Puberty and sexual desires begin before 18 years old
Children begin the transition into adulthood through puberty way before they are 18. Therefore, they should be able to fulfill this sexual desire and watch pornography, like any other sexually active individual.
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The Argument
When it comes to sexual maturity and development, there is absolutely no difference between someone who is 17 and 11 months old and someone who has just turned 18. For boys, puberty could start anytime between 11 and 16 years old, and for girls, it can start as early as 9 years old. Throughout puberty, adolescents will begin to develop sexual desires naturally and start to explore their bodies. Regardless of their sex, individuals will always begin having urges surrounding their sexuality way before they are 18.[1] Naturally, this means that they are likely to turn to pornography to explore their desires. This is a perfectly natural process that all children will go through and experience.
Porn is a way for all individuals to explore and experience their sexuality. By watching pornography, they are simply going through a natural human process. Humans have developed a desire to masturbate and sexually relieve themselves through things like pornography as a natural evolutionary process that gives them a desire to reproduce in order to continue the human species.[2] This is an uncontrollable and perfectly human feeling to have, like the desire to drink water or the desire to eat food. It would be completely unfair for the government to, for example, ban minors from drinking water simply because it is sometimes uncontrollable and dangerous. Masturbating is a natural human desire, and not something the government should limit.
Counter arguments
Sexual desires may begin before children are 18, but it doesn’t mean that pornography is necessary. Many children’s desires simply take the form of curiosity, where they are exploring their bodies for the first time and learning about who they are. Many sexually active people, for example, remain sexually active without watching pornography. Evolutionarily, there is a desire to reproduce, not to watch videos made of other people reproducing. Therefore, the right for humans to eventually choose to reproduce and control their own bodies is a guaranteed right, but the right to watch videos of it that mislead youth into false sexual fantasies and force them down a rabbit hole of increasingly dark sexual desires is not a guaranteed right for anyone.
For a minor, puberty is still a stage in development. Minors might feel a sexual desire, but that does not mean they should act on it at such a young age. Going through puberty does not mean you have properly developed adult abilities to balance sexual desires and other aspects of life. This could explain why minors are likely to become addicted to porn at such an early age when they are still at the crossroads of being sexually active and being able to make mature decisions.
Proponents
Premises
[P1] Most minors are just as sexually active as adults.
[P2] The government has no right to control people's natural desires.
Rejecting the premises
[Rejecting P1] Minors might be sexually active, but that doesn't mean they have to watch pornography to alleviate their sexual desires.
[Rejecting P2] The government has a right to limit porn because it is addictive and uncontrollable.