There is nothing to fear about exploring sexuality through rationalism and introspection, but there is much to fear about hedonism and prudery. Both have the power to plunge a person and the society around them into a hellscape of fallacies, contradictions, and destructive psychological tendencies and behaviors. Neither can deliver individuals or cultures from false ideas and incomplete truths. Evangelicals are quick to acknowledge the destructiveness of hedonism, even if their arguments might be unsound, but they generally fight to preserve the influence of prudery. In turn, the support of prudery directly leads to an evangelical anxiety over the internet and the fact that it can be used to share sexual content.
The internet offers a significant range of educational material and material intended for erotic stimulation, otherwise called erotic media. Sexual legalism would have people shun these materials even when they do not contradict Biblical obligations [1], even to the point of disallowing children from having access to the internet altogether, except perhaps when there is strict adult supervision. Just as evangelicals might resort to arbitrary condemnations of profanity out of "concern" for children, they might try to make others feel guilty if they do not shield teenagers or those of an even younger age from having access to the internet due to prudery and fear.
One of the final false refuges of evangelical legalists when it comes to this matter is the insistence that erotic media and open sexual expression in general, even of the kind they would otherwise admit is Biblically permissible, is harmful to children. This is often meant in a sense far broader than just meaning that erotic media featuring children is evil, and basing the condemnation of an entire subset of art and entertainment for the sake of how it could be abused would only be a slippery slope fallacy that leaves them ideologically defenseless. What is often meant is that sexual material of practically any kind is harmful for children because it is sexual material!
On a Christian worldview, such a position inherently contradicts other aspects of Biblical theology. God himself intentionally gave humans sexual urges, feelings, and physiology, and the fact that children and teenagers can become very deeply aware of this should not frighten any Christian adult. If something isn't dangerous or sinful, there is no reason whatsoever to shield children from it, as it would not be dangerous or sinful for them either. A child's individual intellectual, spiritual, and emotional development dictate when they are prepared to learn or handle specific truths. It is not as if God created human sexuality only for it to be morally reprehensible for children to experience curiosity about it!
Adolescents and adults alike can express themselves sexually and appreciate the sexual expression of others by means of internet usage. There is no greater tool other than reason and introspection for the person who seeks to explore their own sexuality as thoroughly as they can, and there is no logical or Biblical basis for discouraging those beneath 18 years of age from taking advantage of the opportunities to use the internet as an aid for sexual self-examination, with or without masturbation. Age means nothing. Individual maturity and concern for truth is what both children and adults need in order to understand sexuality to the fullest extent possible, and understanding themselves is part of that goal.
[1]. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-truth-about-erotic-media-part-2_19.html
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