Negative Impacts of Pornography

Explicit images and children

How are children negatively affected by pornography and other explicit images?

One of my earliest memories of a coming in contact with a suggestive image was when I was about 11 years old, I went over to a friend’s house, her father was out of the house so I was keeping her company till he got back, we decided to watch a movie but we has seen everyone she owned, the then noticed a movie hiding under the chair and pulled, it out, popped in into the VHS player and watch. This was the first time I ever watch anything pornographic, we watch about 10 minutes of it before deciding to stop, before this my parents monitored everything I watch except the occasional scary movie. After I watch this movie with my friend my life was never the same again.

Day by day children are being exposed to these images intentional or unintentional but how do these images affect them. Scientists at Cambridge University conducted a researched that showed sexually explicit images affect the brain the same way as alcohol or drugs. Dr. Voon discovered that when exposed to these images the pleasure center of the brain known as the ventral striatum is activated, and stimulated the same way it will when an alcoholic sees a drink. The Ventral striatum, a subcortical structure of the brain is known for emotional and behavioral function which makes it a very important part of the brain, if compromised in any way it could lead to mental problems including obsessive compulsive disorder and depression .(Can pornography use become an actual brain addiction). This can be even more damaging to children as their brain is still developing.

View sexual images is as easy as turning on the television, over 40 million American visit each ye...

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After I was first introduced to pornography, I had no idea how it was going to affect me. I had always had an active imagination, I have also been driven to research and know more about any topic I came in contact with and this one was no different, did viewing sexual images at this age affect me? Yes they did but to what extent I still do not know to this day. Viewing those images does affect the way a child’s brain forms and distorts the ideas we have about sex and relationships growing up. With children being so impressionable when introduced to those images, it causes children to act it out. Introducing children to these images can turn them into rapist at a young age and molested, considering most of them don’t know the implications of their actions. How can we prevent this? How can we prevent explicit images all around from negatively affecting children?