chicken humping

i had always believed that if a kid was old enough to ask a question, he or she was old enough to hear the answer. now i'm not so sure, what with tv and internet being as they are.

lately our little house has been full of complex issues touched on by some really good questions on the part of the resident ten-year-old. questions like, "if a man looks at porn, does it mean he doesn't love his wife any more?" or, "why would a kid's parents stop talking to him just because he's gay?" or, "is there *really* a phone number in the book you can dial to get a woman to come to your house and massage your wiener?", and "why do people think porn's bad?"

why indeed.

i mean, where do i start? religious conservatism? feminism? police statistics? and how do i broach the subject without giving the impression that nakedness, or sex, are fundamentally dangerous?

we chatted, and, in an effort to keep the conversation within the realm of what he's already aware of, i mentioned that some people's relationship towards sex is unhealthy, for whatever reason. (oopsies.) so he wanted to know what i meant, so i reminded him that some people find children, for example, attractive, and that that, as he knows, it totally inappropriate.

he nodded. (whew!)

then asked, "what else?"

(oh no.)

how do i avoid telling him that there are people in the world who like to hump chickens, without sounding like i'm glossing over something tantalizingly mysterious, dark, dirty, forbidden and perilous? i mean, he has the rest of his life to be a grown up and to avoid, or celebrate, (i suppose) chicken humping. in the meantime, i just don't think he has to know about it.

the problem is, i don't know how to be to make him not wonder how far things go. he craves absolute limits and boundaries. he wants to understand everything -- plus, i think in this case, he wants to have more fodder for pervy schoolyard information swaps with the other kids. i'm really not sure how to handle it.

so, again, if the kids are the ones asking, can you really give them too much information?