|
 |
|
The Prevalence of Porn has Teen Girls, and the British Gov’t,
Looking for Protection The absurd notion that pornography is just “harmless fun” has suffered a couple of setbacks in the past few weeks. According to press reports in the United Kingdom, the complete rejection of that belief cannot happen soon enough. The British newspaper Daily Mail, in its digital Mail Online, reported in their recent article “Teen boys watching hours of internet pornography every week are treating their girlfriends like sex objects”* (3/8/10) that teenage girls in London have themselves revived the concept of a chaperone for protection from the sexual demands of boyfriends who are growing up on porn. According to teens and experts, the pervasiveness of online pornography is quite literally changing young men into sexual predators, leaving young women seeking refuge—tearfully, in some cases—in a Jane Austen-like manner and desperately desiring their parents’ guidance. “I wish my parents would say I'm not allowed to be home alone with a boy,” one sixteen-year-old told the Daily Mail. “I wish they'd say boys aren't allowed in my bedroom. They make this big deal about ‘trusting us,’ but that's not helping me. They have no idea what goes on, and I'm too embarrassed to tell them.” In a similar vein, the article reports that only 37% of parents in the U.K. have activated parental controls on their teenager’s electronic devices. This article followed the BBC’s coverage of a U.K. government report recommending new regulations to stem the tide of sexualized imagery accessible to children. The report recognizes that the sexualization of adolescence is having a devastating effect on young people, and proposes tougher regulations on advertising and magazine sales, as well as requiring mobile phones and gaming systems to have parental controls on by default. The clear lesson of these reports from “across the pond” is that parents need to engage with their children, talk to them about sex and our consumer culture’s sexualized messages, and demonstrate their love by setting appropriate boundaries and activating parental controls on computers, phones, and gaming consoles. Additionally, parents should consider installing filtering software to further protect their children and families. The National Coalition recommends the products of two companies: accountability and filtering software from Covenant Eyes, as well as InternetSafety.com’s Safe Eyes parental control software. Click here to visit the National Coalition’s website and learn more about our partners Covenant Eyes and InternetSafety.com. *A direct link to this article is not provided because it contains a nude image. |
