Culture Reframed raises awareness and provides education and resources in order to build resistance and resilience in kids to hypersexualized media and porn culture.
As the mother of a 14-year-old boy, it was upsetting, though not surprising, to learn:
On the first point, it was discouraging to hear how easily innocent, accidental keyword search terms can lead you to a porn image. Not to mention the ease of access through ads on social media sites like Snapchat and Instagram.
There have been numerous studies linking porn to verbal and/or physical sexual aggression. For example, in a study of U.S. college men, researchers found that 83% reported seeing mainstream pornography, and that those who did were more likely to say they would commit rape or sexual assault – if they knew they wouldn’t be caught – than men who hadn’t seen porn in the past 12 months.
Without having to pay a fee, access to porn is literally just one click away.
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After interviewing Gail Dines, Jackson Katz, and others, I came to understand why Culture Reframed considers hypersexualized media and porn as the public health crisis of the digital age. For many kids, porn has become their source of sex ed. This is a frightening thought on so many levels.
In order to combat the influence of the porn industry, Culture Reframed has created great resources for parents. They have crafted scripts on how to talk about healthy relationships and sexuality. They have a contract template to help manage expectations around viewing of websites and social media too.
As uncomfortable as it may feel to broach the porn conversation with your kids, if you don’t teach them, the porn industry will.