Accountable2You » Resources » Family Accountability » Pornography? Not My Daughter!
Mom and Dad, is your daughter trapped in pornography addiction? The danger is probably closer than you think.
Our children are experiencing a very different digital age than when our generation grew up. The technology exposure as a Gen-X, for example, was mostly limited to a home computer that sat in the corner of the room for all to see and was shared by everyone in the home.
Today’s post-millenials carry around a tiny computer in their pocket everywhere they go, usually unmonitored and uncensored. Pornography has not only become so much easier for kids to find or stumble upon, but the content has become more hardcore and explicit than what was available 30 or more years ago.
With this unprecedented Internet access, an increasing number of young girls are becoming ensnared in pornography addiction. As parents, we need to realize not only the accessibility of pornographic content but also why our daughters are viewing it.
It is estimated that 6 out of 10 girls are exposed to pornography before age 18. With the current statistics of 1 in 3 young women who watch pornography regularly, we should be very concerned with how early exposure to explicit content affects our daughters, and what we can do to guard against it.
Unfortunately, many parents assume their daughter isn’t watching it. A study carried out in the UK by Revealing Reality showed that 75% of parents felt their child would not have seen pornography online. But, of their children, more than half (53%) said they had in fact seen it. That first exposure is enough to entice them back again to find out more.
Sexuality and learning about their changing body are topics many parents fear discussing with their kids. Only about 20% of children found their parents to be open and honest about any type of sexual communication.
One of the reasons young girls seek out pornography is to fill in the gaps of their sex education.
One of the reasons young girls seek out pornography is to fill in the gaps of their sex education. They are using pornography as a means of learning what sex should look like, how they need to behave, how to please a guy, and how they should look physically. Pornography is shaping their ideas of pleasure, power, and intimacy. They believe that what they see portrayed on screen is how sex and pleasure actually work because these ladies are professionals.
So what can we do to protect our daughters from this onslaught? When parents talk about sex and make their kids feel comfortable asking questions, their children are more likely to practice safer sex, delay intercourse, have fewer sexual partners, and have more positive views on sexuality.
Guarding your daughter against pornography addiction requires an active role from you and the need for accountability.
Parents need to teach their kids early what a real relationship looks like, what sex is designed for, how they should be treated, and how to willingly talk about their desires with their spouse. If you don’t make this a priority to discuss with your kids, unanswered questions concerning sex and their bodies will drive them to seek out information from inaccurate and dangerous sources.
Guarding your daughter against pornography addiction requires an active role from you and the need for accountability. Minimizing the uncomfortableness around the topics of sex and body image will encourage her to talk to you as her source of information.
Accountability software like Accountable2You will remove the isolation that allows her to be easily tempted toward making unhealthy choices on her device. The more actively involved you are in your daughter’s life and the stronger the relationship you cultivate with her, the less likely she will be to use pornography.