I just read this short Today.com article which shows that kids are looking at porn at young ages. What struck me about this story is that this is still such a newsflash to so many parents. Parents give their kids smartphones, tablets, and laptops in their locked rooms and somehow don’t think that their kids are either accidentally stumbling upon, or very intentionally seeking out both soft and hardcore porn.
The Today article quotes the American Psychological Association as saying, “Although research is scarce, investigators see links between young people who access Web porn and unhealthy attitudes toward sex.” As a recovered porn addict myself, as well as one who has counseled many Christian men who seek to break free from this addiction, I give the APA a gigantic “DUH!” A portion of my book is dedicated to talking about these exact “unhealthy attitudes”, what we can do to reverse them, and be reprogrammed to how we were designed to think about sex.
What gets me riled up about this APA quote is the staunch hypocrisy our culture demonstrates toward porn. Hard scientific data corroborates with testimony after testimony of how porn is destructive, yet secular culture still acts like porn is innocent and even healthy, and you are a stodgy Puritan curmudgeon if you say otherwise.
The reason for this is that we want to have our cake and eat it to. During the election coverage, I remember an MSNBC poll that I saw that was responding to Rick Santorum’s desire to make pornography illegal. It was either 71% or 81% of people who said that porn should stay legal. As I thought about this, I thought they could easily rename the poll to: Percentage of people who look at porn. People who look at porn are not going to want it to become illegal, no matter how much proof there is showing its destructive effects. Ask a smoker if cigarettes should be illegal and I bet I can predict their answer.
The Today article served as another reminder that I need to do all I can to get the word out to parents of the dangers of pornography that face their children, and that there ARE things you can do about it:
- Do not be so naive, ignorant, or pious to think that your children are not accessing porn (Do not think, “My kid is a good kid, he/she wouldn’t do that”)
- Talk to your kids about porn, even if you think they are too young. Get to them before porn does.
- Set up Internet protection for you and your kids. Use Covenant Eyes on all of your family’s devices.
He is:
Author of Beyond the Battle: A man's guide to his identity in Christ in an oversexualized world
Host of the The Flip Side Podcast
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Very true. Sometimes I’m shocked, but I guess I shouldn’t be, that the availability of porn doesn’t bother people despite every scientific fact that it damages you psychologically and emotionally. I’m surprised that government officials are so willing to regulate our hamburgers and soda because it makes us obese, but unwilling to touch the porn industry.
Great thoughts Dave, thanks. That’s a great point about the hamburgers and sodas! You would think they’d at least be honest about porn and put some warnings along with it, like they do with tobacco products. Check out http://www.cutthereligiouscheese.com/what-porn-physiologically-does-to-your-brain-other-body-parts/ if you haven’t already as it (the video I embedded) does a great job of bringing up the physiological dangers of porn