An amazing article I happened to read...
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Innocence Lost
The Sexualization of Youth
From physical appearance to wanton behavior, sex dominates the thinking of young people. How did we get here? Is it too late to turn the tide?
BY BRADFORD G. SCHLEIFER
Nearly all facets of children’s lives are in some way influenced by sex. The more you learn what society is teaching your children, the more you will want to protect them from its pernicious influence.
Throngs of young people are being brainwashed by a daily diet of perversion, debauchery, titillation and stimulation from the moral wasteland that is Hollywood, teen magazines, television, music videos and even aspects of the modern education system. This indoctrination of pop culture has led to a disturbing picture.
This is especially apparent during Halloween, where sales boom at costume shops. Every year certain costumes quickly sell out, such as the “Sexy Rock Star,” which comes with a micro-miniskirt, a top exposing the midriff and fishnet stockings, or the “Playboy Racy Referee,” also with a micro-miniskirt, as well as a tight-fitting striped spandex top with laced sides, designed to be accessorized with thigh-high black go-go boots.
Other costume options include dresses with lace bodices, mini-skirted French Maids or Sexy Cop costumes. This should not be a surprise, as Halloween is well known as an opportunity for teenagers and adults to wear something risqué.
However, these costumes are not only for adults or even teenagers, they are also designed to fit girls as young as age eight!
A Picture of Society
A few examples begin our journey into what young people deal with each day. Today, it is common to lose one’s virginity by age 15 or younger. Of course, thoughts and discussions about sex begin much younger. It may come as a surprise that oral sex—even in the classroom!—has now reached epidemic levels. Fifth grade graduation parties feature scores of children “freak” dancing—a form of dancing in which people simulate the sex act while clothed.
A focus on being “sexy” starts even younger. Several years ago, Mattel introduced a version of Barbie called “Lingerie Barbie.” Although toymaker Mattel stated the doll was for ages 14 and up, the average market for Barbie is ages 8 to 12. The product description shows how children are forced to confront sexuality issues: “Barbie exudes a flirtatious attitude in her heavenly merry widow bustier ensemble accented with intricate lace and matching peekaboo peignoir.”
Fast forward to 2007. Barbie has been replaced by the wildly popular Bratz dolls. Their name typifies what these dolls represent. They range from infants wearing makeup to preteen dolls wearing fishnets, miniskirts, heavy makeup and outrageous outfits. The Bratz marketing machine is growing. Their website features a magazine, games, toys, a clothing line in sizes for six- to eight-year-olds and even an upcoming movie—everything a girl needs to be a “brat”!
Children and Sex
Children are bombarded with an array of media glamorizing sex. Along with an onslaught of sexual images and innuendos, modern society pushes a ridiculous body image—for girls and boys. If you are a young girl, your role model is to be a scantily-clad, anorexic runway model with a body impossible to achieve.
The fashion industry has responded with products. Little girls are able to purchase clothing that would make many adults blush. Several years ago a major fashion chain made news when they sold child-sized thong underwear with sexually suggestive phrases on them. Should a ten-year-old have underwear with phrases such as “eye candy,” “kiss me” or “wink wink”?
It is nearly impossible for young girls to find shirts or tops covering their midriff, or pants that are not skintight and revealing. Children are forced to confront the concept of “sexy” before they are capable of understanding what it means.
The trend is not limited to girls. Boys also aspire to “ideal” body images and attitudes. Their peers and the media teach them it is cool—and even essential—to be as promiscuous as possible. A boy’s ability to “conquer” the opposite sex is directly related to how much of a man he feels he will become. This has created a generation of young boys aspiring to be like what they see on television and in movies and music videos. Their dress reflects their wayward role models: baggy clothes, sloppy looks, and a general disinterest for almost anything—except for girls.
The result of the immoral sexual focus in children? Researchers in Washington, D.C., wanted to start a program to prevent sexual activity in youth. After initially offering the program to seventh-graders, it was ineffective because too many seventh-graders were already having sex! The program was then reworked and offered to fifth-graders—10- and 11-year-olds.
The study, which followed these students from 1995 to 1999, showed that 20% of the students—one in five!—had sex before they were 15 years old. The 1999 results also showed that 19% of girls reported having sex. This was a 42% increase from 1988. Nearly a decade later, today’s results would be even worse.
There is simply not enough space to recount the multitude of news reports of children caught in the sex act. No wonder a New York Times article stated, “…some studies indicate three-fourths of all girls have had sex during their teenage years and 15% have had four or more partners.”
Sex Instruction—Not Education
Educators have sought to compensate a lack of emotional maturity by flooding young people with information. However, it should go without saying that children are not ready to have sexual relations of any sort. They are not equipped to make such life-altering decisions. One may assume that simply teaching children about sex will help them make right choices. Even the brief picture above demonstrates such an assumption is dead wrong. Time and again, children prove they are unable to see past their teen years and understand the far-reaching consequences of their decisions.
This has not stopped the popular “Comprehensive Sexual Education” programs from being taught throughout the Western world. Two examples demonstrate how far sexual education has gone:Imagine your child studying the following lesson: “What They Didn’t Tell You About Queer Sex & Sexuality in Health Class: A Workshop For Youth Only, Ages 14-21” or “Teach Out,” which was held in Massachusetts. It featured that state’s Department of Education employees—government employees—instructing children as young as 14 how to properly perform homosexual acts!
