True story: Chevonea, age 13, was heavily pressured to perform a sex act on a boy at school. When she finally gave in, the boy shared a picture of the act with his friends. When approached by the boy at her home, Chevonea threatened to jump from the window–if he didn’t delete the photo. Tragically, she slipped from the window of her four-story apartment and fell to the ground, dying from massive brain injuries.
Sadly, instead of exchanging glances or smiles on the playground, teens today might exchange nude photos or videos or even perform sexual favors. In a recent news story, a girl no older than 13 said that “If [boys] want oral sex, they will ask every single day until you say yes.”
Today, many teen boys try to collect explicit pictures of as many girls as possible. This is the new rite of passage? It seems the norm for teens today is to send text messages with explicit pictures to their crushes.
This trend is horrifying.
Sex “education” is provided online. It’s free and it’s everywhere. Kids are exposed to pornography at every click of the mouse. To that point, a recent story revealed that kids watching YouTube are ‘three clicks’ away from explicit material.
Pornography is getting more hardcore and violent and kids assume it’s normal behavior. They believe it’s the right way to treat a sexual partner.
The fact that teens are worried about sexual partners is alarming, but in greater numbers, they’re learning how to poorly treat sexual partners from very bad role models on the small silver screen on their mobile phone.
Pornography exposure has been shown to have negative effects when a teen tries to form a healthy romantic relationship later in life.
Today, girls are under enormous pressure to look and act like movie and porn stars to gain acceptance. Immature teen boys are now badgering girls for sexual favors because of that pressure. In any other situation, we would shout “sexual harassment!”
We should not stand for it.
What can be done?
- Parents and teachers need to teach girls that it’s okay to say no.
- Parents and teachers need to teach boys to stop asking.
- Parents and teachers need to teach kids about healthy relationships in which each partner respects the other.
- We have to keep pornography out of our homes and off our mobile devices.
- Consider using anti-pornography software as one tool in the fight. Speaking with your teen about the negative consequences of pornography is also vital.
One fourteen-year-old girl texted the author of a recent article: “Don’t bash the kids. We don’t sell porn. Grown-ups do. YOU FIX IT!!”
So, what are we doing to fix it?