Child Abuse and Porn
Child sexual abuse can be defined as "any form of sexual activity with a child. It may include showing a child pornographic materials, placing the child's hand on another person's genitals, touching a child's genitals and to the more extreme form of penetration." (Kali Munro) It is essential to understand what child abuse through pornography is, what it can do to a child and why this kind of abuse continues. Someone who knows what pornography can do to a child is a thirty-one year old, mother of two named Bonnie. Bonnie spoke to the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography about her experience with pornography and child abuse. Both of Bonnie's husbands' were into pornography and abused her and her two daughters, Michelle and Debbie. The account of the abuse that took place between Bonnie's second husband, Paul and her daughters are as follows:He seemed to enjoy showing them pornographic material. The girls remember specifically a time when Paul showed them a picture of a 'naked lady dressed in the bottom of a leopard skin outfit and holding a whip.' He asked them what they thought of it. Both children said they were disgusted at viewing the picture. My daughters told
Matthews, head of Canada's largest child porn unit, reports - many officers frequently fall victim to the stress of their jobs. Many simply can't deal with the thousands of sexually explicit images of children 'It tears your heart out, 'Matthews states, 'when you see their faces, you know that their innocence is gone forever and that they will never get it back." In conclusion, pornography is a type of child abuse, whether the child is a participant or the child is shown pornographic materials. It can have horrific effects on the child's life like feelings of confusion, powerlessness, pain, betrayal, guilt, shame, depression, or anger. This type of abuse had increased as well as the sexual offenders apathy toward their victims. These children are not the only victims in the world of child pornography. Another set of victims are those people who are battling against this sin and travesty against humanity. This unique abuse has like all other types of abuse has lasting effects on the children in pornography and those forced to view pornographic materials. "Victims of sexual abuse frequently experience feelings of shame, guilt, isolation, powerlessness, embarrassment and inadequacy." (Bagley 1992 p.31) Courtois & Watts in their article " Counseling adult women who experienced incest in childhood or adolescence", corroborate with Bagley on the effects of pornography on children. "Long-term effects that are frequently reported and associate with sexual abuse include depression, self-destructive behavior, anxiety, feelings of isolation and stigma, poor self-esteem, difficult in trusting others, tendency toward revictimization, substance abuse and sexual maladjustment." (Courtois, Watts 1982 pp. 257-259) In 1985, Surgeon General, C. Everett Koop was asked to help in assessing social science research on the effects of pornography. Koop also found similar effects as Bagley, Courto
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Approximate Word count = 1282
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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