And then there is the book One Teenager in Ten: Writings by Gay & Lesbian Youth. Recommended reading in the California school system, it discusses in explicit detail a 16-year-old’s first lesbian experience with her 23-year-old dance teacher. The book explains how she hid the homosexual, pedophilic experience from her religious parents.
Sexualized Generation
A preoccupation with sex grips an entire generation. The systematic sexualization of youth is destroying what should be the innocence of childhood. Children as young as five have been taught to view themselves as “sexual beings.” They want to be as sexy as those they idolize on television and in movies.
No young teen—and certainly no five-year-old!—should be wondering whether she or he is sexy. Why has society created an atmosphere pushing children to meet expectations once placed only on adults?
You have read examples of sexually suggestive clothing for little girls, toys that encourage and promote a sexual image, statistics of various sex acts committed by children and teenagers, and curriculums designed to teach children to be sexual, even instructing them about sex.
Further, children of varying ages are taught to be tolerant of all forms of sexual expression. Many Hollywood movies show minors in sexual situations and, at times, sexual acts with adults. In high school, teens are taught experimentation is nothing more than “learning who they are.”
Western society is organized to sexualize young people. It goes without saying that in an age of pedophilia and other perversions, such conduct is not only immoral, but dangerous.
Tolerance—A Foundation of Permissiveness
It is popular to believe that tolerance is a basic tenet of a healthy society. Many would echo that people should not judge others or discriminate against anyone. Tolerance is based on what appears to be a noble foundation. It seems to be based on a concept of caring for and accepting people of all backgrounds.
However, the underlying root of the tolerance movement goes much deeper.
Educators have gone beyond simply teaching tolerance and acceptance of someone with different physical attributes, such as race, height, weight, body type, etc. Tolerance now encompasses acceptance and promotion of every action—every type of behavior—no matter how extreme or perverse. There is now always a reason—an excuse—for what is simply wrong conduct. “Being tolerant” has become that excuse.
In a society claiming to be based upon Judeo-Christian values, one might assume that tolerance is biblical. Many say God tolerates all forms of conduct as long as we “love each other.” As long as “Jesus is in our hearts,” conduct is considered secondary.
The Bible teaches no such thing! While it does teach much about love and mercy, it also clearly states that only by living the laws of God is love perfected (I John 2:5; 5:3). Sinful conduct leads to unhappiness and ultimately death (Rom. 6:23). Therefore a perfect, loving and merciful God instructs His children to obey His laws so they can be happy (John 10:10). He knows that when His laws are broken, sadness, emptiness and confusion result.
Therefore, unless God is a cruel and heartless being, He could never tolerate sin.
When Jesus was confronted with an adulterous woman, instead of condemning her (as the scribes and Pharisees wanted), He first showed mercy and then commanded her to “sin no more” (John 8:11). In other words, Christ told her to stop committing adultery—to stop breaking God’s Law (I John 3:4).
Is It Too Late?
Decades have shown that modern entertainment and educational systems have failed hundreds of millions of children. Abstinence and virginity are ignored as the only wise choices. Perverse attitudes and entertainment are marketed to extremely young children as normal and viable options. Worse yet, teens and small children are exposed to alternative lifestyles without parental knowledge.
Yet nothing is done.
Under the banner of tolerance, parents have been removed from teaching proper morals to their children. Has society gone too far? Is it possible to purge the unbridled immorality that has saturated our culture?
Ask yourself: How likely is our society to remove sex from advertising? Are there any signs the fashion industry is interested in curbing the sale of suggestive clothing to children and teens? Are educators changing curriculums to explain that sex can be fulfilling only if it is within the confines of marriage?
Of course not!
General Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) said, “History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline.”
Decades have passed since these wise words were spoken. Things have become much, much worse. Time is short—humanity must pay attention now!
The Solution for Youth
Leaving better judgment behind, educators flood children with information on sex in the hope they will somehow make “correct” sexual choices. This is tantamount to giving detailed instructions to a terrorist on how, when and where to plant a nuclear weapon. Then imagine that, after such a weapon is detonated, we deduce the solution is to give terrorists more information—with even more detail. No one would suggest such a ridiculous idea!
Yet every day, children and teens are being given what they need to commit moral terrorism.
There is hope—one short-term and the other long. The ultimate solution is to change the educational system, change the entertainment and fashion industry, and change human nature into something positive and fulfilling. This cannot be done by man alone. It takes a fundamental shift in humanity’s focus—one that can only be realized by the Return of Jesus Christ and a systematic reconstruction of society as we know it.
There is something you can do now to make a difference in the lives of your children. You can take steps now to protect your children from the storm they are weathering.
The greatest gift you can give your children is to arm them with right knowledge and correct understanding. This will give them a fighting chance to withstand the pressure from peers and society confronting them on every side.
No matter the age of your children, our sister website, http://www.thercg.org/, provides tools to assist you. For young children, there is a seven-volume Story of the Bible series. Also, parents can learn much from David C. Pack’s book Train Your CHILDREN God’s Way. Teenagers can find plain answers to complicated questions on our AMBASSADOR YOUTH website (www.thercg.org/youth). These resources are only a sampling of the vast array of materials we provide.
Use these tools and prepare your children for life’s challenges. You can help save them from becoming just another statistic and prepare them for the permanent solution: Christ’s Return, which is just over the horizon!
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I wonder if there are any Islamic alternatives for Muslim children...
