In Eureka Street’s latest bi-monthy essay, launched this week, Melinda Tankard-Reist explores the disastrous impact pornography is having on young people in today’s world.
Drawing on academic research as well as her experiences of speaking with boys and girls in secondary schools, Tankard-Reist outlines some of the disturbing behaviours that are being normalised among young people as a result of their exposure to porn – including girls being subjected to ‘sexual moaning’ from boys, having their bodies compared to those of porn stars, and being sent (and asked for) explicit images.
‘These everyday sexual affronts tell us a great deal about how entrenched the objectification of girls is’, says Tankard-Reist. ‘They also tell us how widespread is the callousing of our young men, the erosion of empathy, the decay of civil behaviour, and the social arson caused by mass pornography saturation.’
The 5000-word essay explores the consequences of these issues in depth, which include startling increases in sexual offences among youth and children. The essay provides an important insight into how, as a society, we are currently failing to support young people in developing healthy and sustaining relationships.
Tankard-Reist says that young people themselves are expressing a desire for something better.
‘They know this culture is making them sick, leading to disharmony and wounding, a hatred of self and hatred of life. They are seeking emotional and community connections. I see more teen girls recognising the damage the porn experiment has inflicted on them, now refusing to play its game.’
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Access the essay at this link.
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Eureka Street Plus was launched in May as an addition to Eureka Street’s free offerings. The new subscriber-only offering seeks to engage readers in respectful in-depth public conversation in the grey area between polarities – joined in a common desire to move our society forward in terms of awareness, understanding and action for the greater good of all.
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