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christian counseling today
VOL. 22 NO. 1
31
Many children see their first pornographic images before they
enter puberty. With little curiosity or understanding about
sex, the images create confusion and shame—two feelings
that young children simply do not know how to handle.
Children who view pornography during puberty, however,
struggle with multiple issues because of hormonal changes
that make their physical reactions and emotional reactions
more intense. And since many children now enter puberty
at earlier ages than in years past, this means those of us who
care for them must be ready to deal with these issues around
pornography sooner than we would like.
Puberty and Pornography… a Volatile Pairing
The average age of the onset of puberty has dropped to 9.96
in Caucasian girls and 8.87 in African-American girls; boys
enter puberty slightly later at age 10 and 9 respectively. This
means that boys and girls in the third, and even second,
grade will have classmates who have started puberty. Aside
from the physical changes that come with puberty, there
are emotional challenges for children who enter puberty so
young. When you couple these changes with a first exposure
to pornography, parents and healthcare professionals have
their work cut out for them.
Puberty brings hormonal shifts in children that affect
their moods, feelings, and perceptions of themselves. Girls
have mood swings because of fluctuations in estrogen and
progesterone levels, but boys also have mood swings. They,
too, may experience teariness and increased sensitivity
during puberty. These emotional changes make boys and
girls more vulnerable to psychological trauma from viewing
pornography. Most young children who see pornography
on the Internet do so unwittingly—it simply appears on
their screens. As they search the Internet for a resource for
homework, a cartoon, or even a YouTube
©
clip on how to
play something, too often the image suddenly appears and
shocks them. The reaction may trigger many painful feelings
of disgust, shame, and fear. Again, these feelings will be
exaggerated because of fluctuating hormones circulating
around their young brains.
The physical sensations that pubertal girls and boys feel
when they see pornography can be equally confusing. Boys
(and girls) will feel sexual stimulation. Of course, while they
usually like the physical sensation, they may feel repulsed by
the images that caused the arousal. Then they connect the
arousal with shame and disgust. This is very confusing and
can set children up to have twisted feelings about sex in the
future.
Pornography Puts Teens at Risk for Increased
Sexual Activity
Marketing professionals have long realized that when children
are exposed to repeated, stimulating images, they will adopt
different behaviors (i.e., buy their products). If pubertal
children with intense emotions and physical sensations view
certain products (pornography here), it stands to reason these
same kids will engage in sexual activity earlier than those
who have not had the same exposure. This is a hotly debated
dynamic with researchers, but the correlation between
repeated exposure to pornography and early sexual activity
in teens simply follows a well-established association used by
marketers… and it is a reasonable conclusion.
As pornography leads children to early sexual activity and
experimentation, we face very serious problems. Children
who begin sexual activity in their teen years (especially
their early teen years) are at a substantially higher risk for
acquiring sexually transmitted infections. In fact, the dirtiest
and darkest secret in America is this: teens are currently
experiencing an epidemic of sexually transmitted infections.
However, the general public is unaware because bringing
this truth into the open causes financial, political, and social
ramifications that most do not want to face. As a pediatrician,
however, teaching medical truth is front and center to my
work.
Here is what we know. Teens and young adults comprise
about 30% of the American population, but live with over
50% of the more than 20 million sexually transmitted
infections that
arise new every year
. There are over 30 sexually
transmitted infections currently circulating and, according
to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), condoms do
a poor job at reducing the risk of a person getting human
papillomavirus (HPV) or herpes. Speaking of herpes,
according to the
New England Journal of Medicine
, one in five
people over age 11 tests positive for HSV-2. I could go on and
on and I reference this in detail in my book,
Your Kids at Risk.
Suffice it to say that when kids start having sex under the age
of 16, the problems they contend with can be life threatening.
MEG MEEKER
... the dirtiest and darkest secret in America is this: teens are currently
experiencing an epidemic of sexually transmitted infections.