Is there anyone left who is “innocent?” With the pervasiveness of pornography, that is a valid question.
By Becca Phillips
How old were you when you were first exposed to pornography? You probably don’t have to think very hard about it. It’s probably a moment you remember. Chances are you were probably as young, if not younger, than I was.
It must have been when I was eleven or twelve that I was innocently looking up a popular band on the internet. One small error in the way I typed the band and suddenly a world I had never seen before was opened up to me. How was I supposed to know that if I left off one tiny symbol it would take me somewhere completely different?
I was no longer innocent.
I was however one in a lucky minority that was able to escape quickly from the bonds of pornography, before it had really captured me.
Statistics show that 93% of boys and 62% of girls are exposed to internet pornography before the age of 18, most of this exposure being between the ages of 14 and 17. Statistics further show that most girls report it as involuntary exposure, and that they never looked for it on purpose. Nearly everyone has viewed pornography at some point in their lives, whether it is intentional or not. This goes to show how easy it is to access it on the internet. You can access it through text, or simply walking or driving by on the streets.
Pornography is everywhere.
Does anyone else find this alarming? It was about twelve years ago that I first viewed it. It was practically unheard of back then. Or at least I was oblivious to it. But now we hear about it everywhere. It seems to me that it has become an even bigger issue. Was I just completely naïve or something? It’s not often you come across a child these days who could really qualify as naïve.
Pornography distorts views of reality, paints pictures in the mind that cannot be erased, and destroys all innocence that once was. It is so real and so powerful, that if we are not careful it can creep up on us at any time and in any situation. After all, it did for me.
It blows my mind that society has let it get this far out of hand.
CNN has countless reports about pornography. Just search pornography articles and an entire page of 1-60 minute old articles pop up. If it has made the news, it has to be big. Pornography is affecting families. It’s affecting you, and it’s affecting me. I didn’t say we were the ones looking at it. But so long as our close friends and family are exposed to it, and letting it be a part of their lives it quickly becomes a part of our lives as well. Ready or not, here it comes!
But wait, can we be ready?
I believe we can be.
We can take a stand. We don’t have to sit back and watch it destroy the ones we love. What if we were the ones to make a change to the social learning model of pornography? Ana Bridges talks all about it in her report. People learn from observation. They see these messages portrayed and act it out in their own lives.
Well, what if we learn from observation of the effects of pornography on others that we don’t want that in our lives? The social learning model, then, becomes a positive in this situation. Let’s try.
Becca is from Boise, Idaho. The third of five children. Wife to a wonderful husband. Expecting her first child. She loves families and believes in regular family recreation.
References
http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/CV169.pdf
http://www.cnn.com/search/?query=Pornography&x=0&y=0&primaryType=mixed&sortBy=relevance&intl=false
Resources
http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/CV169.pdf