Over the course of the last couple of days I’ve had numerous people tell me about an organization that’s addressing pornography as “the public health crisis of the digital age.” I agree with that assessment. . . and was thrilled by the information I found when I logged on to Culture Reframed.
As someone who believes that sex and sexuality are accurately framed by the Designer/Creator of sex and sexuality, I don’t find all of the assumptions and answers of the folks at Culture Reframed to be built on or faithful to the Designer/Creator’s plan (Check out Harvest USA and our Sexual Integrity Initiative). What I do find is that the assessment of how our pornified culture is mishaping kids is blunt and spot-on. And, Culture Reframed’s commitment to educate and inform parents as to what’s happening out there and their responsibility to respond is a welcome breath of fresh air.
In addition to scoping out Culture Reframed, I stumbled upon an article entitled “Sports Illustrated model Paulina Porizkova says photographer sexually assaulted her at 15.” Our cultural schizophrenia, hypocrisy, and complete stupidity is captured in this line from the article: “Porizkova recently stripped down to pose for Sports Illustrated’s latest swim issue, which aims to embrace the #MeToo movement.” Really? That’s like going to an Overeaters Anonymous meeting in a donut shop where members are treated to an all-you-can-eat buffet. Crazy.
This morning, someone messaged me a link to this article by Gail Dines, one of the principals at Culture Reframed. It’s worth your time and attention. Included in the article was the TED Talk Dines gave on “Growing Up In A Pornified Culture” (see below). How had I not seen this before? It is raw. It is in your face. And it does, I believe, clearly state what we’ve been talking about at CPYU for several years now through our Digital Kids Initiative. . . that we are raising, nurturing, and catechizing an entire generation of kids into a lifetime of self-centered and entitled/expected sexual aggression through pornography. As you watch the video (see below), don’t forget that two of the main primary tasks of adolescence are identity formation and worldview formation. Kids are seeking answers to the questions “Who am I?” and “What do I believe?”