SAN DIEGO, Dec. 7, 2006—There’s something repulsively charming about Borat, I’m embarrassed to admit. He’s racist, sexist, puerile, idiotic, perverted, vile … and very funny.

Borat’s movie – Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan – may be humorous, but on another level the shock factor can snap your head back.

Borat is an equal opportunity offender. No one is spared. In his movie, there are jokes about incest, rape, masturbation, defecation, Jews, blacks and prostitutes. The F and MF words are used repeatedly, there are repulsive scenes that go over the top, and everybody is made to look stupid.

I’m over 50 and still not sure if I was old enough to see that movie. Looking back on the viewers in our local Highlands mall theater that Saturday night, I wonder what the parents were thinking when they brought nine children in with them to watch Borat wreak havoc on civility and morality.

And I do mean children. According to the theater manager, the kids were 9, 10 and 11 years old and were allowed in because two adults brought them – even though the R rating means the movie is not appropriate for anyone under 17.

The manager seemed almost as surprised and aghast as I was. But there was nothing he could do, because the kids were accompanied by an adult over 21.

So what kind of parent would take 10-year-olds to this movie, you might well ask?

Presumably, when you’ve reached a certain level of maturity, you can understand the humor, painful though it may be, when Borat strolls into a gun shop and asks the dealer for the best weapon to kill a Jew. The comedic impact, or shock value, is in the unsuspecting clerk’s nonchalant response. He doesn’t miss a beat when asked the question and shows Borat several guns which would well serve his purpose.

As Borat moves across America , he rips off the flimsy veneer of American tolerance and brotherly love to expose deep-seated prejudice, hatred and ignorance. Borat is funny; most of the unsuspecting actors in the film are not. In some ways, this is more a horror film than comedy.

Satire is very tricky to explain. And judging by the confused expressions on the children’s faces during the movie, their two adult guardians did little to prepare them for Borat’s offensive onslaught.

I have my fingers crossed when I say that older teens and adults get the gay-bashing, anti-Semitism, racism and sexism, and hopefully they see the utter stupidity of the witless, narrow-minded cast of characters – but do 10-year-olds?

How are they to understand Borat’s comment to three feminists that women’s brains are smaller than men’s? And what is the effect on 10-year-olds when they see full frontal nudity and masturbation, or hear raunchy language and vulgar descriptions of bodily functions and body parts?

It’s funny because you know how ludicrous Borat is, but at what age does the ability to recognize satirical genius kick in? In what ways are pre-adolescents influenced by movies beyond their comprehension? When they see a film like Borat’s at such a young age, do they risk becoming the kind of lewd, vulgar, drunken, misogynist frat boys Borat partied with in the RV?

According to Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, only 45 percent of children ages 9 to 12 in one study sample were prohibited by their parents from seeing R-rated movies and videos. Of the 55 percent who were allowed to watch R-rated movies, about two-thirds – or 36 percent – watched the movies without a parent present.

The results of this study, which was conducted to determine the effects of R-rated movies on children’s future smoking and drinking habits, were released last month after Dartmouth Medical School researchers surveyed over 2,600 children and their parents.

Those kids whose parents did not let them watch R-rated movies were found to be 40 percent less likely to smoke or drink as they reached adolescence.

Researchers concluded that setting limits on exposure to R-rated movies may have a protective influence on children when they enter their teen years. Not really rocket science, is it? Some outcomes parents intuitively know – most parents, that is.

But what about comedy? Comedies rated R are quite different from the blood-soaked violence and graphic sex we usually associate with traditional R-rated movies, and parents tend to be more lenient with comedies.

Complicating matters for beleaguered parents, Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen brilliantly marketed his film on MySpace, making it a must-see for teens … and a major frustration for pre-teens.

Nevertheless, parents should hold firm and not cave to pre-adolescent pressure. Because even though the Borat movie is funny, it’s still rated R – and it’s R-rated for a good reason.

“I urge parents to stick to the [ratings] guidelines,” said Keith Kanner, a clinical child, adolescent and adult psychoanalyst in Rancho Santa Fe and host of Fox6 Television's Your Family Matters. He also advised parents to view the films first, to judge for themselves whether the content is appropriate for their child’s level of maturity, because parents can’t always trust the ratings.

Kanner, who calls himself “a real stickler” for taking the PG-13 and R-rated labels seriously, said kids who are exposed to audio and visual material of an adult nature in the media can develop anxiety, stress and behavioral problems.

“It can also result in over-stimulation and can lead to regression,” he said, citing bed-wetting as an example of regressive behavior.

Young children “don’t yet have the capacity of abstract reasoning,” Kanner said, commenting on a child’s ability to understand satire. Furthermore, watching R-rated movies can desensitize them and adversely affect their developing sense of morals and values, making them more prone to adopt the beliefs and attitudes of the characters they are viewing.

Even when parents accompany their young children to adult movies – and even if parents take the additional step of debriefing afterwards, it’s no guarantee, Kanner said, that the damage can be undone. Once viewed, the images cannot be unseen, nor the words unheard.

Kanner said the problem is not just the content of the films but also the permissiveness factor. Seeing movies beyond their level of understanding “might also give kids a sense that the parent isn’t protective enough,” which he said can lead to the impression that the parents will also allow other adult behavior at an immature age.

When Borat holds up a cultural mirror and reflects back on us the horrifying degree of bigotry and intolerance Americans still carry, it’s a stunner. And when Borat behaves boorishly, it’s a riot.

But it’s neither illuminating nor funny to see young kids in the audience, bewildered yet fascinated by these crude antics. Not all humor – especially Borat’s brand of potty humor – is good for kids.

This movie has been called a lot of things, but family entertainment is not one of them.