[Jazuela]

I'll take the bait and get graphic, heh. See, when daddy punches Junior in the face, it's -obvious- that there's "hurt" going on. Blood, bruises, broken bones - all UNfun and obvious and common consequences of violence. They're obvious, so they can be learned easier. Gee, pouring battery acid on Billy's sister was probably a REALLY BAD THING TO DO because she started screaming until her tongue blistered up and fell out of her mouth. I guess my lesson is, violence hurts, violence bad, violence no. I don't really need someone to explain that - I can see it myself - every time someone gets shot in the head, the fall down dead. Every time someone breaks someone else's arm, there is crying and excruciating pain. It's an immediate consequence of an action.

Now with sex - hm. Not quite so obvious. When daddy says "here son, play with Mr. Snake, it's fun." you do want to have fun, right? And you do love your daddy, don't you? And no one is crying, and no bones are sticking out of skin, and there's no blood, and no pain. It isn't obvious that playing with daddy's snake is probably not a good idea, even if daddy promises ice cream when you're done. It isn't obvious that sex can create disease or babies. This has to be taught, because those consequences aren't *obviously* immediate.

So in society, we leave it up to the parents to determine when their kid is ready to hear certain lessons. We can only hope the parents know their kids, understand and appreciate childhood curiosity, and have a healthy attitude themselves toward the subject matter.

A child doesn't need to be taught that violence = pain. He only need observe it once, and he knows. Sex = potential for serious consequences is not readily observable, therefore society has placed a different set of values on the approach to teaching about it.