During the week of 16th August 2016 the news revealed the devastating story of a website that contained over 2000 images of girls – each photo had been captured for the specific purpose of uploading it to this site. The website is a hive of activity where boys attain photos of girls that they know, or nominate which girls they want to see nude photos of. The names of the girls and their schools are published – how else are you supposed to hunt for the prized image without their specific identity? Once the girl is named, the boys get to work to actively get a naked photograph of her. When finally, one of them ‘hits the jackpot’ by getting the nudie, it is then uploaded for viewing by the audience of young men.
So the question is who is to blame?
Well, immediately news articles came out with statements such as: “… around 70 Australian high schools have been involved in an online pornography ring”. Yes, schools are often held responsible for this type of scenario as parents around Australia are aghast with what schools are not doing.
But then are the schools to blame when you think about the behaviour of these ‘awful’ boys? Schools cannot be held accountable for the behaviour of boys outside of school hours, can they? Boys should know better! It is they who are engaging in this deplorable behaviour. It is they who are visiting this site, driving its activity, requesting photos and then soliciting girls for their nude images –then sharing it for all to see. Those poor girls.
Then there are those who say but “boys will be boys”. For centuries young men have wanted to see the naked form of women, and that will not change. Instead of describing to their mates the breasts of a girl they have seen, they can now show them the picture – online.
Oh my, could this mean that girls are then to blame? After all, it doesn’t take too long of scrolling through young teen’s selfies on Social Media – to notice the sexy pouts, the voluptuous cleavages in tight tops and the titillating ‘Kim Kardashian’ style poses. Well then, yes it is the girls to blame.
Hang on a minute! What about parents, what are parents doing about this diabolical mess? Surely parents are to blame! For those with sons- they say that the parents of girls should really be educating their daughters and they should not allow their daughters to ‘dress like that’ for all to see. Whilst the parents of daughters across Australia shake their heads in disgust that the parents of boys are not teaching them how to be respectful young men.
New to the school curriculum: “How to administer a porn site”
Let’s think about this. It’s not like the named schools have an elective subject called “How to administer a porn site”. The school schedule doesn’t list that from 9 – 10 am will be “How to administer a porn site” followed by Mathematics and Physics! We cannot blame schools. It is their job to teach the approved program of education – and that is it! They have not been complicit in any way, and their influence only occurs on school days, in school hours and within the school curriculum.
Are today’s parents unworldly, compared to their kids?
Gosh, ten years ago, this incident wouldn’t have happened because the technology was not there for it to occur! Today’s parents are having to deal with a whole new set of novel issues – it’s a newfangled parenting world! How are parents supposed to know how to guide their children through this new world when it is also new to them? If a parent wouldn’t give their boy a stash of porn, then why would they give them a device with unrestricted access to porn?! Perhaps parents are a little naive as to what their children can access on their device, or how this new digital society works.
What we know for sure, is that every one of us would have been shaken by this.
Every parent whose daughter was named will be crippled by this news. Every parent whose son was involved will be shattered. Every school listed will have a Principal who is crushed by the events. What are they to do? Expelling is never a good option for the individual but they have to consider their influence on the others. It only takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch. So who is the ‘bad apple’ amongst us that is spoiling the group? With prolific device usage children are being exposed to adult themes that are way beyond their years.
Here we are, this is where we find ourselves, welcome to the new world.
Whether your young teenager owns a device or not, their friends do, and they will be exposed. Wherever devices are being used by boys and girls, that is the exact location that they can be exposed to a world of sexually stimulating, titillating and arousing themes. And let’s face it, every young person wants to fit in. They want to feel like they belong. The problem is, where kids gain that sense of belonging from could be a devastating porn hub like the one revealed this week. The average age of first exposure to pornography is 11 years old. If your child is 11+ chances are they have seen porn. And today it is boys between the ages of 12 and 17 who are the largest consumers of pornography. The world has changed. It is simply not the same world in which we experienced our teenage hood, is it?
It is time to stop for a moment and take stock.
We urge you to take just 30 minutes from your day over the next 5 weeks to consider this overwhelming issue. What if it was your son? What if it was your daughter? The “Help! I’m a parent of a deviceKid” program will guide you each day – it has been created to provide answers to these issues. From the ‘ground up’ you will understand what is driving teens today and how they can find themselves in a bit of a pickle even when they really should know better. To partake in this eye-opening program, you don’t need to go anywhere or attend seminars, you simply sign up on our website and from the first Monday thereafter you will receive a Session delivered to your email each day. Over 5 weeks you will receive a Session Monday through to Friday and each Session will effectively build for you a picture of everything you need to know to guide your children through their teenage hood in this new era.
When you have brought up kids, there are memories you store directly in your tear ducts. ~Robert Brault
