Take Me To Post Comment Form Underestimating the dangers of looking at pornography has played a starring role in the development of America’s youth. Seventy-five percent of teens under the age of 15 have seen pornography on the internet more than once. As sexuality continues to drive advertisement of everything from automobile tires to gym shoes, it is the youth of America who might pay the price.
Pornography on some level has crept into everything from mainstream corporations to middle school locker rooms, and even the food network channel that serves a side of cleavage during every episode. It’s unlikely that adolescents can conceptualize the difference between pornographic fantasy and sexual reality. How many are going to find out the hard way? “Young American’s vulnerability to HIV and other STD’s underscores the need for a prevention effort for this population. It is vital to understand the range of risk factors in youth, including a lack of awareness, socioeconomic factors and substance and alcohol abuse, but it is also important for adolescents to understand and have access to the range of prevention options, says Atlanta CDC spokesperson, Jennifer Ruth. Preventing the urges brought on by sexualized media messages directed at young people makes it difficult for them to avoid becoming another statistic.
According to a recent report from Frontline, Corporations profiting from pornography include Marroitt, Westin and Hilton. During Frontline’s investigation, AT&T refused to grant an interview concerning its Hot Network, distributed through its cable and Broadband divisions. The company recently sold the network to Comcast, but alluded that staying afloat financially with other corporations who distribute the Hot Network is no easy task. Some of those other corporations include General Motors, DIRECTV, Cox Communications, and Dish Network. General Motors recently sold their part in DIRECTV to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation who still offers pornography for those interested. Those interested must be many, because a new pornography video is made every 38 minutes in America.
Consumer contribution to pornography profits is almost unavoidable as corporations have many markets cornered on necessary consumer goods like cars or cell phones. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation has properties in an inconceivable amount of networks, film, television, magazines and news publishing. Visit their website and you can quickly navigate your way to information on adult networks including Juicy and Playboy, now offering “naughty amateur home videos. Americans have discarded the “girl next door in favor of watching the woes of Playboy centerfolds on the E Entertainment series The Girls Next Door. Advocates of the series advise blocking it from your channel line up so your children can’t see it, but between monitoring television programming and constantly keeping up with the latest parental controls on the internet, parents could make a part-time job out of keeping pornography out of the house. Omni Hotels spends an estimated 1.8 million dollars a year to keep sex videos out of the equation in their services. They have also removed adult magazines from their gift shops. Their persistence is admirable.
With so many facets to the fight for preserving childhood innocence, it comes down to the one thing parents can control. Household leadership. If parents don’t establish leadership for their children at home, their peers, the shopping mall, the media, corporations and the unbridled use of technology will establish it for them.