How Can Parents Protect Children from Online Pornography?

Families, communities, and nations are stronger when children are protected from online pornography. According to Dennis Romboy, Congress has attempted several times to “prevent children from being able to access online pornography,” but the U.S. Supreme Court has struck them down. 

Now, Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) believes that he has a proposal that will pass the requirements of the First Amendment. In addition, Lee introduced legislation to “establish a national definition of obscenity.” His bill would require the Federal Communications Commission to “issue a rule requiring all commercial pornographic websites to adopt age verification technology to ensure children cannot access pornographic content.”

Lee’s legislation has an interesting title, but one that fits the purpose – something that most Democrat bills do not. Lee’s bill is titled the Shielding Children’s Retinas from Egregious Exposure on the Net (SCREEN) Act. He said that the “vast technological improvements” of our day “give his bill … good legal ground to pass the Supreme Court’s requirement that the government use the least restrictive means to a accomplish its interest.”

“Given the alarming rate of teenage exposure to pornography, I believe the government must act quickly to enact protections that have a real chance of surviving First Amendment scrutiny. We require age verification at brick-and-mortar shops. Why shouldn’t we require it online?” Lee said in a statement.

In the 20 years since the Supreme Court last took up the issue, blocking and filtering software has proven to be ineffective in protecting children from accessing online pornography, with nearly 80% of teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 exposed to such content, according to Lee.

“Every day, we’re learning more about the negative psychological effects pornography has on minors,” he said.

I did research on pornography for one of my classes this semester, and I know that Lee’s comments agree with the research that I studied. Lee said that in 2016 Utah was the first state to declare pornography to be a public health hazard. Now there are seventeen states that “have recognized pornography as a public health crisis leading to a broad range of individual, societal and public health impacts.”

If Lee’s bill becomes a law that the Supreme Court declares to be constitutional, it will direct “the FCC to issue a rule to require commercial pornographic websites to adopt age verification technology to ensure that users of the website are not children.” In addition, the bill would “grant the FCC enforcement powers, including civil penalties and injunctive relief.”

I learned from my research that the use of pornography causes users to avoid relationships with real humans, meaning that they have less desire to marry. Marriage is essential for strong families, so wise parents will do everything in their power to protect their children from access to pornography. The government may soon help the parental effort to protect the rising generation and aid in the creation of strong families, which in turn strengthen communities and governments. 

Teaching the Dangers of Pornography

                Families, communities, and nations are strengthened when parents humbly and prayerfully teach their children about the “sacred and human nature of sex, bodies, and procreation.” Most parents and children find the transition period between childhood and adulthood to be challenging. Loving parents want to keep their children safe while at the same time prepare them to go out into the world. Just as most parents do not allow their children to go wandering around in a strange place by themselves, parents must also teach their children about the dangers of pornography and how to have loving and respectful intimate relationships in marriage.

                N. Beth Cavanaugh posted a very helpful and interesting article that should help many parents deal with the growing interest of their child in their physical body and sexual activities. It is titled “The Perfect Thing My Husband Did When He Discovered Pornography on Our Child’s Device.” She discusses how her husband found evidence of interest on their son’s electronic device and how the father, mother, and son handled the situation.

                Cavanaugh lists the steps her husband took in dealing with the problem of their 11-year-old son being interested in pornography. The steps are:  (1) Take time to breathe. Do not re-act to the situation but wait until you are prepared to act properly. (2) Find any humor in the situation that you can and “laugh a little and pray a lot.”

(3) “Shun shame” because no parent wants their child to feel “unlovable or unworthy of redemption.” It also shuts down communication. (4) “Ask questions and listen.” Ask open-ended questions and actively listen to the answers.

(5) “Set boundaries and follow up with trust.” Agree to discuss the problem openly. Institute rules with accountability. Allow the child to have ownership in the rules and consequences. (6) Be sure that your child knows that your goal is to keep him/her happy and protected.

                With pornography so readily available to our children and youth, parents must prepare themselves to act lovingly and prayerfully in teaching the dangers of sit to their children. I know that parents can help their children learn about sex in safe and responsible ways, keep their family relationships strong, and thus strengthen their families, communities, and nations.

Pornography

                Families, communities, and nations are strengthened when we teach the rising generation how to avoid pornography.  We must teach them that pornography is addictive and dangerous; we must teach them that pornography can destroy individuals, marriages, and families as well as weaken communities and nations.

                The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has produced a new video in which children teach their peers about pornography.  The name of the video is “What Should I Do If I See Pornography?”  The children explain what pornography is and how to react to it.  They also share a three-step process to tell children what to do if they see pornography:  (1) Call it what it is – pornography, immodesty, or bad pictures; (2) Turn it off or turn away from it; (3) Tell a parent or other trusted adult. 

