In my opinion ...
1. Children are being exposed to sexually explicit content that they are not mature enough to see. This content has deeply traumatic effects on the child.
2. Children are more exposed to horrifying and disturbing images of conflict and trauma worldwide than ever before. They don’t have the maturity and insight to deal with what they are seeing and hearing about, which can lead to anxiety and depression.
3. Women and girls are sexually objectified constantly and relentlessly through the media and our children (particularly young girls) are seeing their worth as a sexualized object for male pleasure.
4. The pornography our kids are seeing is causing our boys, in particular, to outplay aggressive and sexualized behavior within their classrooms and the community. In response to this behavior, many girls are becoming either more sexualized or withdrawn and submissive.
5. Girls early exposure to pornography and/or aggressive sexualized behavior by boys is either resulting in them performing sex acts they are not comfortable with or the idea of sex is terrifying to them. The result is both girls and boys have no concept of what a mutually respectful relationship actually is.
6. Girls early exposure to pornography can result in a fear of sex and therefore the enjoyment they can experience from a mutually respectful sexual relationship is diminished. In other words girls are not enjoying sex as is their right; they are becoming terrified of it!
Children are visual learners and their current world consists of never-ending images. In no other time in history have they been so bombarded by the visual through our advancing technology. I am deeply concerned about what our children are learning … without adults actually being aware of what it is they are learning … Kids are just playing a game on the ipad. Right? Sadly what they are viewing and consequently learning is so much more than that.
To view Jayneen’s children’s books, blogs and advocacy work on Body Safety, Gender Equality, Empowering Children and Respectful Relationships go to e2epublishing.info