Last night’s “Nightline” segment on porn star James Deen and his legions of underage female fans is the finest piece of parental scaremongering that I’ve seen in some time. (Well, at least since Caitlin Flanagan’s Sunday New York Times article on the scourge of “hysteria” among adolescent girls.)
ABC’s Terry Moran introduced the segment by warning, “For any parent concerned about what their teen does online, the huge popularity of the young man you’re about to meet may be deeply disturbing.” We’re then introduced to a handful of young women – all well over 18 – who think 25-year-old Deen is totally hot and, like, “the Ryan Gosling of porn.” Then reporter Cecilia Vega announces that the adult business “has now targeted and reached a new demographic: teenage girls.”