In June 2019, our allies at Culture Reframed released a sneak peek of their new animated video titled, “Parent Up! Talk to Your Son About Porn.” The video was released just in time for Father’s Day in the United States, which was timely and relevant as the video focuses primarily on the father-son dynamic and how that relationship can be used to prepare children for growing up in a pornified culture. The narrative of the video talks about the way many young people today, especially boys (but increasingly girls, as well), learn about sex, relationships, and how to treat women and girls from pornography, instead of from their fathers.
Use this great new tool to start a conversation with your kids today!
Impact on Kids
The founder and CEO of Culture Reframed, Dr. Gail Dines, has been a longtime advocate against pornography, speaking around the world (including at our 2018 Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation Global Summit– see the video of her presentation here) about its harmful effects.
Dr. Dines has said in the past, “The reality is that most teenagers will inevitably be exposed to porn—and parents must talk to them about it!” Unfortunately, the porn industry’s reach has grown even further to affect younger and younger children and adolescents. According to Culture Reframed’s website, a third of young people have seen porn by age 12. Here at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation we’ve heard story after story of children as young as 6 years old being exposed to it!
The pathways to pornography are ever-increasing, including social media platforms, like the popular Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter (who is on our 2019 Dirty Dozen List), and more. As technology advances so quickly, it can be difficult for parents to keep up with what their children are engaging with online and on their smart devices. With so many ways for adolescents to be bombarded with pornified images, it’s no longer a matter of IF they will see pornography, but WHEN. That is why it is so important for parents to be proactive about talking to their children about the harmful effects of pornography and making a game plan for kids to know what to do when they see it.
As the video shows in the end, parents CAN make a difference! When parents take action, kids feel safe and comfortable to come to them when they encounter pornography, and they trust their parents to teach them what they need to know about relationships, sex, and intimacy without having to turn to porn. Fathers around the world are “parenting up,” and the impact that can have on their children is profound!
RESOURCES:
Culture Reframed has developed a complete, best-practice toolkit for parents, which will help you raise porn-resilient kids. The Parents of Tweens Program is online, free, and accessible.
To get ideas for how to address the topic of pornography with your children, please feel free to download this free “Talk Today, Safer Tomorrow: 10 Easy Conversation Starters” handout.
Another great resource for talking to children about porn is the book “Good Pictures Bad Pictures: Porn-Proofing Today’s Young Kids” by Kristen Jenson, at Protect Young Minds (see also: “Good Pictures Bad Pictures Jr.”).
If you’d like to learn more about the public health harms of pornography, please visit www.endsexualexpolitation.org/publichealth.