                I encourage you to show the video to your children or grandchildren.  Teach them how to be safe from this evil influence.  We can strengthen our families, communities, and nations by treating pornography as the evil it is.

Children and Pornography

                Wise parents and other adults will strengthen their families, communities, and nations by protecting the rising generation from the effects of pornography.  Since pornography is all around us and can be brought right into our homes over the Internet, we must take action against it.  The best defense against pornography is much like defending against other enemies:  go on the offense. 

                How pervasive is pornography?  The Daily Mail reported that “entire classes of young teenage boys have watched it.”  The Mail  reported that “unpublished research into access to pornography among children” discovered more children involved with pornography than previously thought.  The research showed “that every boy and half the girls in a year nine group of 14-year-olds had accessed pornography.”  Even children as young as 11 years old are known to “actively” search for pornography.

                What were the results of the research?  “Some boys now felt they had an `absolute entitlement to have sex with girls, any time, any place, anywhere, with whomsoever they wished.’”  Is there any surprise then to have “15 children a day … excluded from schools for sexual misconduct”?

                Conservative MP Claire Perry said on Bringing Up Britain that “parents should tell other parents about the problems of children watching pornography.”  She added:  “We have commissioned research into young people’s understanding of consent….  It raises very serious questions about whether boys in particular have any understanding of the concept of consent.”

                Why does no one seem to be panicking about what should be considered to be a “public health issue” just like lice or a contagious disease?   Parents may be too ashamed to share the activities of their own children with other parents or to even talk about it with their own children.  We should all be concerned because there are some reports that connect the odds of becoming addicted to pornography with the age when it is first viewed.  Do we really want a nation of pornography addicts?  I think not.

                Patrick Trueman, former chief of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Criminal Division, was the keynote speaker at a conference in Utah in June 2010.  He said, “We have in America today a crisis of pornography.”  He also spoke about the $97 billion pornography industry and how it has “addicted men, women, and even children across America” and destroyed “marriages, families, and lives.”

                How does pornography do such damage?  It “hijacks the brain by fueling dopamine production, which provides excitement, but no endorphins are emitted to help the brain feel satisfied.  … This cycle leads users to fall deeper and deeper into their addiction as they seek a satisfaction that will never come.” 

                Addiction to pornography at young ages can prevent the development of normal sexual relationships as adults.  Males push for more violent sex, and females simply grow more angry towards men and about sex.  Neither of these results is conducive to happy marriages.

                April Perry at a blog entitled Motherhood Matters suggested that parents take an active role in teaching their children about pornography.  Since we cannot truly trust the Internet filter, we must activate a better defense – their own conscience.  Making children consciously aware of the evil of pornography will assist them to avoid watching it and sharing it with others.

                Perry suggests that “simply teaching a little girl about modesty is a great foundation against pornography in the long run.  When we are teaching kids, we’ve got to go back to the basics:  (1) Build trust [with children when they are young, the teens may be too late]….  (2) Talk about everything [have an “open-door policy” and be shocked in private]….  (3) Teach them to respect others….  At its core, pornography is about disrespect [and] turns men and women into two-dimensional objects to be lusted after….  (4) Instill modesty….”  Perry encourages parents to teach the “why” as well as the “what” of modesty and respect for self and others.

                As a means of education, Nate Pyle, a pastor for Christ’s Community Church in Fishers, Indiana, wrote an interesting essay for his blog entitled “From One Degree to Another.”  He wrote about a conversation he will have with his son one day about how to really see women.  “A woman’s body is beautiful and wonderful and mysterious.  Respect it by respecting her as an individual with hopes and dreams and experiences and emotions and longings….

                “I’m not telling you to not look at women.  Just the opposite.  I’m telling you to see women.  Really see them.  Not just with your eyes but with your heart.  Don’t look to see something that tickles your senses, but see a human being.

                “My hope is that changing how you see women will change how you are around them….”

                Recognizing the problems caused by pornography, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints created a web site entitled “Overcoming Pornography through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.”  “The Lord Jesus Christ makes it possible for us to overcome all things.  No matter our circumstances, He asks us to trust that He is the way.  In this site, you will be reminded of the power of Jesus Christ and His Atonement as you discover practical guidance and resources for individuals, families, and leaders seeking healing, forgiveness, protection, and power in overcoming pornography.”

                We must engage in battle against pornography.  We can do this best by teaching children the proper way to deal with pornography; we can strengthen them emotionally and spiritually and thus enable them to avoid it.  Such teaching may also protect our children from pedophiles who are addicted to pornography.  When we strengthen the rising generation, we strengthen families, communities, and nations.