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In July, London-based journalist Flora Gill, who has bylines in GQ, The Sunday Times and other outlets, tweeted:
She later posted:
Absolutely not getting swept up into another twitter cesspool so deleted tweet before it picks up steam! Obviously not an actual solution, but it is a real problem. Everyone take a deep breath
— Flora Gill (@FloraEGill) July 29, 2021
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated or rare line of thought. Many pro-porn personalities have been promoting underage exposure to porn.
Gill’s proposal, however, is incredibly misleading. To not only encourage kids and teens to watch porn, but to go so far as to suggest we need kid-specific pornography, is a dangerous idea.
What if we applied this same line of thinking to drug use? “Kids and teens are already doing hardcore drugs in high school so we should create reduced-potency cocaine for kids.” Obviously, this is nonsensical. No rational adult would agree this is a wise move, and yet that is exactly what Flora Gill and many other so-called “sex-positive” advocates are pushing for.
We must be unequivocal in the understanding that ALL porn, whether softcore or extreme, is deeply harmful to a child’s sexual development.
RELATED: Porn Has Become Sex Ed for Children
Porn is a drug. The brain responds to it that way. It is addictive and carries many negative side effects on mental, physical, and relational health such as shame, guilt, anxiety, confusion, poor social bonds, addictions, and feelings of dissatisfaction with one’s body. It’s associated with increased suicidal ideation and increased likelihood of either sexually assaulting another person or being a victim of sexual assault. Our society needs to stop being so laissez-faire in regard to porn as sex education for kids and start giving this tragedy the attention it deserves.
But even if “kid-friendly” porn were somehow less harmful than other porn (we don’t believe it would be), it would still be disastrous. Consistent with other research, one study showed that almost half (46.9%) of those surveyed said their porn tastes and preferences escalated to the point of them being interested in more extreme porn that had previously disinterested or even disgusted them. So “kid-friendly porn” would only act as a gateway drug to everything else and would do nothing to stop kids from viewing extremely violent, hardcore porn.
RELATED: Help Protect 1 Million Children from Porn Exposure
But some child educators also welcome porn-inspired content into their curriculum. In August 2021, a 7th grade teacher at Olathe Public Schools in Kansas posted to social media that she added two sexually graphic books, All Boys Aren’t Blue and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, to her classroom library.
One passage in All Boys Aren’t Blue stated “He didn’t know I was a virgin, and I did my best to act dominant like my favorite porn star.” The book continued, “I was behind him with my stomach on his back as we kissed… he pulled out some condom and some lube… I had never done it before… I had one point of reference, though, and that was seven-plus years of watching pornography. Although the porn was heterosexual, it was enough of a reference point to get the job done.”
This book is being pushed by a 7th grade teacher. Many of the kids reading this won’t even have hit puberty, and this book is teaching them that porn is a great way to learn about sex so they’re “ready” to lose their virginity.
The idea that pornography is in any way helpful to the sexual, emotional, or mental development of a child is not only baseless, it’s dangerous.
According to Parents Defending Education, All Boys Aren’t Blue has been added to the reading lists and libraries of other schools. Normalization of porn at this level is setting these kids up for a lifetime of bondage to pornography.
You would be hard-pressed to find a single, plausible, positive statistic that is linked to porn consumption. For this reason, many states have already declared it a public health crisis. So why are some authority figures pushing it on developing young adolescents?
In a recent report, United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) called online pornography “vital sexuality education” and noted that protection measures like content filters and age verification might infringe on their human rights. After public outcry, the report was briefly removed, carefully edited, and republished. They’ve yet to make a statement regarding the controversial report.
UNICEF’s sole purpose, according to their website, is to protect children, and to establish “ethical principles” and “standards of behavior” towards children globally. Yet they have chosen to ignore literally decades of data and research that clearly reveals the devastation porn consumption and the porn industry has had on children. Their stance revealed a calloused and largely ignorant narrative regarding pornography. And it’s one that statistics and exposure stories from victims easily refute.
RELATED: Violent Porn Is Shaping Children Everywhere
One man, Nolon* told Exodus Cry, “I was introduced to porn by a friend when I was in 4th grade. After being a curious kid and checking out different sites I got absolutely hooked. I watched porn once, twice, sometimes even three times A DAY from 4th grade until high school. It distorted my view on women. In middle school and high school I would ask girls for nudes constantly and try to make it seem like it was no big deal because ‘everybody does it.’ Porn turned me into someone I’m deeply ashamed of. To this day I still struggle to stay away from porn and I suffer the mental and psychological consequences of my actions.”
Exposed at the age of 7, Carla* said, “Pornography stole the definition of real love for me. Porn creates a counterfeit fantasy of relationships that teaches you that you have all the control, it’s all about your gratification, and needs. This made me give into toxic pressures of a relationship. I’d allow myself to be beaten, bruised, and hurt during intimacy.”
The idea that pornography is in any way helpful to the sexual, emotional, or mental development of a child is not only baseless, it’s dangerous. We have to fight back against this onslaught of dehumanizing content that’s being pushed on our children not only from Big Porn, but now from adults in positions of authority.
With your help, we can build a formidable movement that challenges the predatory porn giants and cultural normalization of porn that is harvesting the innocence of children everywhere.
1. Give here. Your gift will help us reach our year-end goal of protecting 1 million children from porn!
2. Watch Raised on Porn, free on YouTube, then like, comment, and share it with 5 friends.
3. Join 60k+ others by signing the petition demanding age verification, with ID, on every single porn site. Then share it.
*Names have been changed to protect the identities of submitters.
