What do you think about letting kids watch "adult" movies?

[Adrian Ţepeş]

My parents were pretty strict on this. In other words, do you think kids should or shouldn't be allowed to watch PG-13 and R rated movies? And do you or do you not believe that it all depends on the content?

Because, ironically, until I was about 14, my parents didn't let me watch anything with even mild sexual content, but they were ok with me seeing Black Hawk Down or Saving Private Ryan when I was 12. But James Bond? Good God, that's just too much!

[D3matt]

Forget guns and bombs, boobs will be the death of us all!

[Red Menace]

Would be a case-by-case issue with me. I mean, with sites like IMDb giving you line-by-line summaries of the adult content in movies, it is only out of laziness that parents can't make informed decisions about whether they feel their offspring is at an appropriate maturity level for the content. Which is ultimately what it comes down to with me, not age, but maturity level. Whether or not the offspring can separate fact from fiction.

[Mr. Matt]

Only the child's parent knows what is appropriate for them. EAch child is different. I saw Jurassic Park when it was first released, for example, and found it fascinating rather than scary. Other kids the same age may have reacted differently to the deafening roars of one of the largest predators to have ever walked the Earth booming out of cinema speakers as it tore a man in half. There's no real way to tell what a child can watch unless you know that child.

Unfortunately most parents are lazy, and will adopt one extreme or the other - religiously adhering to age ratings without considering their child's maturity, or letting them watch anything without bothering to check if it's suitable and then bitching at the government when their child turns into a mass murdering serial necrophile.

[Emperor Benedictine]

I fully believe that the biggest psychological risk an R or 18-rated movie poses to a child is that they might experience boredom while watching it.

As an explanation for society's ills, naughty movies along with video games are just a late 20th century equivalent of witches and evil spirits.

[Adrian Ţepeş]

The scariest movie I had ever seen was Raiders of the Lost Ark when I was eight years old. Nothing else ever really scared me besides that. Most of the R-rated movies out there that I've seen are mostly just made for the sake of having an R-rating. You know the ones I mean:

American Pie: Beta House
Harold and Kumar
And
Etc.

All the really shitty movies that think they're being edgy, but they're really just being childish.

[Nemmerle]

I remember watching Aliens when I was nine or something. It was good - kids should get to see scary movies before they get older and the movies become ridiculous.

[Asheekay]

Let Mr. Sigmund Freid come and settle it for good with a lecture or two about children psychology and impacts of audio-visual experiences. All you heretics, you!

[Emperor Benedictine]

My parents practically encouraged me to watch age-rated movies, I don't recall ever being forbidden from seeing anything. I remember my mum was unhappy with me watching The Accused when I was around 8 or 9 but that's about it.

If a movie was too upsetting for me I would just go and do something else. It really is ridiculous to me that people waste so much time and energy on worrying about this stuff.

[G.R.A.E.M.E.]

I personally watched the extremely horrifying Zombi 2 film from 1979 when I was 8 and pretty much don't regret it, nor suffer any trauma.

Spoiler:

As for the OP's subject, I agree with what some have said here. It certainly depends on the maturity level of my children. Of course it's a rather flexible thing, especially if it comes to the action genre. Not so much for the horror- and sexual genre.

If I deem my child to be mature enough, I'll pretty much not mind him/her watching films that are of a higher age prerequisite than he/she is. Should I ever happen to discover that my child was watching porn whilst being a minor (assuming 12+), I won't get mad, but I'll certainly get myself informed by asking whether he/she was taught about it at school before, should I not have done so before.

Ultimately though, I don't hope I'll ever have to do that. Such an awkward moment, I imagine.