazy sexist shite so conveniently.

[Dappleganger]

30. Didn't say it was ok...

just that there are MANY other things he could be involved with and that looking at porn is pretty low on the naughty list.

[spin]

32. Yes porn is absolutely terrible ...

it's much better to let twelve year old kids watch violent movies.

Sex is a normal human experience, violently murdering people is not.

We also need to have our young children play violent "first-person shooter" video games to help them overcome the aversion to killing other people.

[Kaleva]

34. I'ver seen those Simpson x-rated cartoons and much of it is incest and child sex.

Homer with Lisa. Marge with Bart. You get the picture.

[spin]

38. Most porn doesn't show incest or child sex. (n/t)

[Liquorice]

35. Porn is not normal sex. nt

[spin]

37. Depends on definition ...

Most porn does indeed show normal sex, perhaps exaggerated.

Some porn does display acts that are not normal or healthy.

[davepc]

39. Most porn doesn't depict healthy sexuality though...

Theres a big difference between a playboy spread and gonzo porn.

[sylveste]

33. flash drive

buy the kid a flash drive and download a portable browser. problem solved, he gets his porn and grandma is none the wiser