So if you didn’t get a chance to watch the video previously posted, I highly recommend doing so. However, it is very explicit in describing certain aspects of pornography, so please watch with discretion and not around young children. Let’s take a step back first, though. Why in the world am I talking about such a scandalous topic?
Frankly, no one else is. And if it is, it’s done in such a “beat around the bush” fashion. We live in a sexualized culture, and if parents and the Church are not speaking about it with our children and youth, then who is? That wasn’t a rhetorical question, by the way. If you’re lucky (kind of), you’ll learn about it in school. But I was born and raised in Connecticut, and even then, it wasn’t that great of a curriculum. The only thing we are leaving our children and youth to learn about sex then is from their friends, and more likely, the internet. And you’re okay with that?
Access to adult websites is ridiculous now; anyone, anywhere, at any time, can access it without issue. Combined with the fact that kids are born with iPhones in their hands, and you mostly have a recipe for disaster waiting to happen. The biggest issue with pornography is the distortion it paints of sex on so many levels. On an individual level, a person learns this is what “sex” is. If an individual thinks that, they’ll bring that to a relationship, which will create its own issues. If multiple people are thinking of sex in this way, then as a society, as a whole, it’ll think of sex in the way porn portrays it. And that’s how, more or less, you have the normalization of abuse in a culture.
The automatic reflex might be to shelter our children and youth. I’ve heard of youth who were so innocent and then exposed to things, and it was like opening Pandora’s box. So is sheltering the answer? I mean, it’s enticing with such an uncomfortable subject, but is not speaking about it helping? The only thing it really is serving is taming our awkwardness and discomfort when a youth brings it up. Although, how has the avoidance of addressing a subject matter helped anyone, let alone our children and youth?
There will definitely be more posts about this subject. Leave your thoughts or questions below!