Diane Robertson
There are many laws put in place to protect children—seat belt and car seat laws, laws that allow driving, drinking, and smoking only after children reach a certain age, and many more. Why? Because these laws protect children and are good for society. Seat belt and car seat laws save lives. Substance laws save children from a life of addiction. These laws help the happiness and success of nations.
A new threat to children has been identified—pornography. In the past 15 years children have had access to pornography like no other generation before. The internet has allowed easy, private access to all types of pornography.
A recent study in Great Britain has shown that people who view pornography show similar brain activity to that of alcoholics or drug addicts. A certain area in the brain lights up during an MRI when an alcoholic views alcohol advertisements. The same area in the brain lights up when people who view pornography frequently see pornographic images.
Children and Adolescence are more at risk for addiction when they use or view addictive substances and materials. A 2011 study done on adolescent rats verses adult rats found that, “the big difference between the brains of teenage and adult rats occurred in the dorsal striatum, where more activity showed up for teen rats about to get a food pellet. This brain region gets activated by the reward signals from the nucleus accumbens and is involved in habit formation.” (Jennifer Welsh, Live Science Writer)
A British Freedom of Information Act request showed that 4,562 minors committed 5,028 sexual offenses over a three year period, from 2009-2012. These children acted on the pornography they saw on the internet. Pornography is an obvious problem for children. It is time to add another law to protect children. Just like drinking age laws protect children from addiction, laws need to be made to protect children from pornography addiction.
Currently in Britain, Prime Minister, David Cameron is considering a national pornography filter provided by all internet providers. Customers could request to have the filter removed.
A group in the United States is sending a petition to the President requesting that the United States require all US internet providers to attach an automatic pornography filter to their services. Again, customers desiring pornography could request that the filter be removed. This would help protect children from life-long addictions. Please sign the petition today. It will only be up for two more days.