Problem Statement for Capstone Project - Essay Example

Problem ment for Capstone Project By the time children reach adolescence, thinking about sex is very normal. Many children are already experimenting with sex with their peers and many are getting “the talk” from their parents about what is appropriate and what is not appropriate at their age. Sex also has a dynamic impact on our society because it is always present: Most advertising in any media has some element of sex in it whether blatantly shown or subliminally shown. By the time children reach puberty, they have been inundated with sex talk by their friends and they may have even seen a few pornographic pictures that their friends have found.

In the old days, before the Internet, the most sexually explicit photos that children saw were in the National Geographic Magazine. Pictures of tribes of people who wore no clothes were seen as exciting because they were naked. However, today, with the ability of the Internet to capture anything, anywhere, and anytime, children are exposed to way more than naked people; they are exposed to some of the most disturbing pornography that was ever done. We cannot only blame the Internet because cable TV has also given children access to hardcore pornography (porn).

Children are able to find porn sites with only a few mouse clicks, and if parents have not locked porn sites from cable or other cable-like networks, children can have aces 24 hours a day. The effect of porn on children is a gap in the literature because of many reasons. Children and teens are often brought up in homes where talking about sex is taboo which makes them reluctant to talk about their sexual thoughts or their habits. Also, empirical studies have not been done because of the ethical dilemmas in setting up a study where children and teens are shown porn (Haney, 2006).

In a Canadian study, Stock (2004) found that pornographic sites and movies that show explicit sex create problems for children (they defined children as anyone under the age of 18). They found that children had a distorted view of sex which caused them to act out sexually in ways that were beyond their years of maturity. As an example, they found that “12-year-olds who watched the most sexual content behaved like the XXX 15-years-olds who watched the least amount” (p. 9). For other children, watching pornography gave them “nightmares, anxiety, modeling behavior, and problematic attitudinal changes” (p. 9). These issues alone show that pornography is detrimental to the young mind.

When looking at the effects of pornography on children, there is a much larger picture that needs to be examined: that of sexual addiction. Although many would not want to believe that children can be sexually addicted, there are many treatment facilities that show that this is true. Unfortunately, statistics on sexually addicted teens are hard to find. Sussman (2007) notes that finding information about sexual addiction in teens is very difficult because there are so many differences of opinion as to what constitutes sexual addiction versus “normal” sexual development.

Whatever the reason, teen sexual addiction is a very difficult situation for teens and it is something that needs more research. There are several critical considerations that are relevant to this study. The idea of sexual addiction and what it means to teenagers is important especially as they are acting out in ways that create other behaviors. Many children and teens are in treatment for more than one type of disorder that is complicated by deviant sexual behavior. Some of this behavior may or may not be attributed to their use of pornography.

There are many situations in which children are exposed to pornography by adults or other children who are older. These critical considerations must be taken into account when describing sexual addiction because they can lead to adults who are doing more deviant behavior if they do not find treatment. References Haney, J. (2006). Teenagers and pornography addiction: Treating the silent epidemic. Retrieved from www.counseling.org/Resources/Library/VISTAS/./vistas06.10.pdf Stock, P. (2004). The harmful effects on children of exposure to pornography.