Re: I'm suddenly feeling gay-ish. ;p

""One of the great dangers of adolescence, is the predisposition for "sensation seeking" behavior."

Or as others call it, "learning."

But yes, there is an element of risk-taking. Many have already compared adolescent smoking and fast-driving to stotting in gazelles as a means of signaling fitness by saying "look at what stupid sh*t I can survive."

Regardless, not all are predisposed; even if the stereotype is recklessness.

"the researchers also speculate that adolescents learn specific behaviors from the sexual messages in movies. Many adolescents turn to movies to acquire "sexual scripts" that offer examples of how to behave when confronted with complicated emotional situations."

Indeed. And the biggest-seller of them all is the notion that you have "one true love" out there. I would argue that romantic scripts have caused more pain and suffering than sexual ones. Most people experience sex within the context of a relationship where the sex comes at a point after a relationship is established, and where the relationship dominates day-to-day life in a way that the sex doesn't. And yet, we're so inclined to treat the sexual component as wicked magical hoodoo, that we don't inquire about the script within which the sex-scene is immersed.

Further, I argue that "horny nun meets pizza boy" is less likely to be believed than "meets cute over same book at library" or any other non-Pronz scenario in mainstream films which still have pretend sex in 'em.

However, even if we limit to Pronz, this still doesn't mean that exposure to gay Pronz turned you gay? Does it? Because you've been arguing otherwise.

"I think there is evidence (although I couldn't find it readily) that the depiction of violence in cinema and other areas has a similar affect - as does playing violent video games."

Gerard Jones did a pretty good job demolishing the shoddy conclusions of those experiments.

What was found was that exposure to make-believe violence leads to a temporary willingness to pretend to be violent in safe make-believe contexts. In adults its called "catharsis" and is deemed necessary to avoid real violence. But again, some researchers have problems distinguishing between fantasy and reality.

"I think it does point to the fact that over time we learn to discriminate what is important or relevant and what is not."

But again, with a bias that the younger err more towards caution than the older. And yes, people often overestimate their experience or the similarity of situations. The same thing that leads to not having to relearn everything when experiencing it again makes older folks cocky and arrogant; which in turn creates its own risks.

"I seem to recall you saying that advertising had no appreciable affects."

And since we're talking about the ability to analyze dubious claims, yes. People can and do see through the deception you call advertisement. The blatantly misleading is more easily exposed than the agenda-driven ( which requires theory of mind. ) But either way, exposure to ads featuring happy gay couples didn't turn you queer, did they? And in my case there is no need either way to examine the claims of a Bheer advert. No ad will make me like what I don't.

They spend money to show that their product exists and to shape the choice of those who were going to buy it already. But only ad-execs have ever promised that they could make someone do things against their will; and those claims have evaded proof. ( Another case of false-advertising. )

"It does seem as if some people are more prone to addictions (of all sorts) than others. Do they know this?"

Irrelevant for society. Prohibition makes everything worse, for both the addiction prone and for those who aren't. Sure, the promise of Prohibition is the removal of the intoxicant. But since this never happens, what we need to look at what such restrictions do while trying to remove the intoxicant.

Though I would also argue that lying about the severity of intoxicant leaves the potential addict less informed. For a few, drug use leads to exploring other drugs. When the State tells folks that Marijuana is creates chemical dependency, their experience or those of others prove that the claim is a lie. Its easy to assume, after being lied to, that its also a lie when its claimed for Cocaine.

Its also easily demonstrable that most of what is claimed by anti-Pronz crusaders is also a lie; there is enough legal adult stuff in circulation to see that watching gay Pronz doesn't make gays.

"These were just a few of the links I found but I will be looking for others."

I'm sure you will. But you seem inclined to chose ones which don't say what you read into them.

Dante