Introduction: The Silent Epidemic of Pornography
Porn could be considered a silent epidemic of which, unfortunately, we are still not aware. The magnitude of its impact on future generations is beginning to be unveiled and it still remains largely unknown, but there is growing interest on the area of porn control. The group most vulnerable to pornography are adolescents and children, even though we may think that the latter has virtually no contact with that world (which is entirely uncertain).
Are these statements alarmist? By no means. In fact, society is closer to a stance of minimizing the problem than alarmism. The main reasons are:
- The first exposure to pornography occurs around the age of 8.
- It leaves a permanent trace on behavior, persisting into adulthood.
Early Exposure and Its Lasting Effects
Let’s start by clarifying at what age our children have their first exposure to pornography and why. Well, the main causes are the abundance of pornographic material on the internet, ease of access, promotion on seemingly child-friendly media, and the invisibility of the problem, leading parents to not take surveillance and prevention measures. Imagine a situation where a child is given a mobile phone or tablet to play games, watch songs on the internet, cartoons, or anything else. Perhaps, at some point, advertisements for sexualized cartoons may appear. Once they click there, the subsequent suggested ads will become increasingly erotic, potentially leading to purely pornographic websites. Of course, if they are browsing directly on websites, ads with erotic or pornographic content can appear without any interaction from the child. The result is that children have their first exposure to pornography basically when they have been able to use the mobile phone unsupervised for a certain period.
Progression of Exposure: Curiosity and Puberty
As the age progresses, the factor of curiosity and active search for this content comes into play, especially when puberty begins and masturbation appears. Also, porn control becomes more difficult as the knowledge on how to evade it increases. So, as much as you trust your children, it is realistic to assume that the vast majority of minors have had access to pornographic content. It’s not a subjective assertion; there are data on it, but the goal of this article is not to overwhelm with statistics and graphs.
Content and Its Impact
One might think it’s not that serious, and that sex is natural. Well, that’s when the second major problem begins, the type of content and the consequences it generates in the individual. Pornography does not reflect sex as it happens in real life. There are no hugs, no kisses, there is a very high percentage of violence (choking, hitting, forced sex, etc.). Remember, we’re talking about children and adolescents who know nothing about sex, and what little they know, they learn from there. A 16-year-old boy, in his first sexual relationship, may be very surprised not to have received oral sex, or that the intercourse lasted 5-10 minutes instead of 40. And a girl may feel obligated to perform oral sex because that’s what is expected of her, or consider it normal to be grabbed by the hair during sexual intercourse.
Furthermore, all of this would be in the best-case scenario. The reality is that driven by curiosity and morbidity, they typically consume much more shocking content than adults, as they increasingly need stronger content to feel anything. Pornography has an addictive component, and indulging in it diminishes pleasure in real sexual relationships. As adults, they will struggle to have healthy and satisfying relationships, as well as normalizing and relativizing behaviors that are pure sexual assaults. It is common to exchange messages with short videos masturbating, nudes, rapes, or group assaults that are even recorded on video (which reinforces the idea that they are not even aware of the severity), etc.
Porn control
The main argument used to address this situation is the difficulty of controlling content on the internet, which is false. The tools exist. It is much more difficult to rent a car or gamble at an online casino than to access porn on the internet. Regulate porn on the internet is feasible. It simply requires the will to do so.
For now, the only available tool is in the hands of parents. Do not leave devices with internet connection without a minimum of security configuration. How to do that is dependent on the device itself, and the age of the child.
Closing thoughts
I hope you found this topic interesting, which I think links to the dangers of technology, about which I hope to write more articles.