Please rate and critique my essay (Analysis of an issue)
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12 Aug 2011, 08:53
Hi there,
Please rate my essay (Analysis of an issue) and provide constructive criticism. Thanks.
Topic: “Nations should cooperate to develop regulations that limit children’s access to adult material on the Internet.
Sex is a controversial issue in almost every society around the world. There are some who believe in open societies which promote unrestricted access to sex and its content while others believe that sex is a taboo which goes against the religious sensibilities of its community. Internet, increasingly, has managed to blur the lines between social divides and has managed to facilitate information and views all across the world. So is Internet responsible in blurring the line when it comes to the topic of sex in certain societies, especially in the context of children, or are we committing the folly of shooting the messenger? I tend to agree with the speaker’s remark that nations should cooperate to develop regulations that limit children’s access to adult material on the Internet.
The primary reason for my stance is that a child is not mature enough to view the adult content and interpret it in a manner acceptable to society. When a child views the adult content on global websites, there is a strong possibility that the child may get a distorted view of sex in our society. Different cultures have different social norms when it comes to sex and there is a strong possibility that a child’s mind may accept the content as the prevailing social norm thereby disrupting the social fabric of his community. For instance, sex is almost a taboo in highly conservative societies like Pakistan and Bangladesh and it is considered highly improper to speak about sex among each other. Internet provides an opportunity to children of these countries to have a peek in the cultures of other open societies where sex is quite common amongst its populations and people talk openly about it. A child lacks the maturity to put things into perspective and to respect the social differences between the two cultures thereby creating an imbalance in his community.
Secondly, we live in a globalized world. With the advent of proxy servers, netizens of a country, which regulates the adult content on its local sites, are able to access the websites in other nations which display adult content thereby rendering the local regulations meaningless. In order to regulate the online adult content effectively, it is imperative that the nations of the world should cooperate and develop effective, international regulations which would minimize the risk of influencing a child’s mind in a wrong way.
Some may argue that the international regulations could impede the freedom of an individual and may not be the right way forward. However, regulation does not necessarily mean a ban on all the adult content on websites. The child should be educated about sex during his upbringing before letting him view the websites in order to condition his mind and thinking in a proper, mature manner lest he falls prey to the addictive influences of sex.
In sum, the call for nations to create international regulations that limit children’s access to adult content is a mature and positive step in the right direction. The children of today shall shape the world of tomorrow and it is the collective responsibility of the entire global community to ensure that the children gain the right perspective about sex.