Mythbusters’ Adam Savage Talks Porn And Makes So Much Sense

Talking to your kids about sex can be tough (or so I’m told). But can you imagine having to have a chat with your child about porn after his mother found internet searches that would make any parent uncomfortable? That’s exactly what happened to “Mythbusters” star Adam Savage, and the way he approached the topic with his son is something all parents need to hear.

British newspaper The Independent noted that Savage’s ex-wife had let him know about search terms their twin sons had been using online, which included “nudies” and “big boobs.”

Savage said he did take the “bad cop routine” with one of his sons regarding the porn search terms and was met with a “stone wall.” But with the other son, instead of attacking the child or avoiding the topic altogether, he addressed the issue head on and explained in frank terms what pornography and the internet is about, in his opinion, as relayed to an audience of “The Moth Podcast.”

“I said, ‘What you did is totally reasonable. Being curious about what people look like naked is a rational and normal response to the world and it is a reasonable curiosity for you to have. No one’s in trouble and I’m not mad.'”

Savage said he went on to explain that while his son, lovingly known as “Thing 1,” might have only been curious about “big boobies,” the Internet has items that will last in his memory forever and is a scary place at times.

Then he got eloquent and said what many parents, sociologists, and psychologists have apparently been too afraid to say or have not yet figured out.

“‘You’re going to see things you will never be able to unsee. Things that will stick in your brain and ruin moments for you because they’ll show up and screw over your brain because it won’t be able to think about anything else but that horrible thing you saw once when you were 12.’ … Then I thought this is where social change really occurs generationally. If the stakes are this high, I better get this right. I better be concise and susinct. And it hits me what I’m supposed to say and I say, ‘The thing you’ve got to understand, bud, is the Internet hates women.'”

Savage said he realized equating the Internet and porn to the hate of women might seem a bit extreme, but he explained why he felt it was necessary to go so far in the chat with his son.

“And I realize there are probably people out there who think that’s an incredibly broad brush to paint the Internet with, but let me put it this way: if you could look into someone’s brain the way you search the Internet, and the Internet was a dude, that dude has a problem with women.”

Of course, you have others who don’t share Savage’s view, like porn star Belle Knox, the Duke student who called working in porn “empowering” in a series of interviews.

But for those of you who are curious about Savage’s discussion with his son and his views on pornography, click on over to “The Moth Podcast.”

[Image via Flickr Creative Commons]