DePaola: Pornography in school settings and its negative mental and behavioral effects on minors
Letter to the editor
Much has been published in popular media lately about books and other media materials within schools and school libraries facing objections from parents and members of the public related to the content within them. Many of the books noted by the American Library Association (ALA) on their April 2023 “Top 10 Most Challenged Book List of 2022” include explicit and pictorial pornography.
UNICEF notes that “exposure to pornography at a young age may lead to poor mental health, sexism and objectification, sexual violence, and other negative outcomes.” In a March 9, 2023, publication in Sage Journals, in the Journal of Psychosexual Health titled “Teen Pornography: An Emerging Mental Health Challenge,” the authors conclude that “many teen reports about adverse consequences” of pornography, including behavioral changes and the incidence of rape, violent crimes, and sexual assaults, are higher in adolescents who spent greater time viewing sexually explicit content.
In the March 2020 issue of the Journal of Pediatric Health Care, an article titled “Child and Adolescent Pornography Exposure” lists consequences based upon the well-established developmental fact that child and adolescent brains are not fully developed and their “ability to process” and fully discern such materials is also absent. Just a few of the consequences listed include early initiation of sexual activity, high-risk sexual behaviors, sexual aggression, addiction, and unrealistic expectations of sexual relationships.
In the December 7, 2021 issue of the Journal of Psychiatry Reform, author Caroline Giroux, a Psychiatrist, states that “Exposing children to pornography should be forbidden and better regulated, as it is violating their spiritual boundaries and evolving beliefs around body, sexual development and intimate relationships, in a similar way that direct sexual abuse on their body does.”
In the #1 book on the ALA list, Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, images of sexual acts including fellatio are present. In the #2 book on the list, All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson, written depictions of sexual intercourse are included (oral and anal sex). The #3 book, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, depicts incest and child sexual abuse in detail. The #4 book, Flamer by Mike Curato, includes pictorial and written content describing an adolescent boy watching someone masturbate. These are just the top four books on the ALA’s compiled list.
At a time when there is high visibility of the mental health crisis in this country, neglecting to address the adverse mental health effects on minors of pornographic material is ironic and abhorrent. The untenable argument by some that keeping books with pornographic material out of school classrooms and libraries is hurting children in some way can only be described as absurd and irrational. Schools should not be places where the normalization or availability of pornography is practiced or provided.
Lauren DePaola, LCSW
The opinions expressed by letter or opinion writers are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AlachuaChronicle.com. Letters may be submitted to info@alachuachronicle.com and are published at the discretion of the editor.
Pornography at any age is harmful.
Abstinence will make you grow stronger and smarter.
Porn industry are leftists who also push legalizing drug abuse and sex trafficking evils. Satan is very real, and entire legions of pro-abortion voters are aligned.
Pornography is harmful to children? You don’t say? And just where did you graduate 6th grade to figure that out?
This is the kind of crap that runs the school board.
Thank you for pointing this out. I was appalled at the list of books being promoted by the Alachua Library System. The “System” should not be teaching young children about sex. In my opinion this should come from parents/guardians or self-researched upon adulthood. I had a 10-year express great fear about sex when she learned through school how a baby is created. This can create serious trauma and objectification.
WRITER’S AND SUPPLIER’S OF SUCH SEXUAL MATERIAL ARE SELF-SERVING AND A BUNCH OF DAMN HEATHEN’S AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED, THE SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR’S THAT ALLOW SUCH TO TAKE PLACE IN THEIR CLASS ROOMS ARE EVEN WORSE, THEY THAT CONDONE SUCH NEED TO BE FIRED AND REPLACED.
If you read the article, you apparently did not understand it.
GET OFF MY LAWN!
Lauren, thanks for your professional input on this issue.
While I generally agree with your characterization of the physiological and emotional development of children in education settings, the scope of the problem must also be inclusive of the homes and, more importantly, what is acceptable as a culture.
That last one is a problem where just about everything is acceptable except to challenge the thinking that everything is acceptable. That’s that global relativism biting us in the butt again.
My only objection to your letter’s substance is the use of the descriptor ‘pornography’ which is loaded with far too much distracting, judgmental baggage to help make your valid points clear.
Perhaps ‘age appropriate’ is a better choice or a Motion Picture Association rating of ‘G’ or ‘GP.’
The challenge for parents is recognizing where ‘normalization’ runs afoul of their children’s best interest.
It does appear on the surface the psychiatry professions enable this far more than they appeal for caution.
For example, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) fourth edition’s entry of Gender Identity Disorder has been changed to Gender Dysphoria. For the profession to move from a disorder to a ‘feeling of unhappiness’ is, by extension,
a clinical normalization for the patients which has been (IMO) wrongly appropriated by social activists for anyone outside clinical settings.
Your concern is well founded since there is no second chance with childhood.
Duh. How is this even a debatable thing??
Just as we learned in High Springs this year with “Wall Dogs murals”! It’s a 1st Amendment issue. The rights of a few outweigh the rights of the community to determine what is acceptable.
Isn’t it a crime to intentionally expose children to pornographic material? Maybe we should find out who chose to place those books in our school libraries.
So sad that you have no life.
Dems are using public schools as mental illness breeding grounds. To cultivate future voters. Fact.
Partisan politics has spun out of control. If you advocate for children, there is a good chance you will be publicly castigated and accused of all forms of social bigotry.