Romantic and sexual longings are normal. Our heart was designed for romance, and our body was designed to physically respond. The longings are legitimate, but there is a right way and a wrong way to satisfy those longings, a way that is destructive and a way that is healthy.
Pornography is a deadly drug. It sends a toxic message. It is hazardous. Why? Because it views women as objects for a man’s sexual use. It portrays violence as sexually arousing and desired by women. Do women really want to be controlled, intimidated, humiliated, and abused? Are pain and humiliation really erotic?
Some people say that there is nothing wrong with viewing pornography. Some sex education curricula in schools teach students how to use pornography. Sex education texts encourage teens to use pornography to make themselves feel sexual, in preparation for having sex.
Many people believe that any restrictions on the availability of pornography are against a constitution’s guarantee of free speech.
Many Christians are involved in pornography.
What can you do to protect your teens from becoming involved in porn? Whatever your relationship with young people, you need to help them to recognize what is normal in relationships and what is not. There is a right way and a wrong way to satisfy our natural longings. A way that is destructive and a way that is healthy.
You need to teach what is right and healthy in teen romantic relationships, what God intended. But you also need to talk with children from an early age about the dangers of pornography and help them to reject it. They need to be able to recognize and flatly reject the dangerous ideas promoted by pornography. Help them to see that “part of growing up is recognizing what they don’t want to know, then turning and staying away from it” (Dr. Miriam Grossman).
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