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Statistics
It
is better to identify dangers to our health and avoid
them than it is to wait for illness or disease to occur.
And it is better to practice prevention than it is to
treat an illness or disease after it has occurred.
Fourteen
years of practicing medicine has taught me two important
lessons. It is better to identify dangers to health
and avoid them than it is to wait for illness or disease
to occur. And it is better to practice prevention
than it is to treat an illness or disease after it has
occurred. Allow me to give an example of each
and then apply these concepts to the subject of pornography.
An
example of identifying a danger is to monitor water
quality. Careful monitoring helps avoid disease
related to poorly treated or even untreated water.
When those charged with monitoring water quality are
vigilant, disasters are avoided. When a danger
is identified, action is taken. First, efforts
are made to warn those who would be harmed by the danger.
Next, steps are taken to eliminate the danger.
In many unindustrialized nations, poor water quality
is the number one cause of childhood death. We
often take clean, safe water for granted. We can,
because someone is watching and warning when needed.
However, even after being warned, if a mother chooses
to use tainted water to make her infant's formula, the
results could be deadly.
One
of the best examples of prevention is childhood immunizations.
Few people are left alive who remember seeing someone
ill with polio. There is probably no one left
alive who remembers a loved one suffering from smallpox.
The reason we no longer see these diseases is because
of prevention. Great Britain learned by sad experience
what happens when prevention is treated lightly.
Years ago, there was a sharp decline in the administration
of the pertussis vaccine. Within two years whooping
cough cases skyrocketed. As soon as Great Britain
reemphasized and aggressively promoted the vaccine,
cases of whooping cough returned to previous levels.
How
does this apply to pornography? First, we must
identify what is dangerous to our children. Second,
we must work to prevent these dangers from harming our
children. In this article I will share some statistics
with you that clearly identify pornography as a danger
to our children.
There
is a mounting body of evidence
that exposure to pornography is harmful to children.
Early exposure (under fourteen years of age) to pornography
is related to greater involvement in deviant sexual
practice, particularly rape.
- Of convicted child moesters,
77% of those who molested boys and 87% of those who
molested girls admitted to the habitual use of pornography
in the commission of their crimes.
- Exposure to pornography
can prompt children to act out sexually against younger,
smaller, and more vulnerable children.
- In a study of 600 American
males and females of junior high school age and above,
91% of the males and 82% of the females admitted having
been exposed to X-rated hard-core pornography, most
while doing homework. Among high school students,
31% of males and 18% of females admitted actually
doing some of the things they had seen in the pornography
within a few days of exposure.
- There is no question that exposure
to pornography is harmful to children. It should
be as disconcertning as discovering that there is
E.coli in the water coming into your home.
Do
not take the danger of pornography lightly. Children
are our greatest asset. We must protect them from
pornography with as much vigor as we protect
them from tainted water and poisoned food.
Written
by Martin Abbinanti, MD
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