“It’s Almost Like It’s Not Even, Like, Porn”

“It’s Almost Like It’s Not Even, Like, Porn”

R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
April 23, 2005

The Los Angeles Times is out today with a truly important article that should be a real eye-opener for parents of teenagers–especially teenage boys. In “Just the Facts Now,” reporter Shawn Hubler argues that pornography is now an almost universal teenage interest, seen by many teens as “just part of the culture.” He quotes Mike Clark, a “peach-fuzzed Orange County 16-year-old,” who related his excitement in discovering internet porn. “I mean, the minute they tell you that stuff is out there, you’re like, ‘Really? It is?'” It is.

Scott Tismit, another 16-year-old, simply shrugged, “Pornography is just part of the culture now. It’s almost like it’s not even, like, porn.” Gilbert Herdt, director of the National Sexuality Resource Center in San Francisco provided a bit of cultural analysis: “What we once called porn is just mainstream sex now, and what we think of a pornography has shrunk to a tiny, tiny area. We’ve expanded the envelope of normative sex so much that there’s not much room for ‘porn’ anymore.” Ben Meredith, an 18-year-old, agreed. “Porn is just another form of entertainment now.” This article should be shocking, but it really isn’t–at least not to anyone aware of the culture and in contact with teenagers. Pornography devastates lives, corrupts minds, and produces a distorted and grotesque vision of sexuality. One of God’s greatest gifts is corrupted into an idol of promiscuity and lust. More later–but read the article now.



R. Albert Mohler, Jr.

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