The most popular search term on the internet for pornography is “teen”—even though, in most states, adults shouldn’t be having sex with anyone under the age of 18, leaving only two legal years. This speaks volumes about human sexuality and the way that men interact with women: Why do we, as a society, harbor such a sick obsession with not just youth, but what we consider youthful women? Why is fucking an 18-year-old a fetish? Why do you want a “barely legal” girl?
While the porn industry itself exists in a bubble, we are not impervious to the zeitgeist. This includes—but is not limited to—racism, sexism, and classism. The world is obsessed with youth, so pornography is inundated with that theme. “Teen” or “Barely Legal” porn isn’t something new. Even before the internet took hold, Playboy was releasing special “college girl” issues, while Hustler’s Barely Legal magazine pandered to men’s fantasies of young, sexually inexperienced women.
Men often try to excuse their desire for barely-consenting-age women under the guise of human nature—namely, our innate instinct to reproduce. The issue with that argument is that a woman’s childbearing ability doesn’t peak until between the ages of 22-26, so the reproduction case doesn’t really stand when it comes to lusting after teens. Another theory for why men desire too-young girls is the anxiety of aging. An older man may feel uncomfortable or inadequate with themselves—specifically their sexual performance—and are able to feel superior in situations with someone with less life experience (teenagers are significantly more impressionable than even twentysomethings). This desire to have authority and control over molding another human being that you’re having sex with is toxic, to say the least.
Most teenage-themed pornography is as follows: a male authority figure catches a female subordinate doing something her character shouldn’t be, prompting the female actress to have something come over her (for lack of better phrasing), offering to seduce this man in exchange for keeping her secret, not getting her in trouble, you name it. This female subordinate is often a student, babysitter, or friend’s daughter. We create a taboo narrative around these people having sex. This authority-subordinate or association scenario is stimulating because it’s supposed to create yet another layer of forbiddenness on their sexual act—because the consumer wants to feel like they’re doing something wrong.
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