As we approach the Presidential election there is division across the country: the left and the right; the liberals and the conservatives; the Democrats and the Republicans. But it is safe to say that we can all come together and agree that porn is something that needs to be kept away from kids. What’s interesting about that, is why most people feel that way. They don’t have to be told. They just know kids watching porn is wrong.
And it turns out they’re right. Not only is porn something that is wrong for kids to watch, but it can harmful and the evidence in appearing across the globe. In Italy, a study of 804 teenagers found that boys were significantly more likely to report having “sexually harassed a peer or having forced somebody to have sex” if they’d viewed pornography. A study in Australia of 101 sexually abusive children showed boys who used pornography had increased aggressiveness. In the US, a therapist reported “I am also witnessing more female adolescents tolerating emotional, physical, and sexual abuse in dating relationships, feeling pressure to make out with females as a way to turn guys on, looking at or producing pornography so that their boyfriends will think they are ‘open-minded’ and ‘cool,’…”.
Parents, your kids may feel that they’re missing out on something if they can’t look at porn. And they’re right. Tell them all the things they are missing out on. Let them know looking at porn can lead to harmful and sexually aggressive behavior, harassment and abuse. Kids’ looking at porn is so much more than wrong. It’s dangerous. And no matter where on the political fence you sit that’s something we all agree on.