Pornography and the Desensitisation of the Young
I have written about this before in other ways, but as I was looking at the BBC website today I saw an article on this very serious subject. I say serious from a psychological perspective as well as a social one.
I get clients through my office regularly with issues around intimacy in their relationship. Very often pornography, especially internet pornography is at the heart of this.
This, of course, is about adults, however, children either through accident or design are becoming exposed to pornography at a much earlier age. This is also an exposure to far more hard core and even violent pornography.
The danger of this cannot be overestimated, in the first instance, pornography gives unrealistic body images for the young to become disturbed by. Secondly, it removes the whole concept of love from the sexual dynamic. This is already a complicated area of development, but without guidance it can become more even more of an issue. Finally, the viewing of violent pornography, can lead to the young believing that this kind of interplay is the norm and therefore to be expected when they become sexually active.
These concerns will lead to far more consultations with professionals like me and worse still far more incidences of sexual assault going through the criminal justice system unless we as a society act to curtail it.
