There is a burr under my saddle which seems to hurt more every day. That is the easy access our society provides to pornography. A study of 1,500 kids reported in the journal Pediatrics found that 30 percent of 16- to17-year-old boys inadvertently encountered unwanted porn on the net. An additional 38 percent intentionally viewed porn sites. Of girls the same age, 8 percent searched for and watched porn while 38 percent came across porn when searching for other topics. (That study is now three years old; I suspect that today’s figures are even higher.) Sadly, 40 percent of these kids thought porn was normal and “not a big deal.”
But porn is a big deal!! I’ll not go into detail here about the evils of porn;* suffice it to say that porn of any kind is not good for teenagers or adults! And, it’s not only hard core porn that is dangerous. Children, especially boys, who view soft porn available in magazines, clothing catalogues, television shows, and movies, are at a serious risk for developing emotional problems. Unreal situations, featuring people with unreal bodies having unreal sex without consequences, wreaks havoc on unsuspecting young minds.
Soft porn is everywhere! Many media, including the television, video games, and magazines, found in many homes, present tantalizing, sensual material as typical teenage behavior (the “soft porn”, swim suit edition of Sports Illustrated is just one example). Unfortunately, such media and their soft porn are accepted as normal by much of today’s society.
One thing I will never understand is how our society can refer to porn and its ilk as “adult” or “mature?” What is adult or mature about watching porn? I can find no evidence that mature, healthy adults either need or use porn. On the contrary, watching porn indicates immaturity. There must be a more appropriate name for porn, such as “sophomoric,” which means foolish, or perhaps “moronic.” But please, let’s stop referring to such trash as “adult.” Call it like it is—porn is porn!
*Read more about the effects of pornography in Messengers in Denim when it is released this August. Until then, just take my word for it, porn is poison to kids of any age!