Monsters in the Closet

Exposing Real Threats to Children and Teenagers Within the Home

Adam Butler

• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781725284470
• Topic: Théologie et religion
• Subtopic: Religion

From pornographic videos of rape and incest to sexual predators around every corner; from online challenges teaching children how to commit suicide to resources teaching them how to conjure up demons; from social media trends praising abortion to completely redefining what it means to be human; these are the monsters in the closet which children and teenagers are being exposed to. America is facing a drastic moral decline, and we are only seeing the beginning of the avalanche. Narratives which directly attack God's word are being fed to young people. These monsters are very real and may be much closer than you think. Learn about the harmful indoctrination and lies being spread through the internet, social media, and even the classroom, and how you can combat them.

Part 1: Pornography

1

Porn Is Not About Sex

I was around 11 years old, and I vividly remember the exact video I watched. I remember the room I was in, the time of day, and the website. The video was not educational, as if to explain the process of intercourse. It was an explicit, exaggerated, almost extreme form of sex. That video was my first exposure to pornography, which I later discovered is exactly what the porn industry aims for—and this type of videography is getting even worse. It left me feeling shameful and a bit disgusted. I had rarely seen pictures of naked bodies, much less images of people having sex. Yet, I had been given a small glimpse into the multi-billion-dollar industry of perverted sex.

As it turns out, I am not alone in my experience with porn exposure; the average age a child is exposed to pornography is 11 years old.1 With the increasing availability of pornographic content, (which I will discuss in the following pages,) I fear this age of exposure will only continue to drop. In fact, porn is where many young people are receiving their sex education. Feminist author and journalist, Naomi Wolf, after interviewing students at a large university, recounts, “It became clear that after a decade of having access to the internet they were intimately familiar with porn, but intimacy—and the hearts of the opposite sex—were more of an elusive mystery than ever.”2

I am not a current or recovering porn addict; even so, I hope to inform you of the truth about the industry itself and the harm it has done to women, as well as the detrimental effects porn has on the brain, marriage, sex, our desires, and society. Pornography is a real issue, and one that is destroying marriages, affecting the way people view sex, creating addicts, and becoming increasingly harmful to porn “actors.”

Before we jump into the crux of the issue, I first need to define some terms. That is, we need to first establish what porn is not about.

Porn is Not About Sex

What could possibly be so harmful about looking at photos of naked people or watching videos of people having sex? What about porn video-shoots could be so harmful to the actors themselves? After all, sex is a natural part of life; it is how we bond with a spouse, share physical intimacy, and not to mention is the mechanism by which we reproduce. So, why all the “closed doors?” Why are we so secretive about our personal sex lives? There is a good reason. Sex is sacred.

The closed doors of sex are flying open more and more each day, however. It does not take much investigation to realize that media is saturated with sex. Posters, billboards, ads, movies, television shows, clothing styles, and even brands which sell products having nothing to do with sex use sex to sell their products.3 The reason given, as you probably have heard, is that “sex sells.” In reality, however, studies have shown that sexualized advertising actually has little or no effect on whether the consumer buys the product advertised.4 So, does sex really sell? Not according to the research. Why, then, do companies insist on sexy advertising?

The Culture of Sex

Because sex has become a part of our culture. Merriam Webster defines culture as “the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group,” or “the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization.” Culture varies by people-groups, but also over time. It is a moving target; that is, if we want to stay culturally “relevant,” stay up to date on the cultural trends, or even make an impact on culture, we must meet the culture where it is. This is known as contextualization. The first thing you learn about when moving to or visiting another country, besides the language, is the culture. Any aspect of culture, however, is susceptible to abuse and perversion.

Western-American culture celebrates sex. Pornography, however, has taken what is meant to be a beautiful thing and perverted it. Porn has almost become a norm to society. Memes about watching porn are permeated throughout social media and meme websites like “iFunny.” Teenagers talk about porn nonchalantly. Why?

If there is one place where sex does sell, it is the porn industry. Globally, porn is an estimated $97 billion industry, with $12 billion of that coming from the U.S. Typically, females are paid anywhere from $800 to $1000 for a porn video. Not surprisingly, men are generally paid significantly less than that. Why? Because the male audience of porn-watchers is significantly greater than the female audience. That is, traffic to porn sites is 72 percent male and only 28 percent female.

Needless to say, the porn industry is raking in a ton of money. In fact, porn sites receive more visitors each month than Netflix, Amazon, and Twitter combined. Porn sites rank second place, next to YouTube, with the most monthly visitors. YouTube averages 800 million viewers every month, while porn sites average 450 million.5

But it was not always this way.

Only with the increase of availability and technology has the consumption of pornographic content reached all-time highs. Porn was not always as effortless to get a hold of. Though depictions of sexual intercourse have been common among cultures of even ancient times, pornography rose to popularity with erotic literature.6 Fast forward to the rise of porn magazines, the most notable being Playboy. Magazines were sold in gas stations and adult entertainment sections of retail stores; consumers often had to request them by name from the check-out counter. Hence, attain...