Teens And Porn

Guest blogger Angie Frame is Pastor to Students at PCC.  Her interaction with teens gives her unique perspective and insight regarding spiritual and emotional issues.  Here are her thoughts regarding the issue of pornography and its effect on students.

This past Sunday Brian addressed the issue of pornography, especially how it affects adults. However, many people who view pornography as adults began viewing it as preteens or teenagers. Therefore, it is helpful to examine the issue of pornography from the preteen and teen perspective. Some of these students view pornography purposefully and for gratification, others do so accidentally (at first) or for curiosity. Preteens are very curious about sexuality, and pornography offers a crash course in the human body and sex. For example, I’ve heard of middle school students hearing slang sex terms on the bus, then coming home and Googling those terms just to see what they mean. What they got was an introduction to pornography.

Not all that long ago, young people got access to porn by sneaking a dad’s Playboy or erotic video collection. Now it’s just a click away. One of our students blogged about this Sunday’s service, and she said that students use porn much more than drugs and alcohol.

You’ve likely heard recent news coverage about teens taking nude or partially nude photos of themselves or others on their camera phones. This is a new way for students to view pornography, but it’s also the most potentially harmful way. Now a girl takes a photo of herself and sends it to her boyfriend (or vice versa). This is problematic even if the photo is only viewed by the intended recipient. The problem gets bigger when the recipient then forwards the photo to other people. Imagine if a photo of your teenage daughter’s chest was circulating around the high school. Imagine the humiliation your whole family would feel. This has happened at Powhatan High School and probably the junior high, too; I just don’t know of any specific examples.

Pornography is easily accessible to young people today, and it negatively affects their lives and relationships. The consequences of viewing pornography are felt by users of all ages, not just married adults. One student put it this way, “I feel like I’ve been living a double life.” The guilt, shame, and weight of carrying around such a secret can affect a student’s personality and interactions with other people.

Two books you may consider purchasing to address this issue are Every Young Man’s Battle and Every Young Woman’s Battle. Here are some excerpts:

“Almost every day I would go back to the naked picture files in my brain and view the collection…It felt like the women weren’t real people to me. I didn’t see them as fully human; they were just something to give me physical pleasure.”

“I learned the hard way that when you fill your mind with sexual images, you awaken sexual desires that should only be entertained and fulfilled within marriage.”

Viewing pornography as a preteen or teenager causes guilt and shame, breeds an unhealthy and unrealistic view of the human body and sexuality, and sets students up for problems in their future marriages. 

If anyone would like to discuss this issue further, feel free to contact me at angie{at)powhatancommunitychurch{dot}org.