A15-year-old boy confided in me after I addressed his class at a Sydney school last year. He cried as he told me that he had been using porn since the age of nine. He didn’t have a social life, had few friends, had never had a girlfriend. His life revolved around online porn. He wanted to stop, he said, but didn’t know how.
I have had similar conversations with other boys since then.
Girls also share their experiences. Of boys pressuring them to provide porn-inspired acts. Of being expected to put up with things they don’t enjoy. Of seeing sex in terms of performance. Girls as young as 12 show me the text messages they routinely receive requesting naked images.
Pornography is invading the lives of young people. Seventy per cent of boys and 53.5 per cent of girls have seen porn by age 12, 100 per cent of boys and 97 per cent of girls by age 16.
I am surprised there are no comments on this bracing and significant article. Can you imagine youth ministry against this cultural backdrop?
Talk about a challenge.
Lord, have mercy.
As a father of young adolescents, this scares me. How does one combat this scourge when it’s so prevalent? While I wonder how the numbers here in the States compare to Australia, one has to assume that most will be exposed to it eventually. This certainly makes “the talk” a bit more awkward and all the more necessary.
I receive updates on my FB page from Melinda Tankard Reist, she writes extensively on the sexploitation of women by the media. I find her to be very informative. This article is an example of her excellent work.
Exposure to pornography can also make adolescents less able to determine they are being sexually abused. It not only makes sexual activity more acceptable it makes objections to sexual activity seem outside of the accepted norm. It is one way in which moral compasses are lost. Victims are getting the message that “this is right” over and over again which stifles the the natural inhibitions they have. When the victim realizes they have been abused they may feel guilty for allowing it to continue. Not understanding how they were manipulated. This does not mean I believe they are guilty but that they very well may feel guilty.
I have a difficult time understanding how anyone can find porn acceptable – even to the point they watch it with their spouses. To me it is a corruption of something God meant to be sacred.