There is so much information out there about pornography, and your teenager hears it all. Some of it is false, some of it is true, and some of it is somewhere in the middle.
We know it is important to talk to our children about pornography, preferably long before they become teenager. But with everything you could say during one of those talks, what does your teenager really need to know?
It’s fake
Everything about it. The men and the women. What they say, and what they do. The actors even lie through their teeth when they are not filming (Note: The article contains mature content). Their bodies are prepped and painted and surgically enhanced and digitally altered.
Your teenager needs to know that pornographic depictions of sexual encounters are unrealistic. He or she needs to know that men and women in loving relationships do not enjoy subjecting and degrading or being subjected or degraded.
Your teenager needs to know that most of those who work in pornography are manipulated, threatened, and sometimes outright enslaved. That their “jobs” lead them to substance abuse, disease, and mental illness.
Your teenager needs to know that porn stars are not celebrities– they are working in dead-end jobs. Few employers are willing to hire someone whose only skills are pornography-related.
It’s addictive
Pornography works the same way as a drug. Here’s a 9th grade health class explanation: The first time someone use a drug (or pornography), his/her brain is flooded with dopamine, the pleasure hormone. The user literally has never felt so good. But the next time, using the drug doesn’t feel as pleasurable. Scientists believe this might be a result of the brain discarding some of its dopamine receptors because of the initial flood. Over time, the drug provides less and less of a rush, leading the user to seek more and more hits to feel the high. Eventually, the user has to partake of the drug just to feel a normal sense of well-being.
With pornography, the desensitization process normally leads to seeking out more and more intense pornography and then acting out in real life.
Teach your teenager that pornography will rob them of the ability to enjoy a normal life and a normal relationship.
Whatever else you teach your teenagers, make sure they know that pornography is fake and addictive. There is nothing educational about pornography; it is not indicative of healthy relationships, love, or physical intimacy. Pornography reshapes the brain and sucks in users over and over again.
Make sure your teenager is warned and prepared.
Ready to BLOCK ALL PORN from your home?