Influence of pornography among teenagers
- Part 2 -

Hegin Misao Hangmi *

Why did Jesus take such a strong stand against lust?

He knew that when people lustfully view nakedness, and explicit sexual displays, their inordinate desire grows. Once a person gives lust a place in his heart and mind, he wants more – and more. Some people find a way to justify viewing sexually explicit images, and having justified it, they want more of it. Few stop at just one glance at a pornographic image.

Continuing to view images lead to a search for a broader array of images – something that will stimulate in new ways. Those viewing por- nography find ways to normalize their behavior. "It's not hurting anyone" is a com- mon refrain. Pornography is often a gateway experience for greater degrees of devi- ance. It often leads to increasingly sexually deviant experiences.

Just as thirty-second com- mercials can influence whether or not we choose one popular soft drink over another, exposure to pornography shapes our attitudes and values and, often, our behavior. Teenagers are an important group of people in the society. They are the pride of every parent, the hope of the society, and the backbone of the nation.

Therefore, it is the role of the parents to respond to the need of the teenagers, guiding and nurturing them towards a healthy growth in their moral, ethical, spiritual, and social life. Taking into consideration the vibrant and energetic nature of the youngsters who are vulnerable to sexual temptation, the researcher suggest the following types of counselling and therapy that can be useful for the teenagers:

Supportive Counseling

Supportive counseling is a method of supporting a person by providing confidence, encouragement, and guidance to reduce tension and build up strength. The purpose is to help teenagers gain strength and perspective to use their psychological and interpersonal resources more effectively and cope the real life situation meaningfully. Caregiver in supportive counseling can motivate, inspire and help the youth to build up their confidence, fight adverse circumstances like pornography (sexual behaviour).

Teenager who is sexually immoral experiences guilt feeling and self-condemnation. Counsellors and pastors in such cases can reassure the redeeming grace and forgiveness of Christ who even restored the woman caught in adultery. Teenager who involves in sexual activities longs for such assurance of forgiveness. To a great extent pastor can help the teenagers overcome the dilemmas in life and help them to live an honourable and trustworthy life.

Group Counseling

Group counseling can be a wonderful instrument to redeem and help teenagers to cope with life situation. A sense of belongingness, secure, support, improves communication, care and guidance of the group and meaningful interaction derives from group counseling. Adolescence is period of search for self-identity and self-therefore group counseling provides a conducive environmental to discover self-potential and increase self-confidence by facilitating greater awareness, relating oneself to other's similar needs and problems.

The group counseling can focus on a holistic personality development of the teenager by grouping the teenagers as "peer culture", music lovers, sports lovers etc. In such group a meaningful space can be created where both the sexes/genders can grow together as sexual beings, yet maintaining the sanctity of such close togetherness. Thus guiding and leading them toward meaningful and purposeful living.

Educative Counseling

Imparting sex education is the need of the hour today. Teenagers need to be taught to harness and sublimate their sexual drive and inquisitiveness regarding opposite sex in a healthy moral and ethical manner while they wait for proper time to enter in matrimony. Previously premarital counseling was confined to the marriage ceremony, but due to unrestrained sexual behavior, the need for premarital counseling has become very necessary.

Teenagers have lost the true meaning of the sanctity of sex. They need to be taught the reward of virginity as we read in Hebrew 13:4, "Marriage should be honoured by all, and the marriage bed kept pure…" What God has created as wonderful gift needs to be preserved. Teenagers must be taught about the true meaning of sex.

Therapeutic considerations

While treatment plans vary strongly by circumstance, there are some important considerations to remember for counsellor who are working with teenagers on this sensitive issue. Needless to say, for many teenagers who are struggling with pornography, shame is a major factor. When you first meet the client, it is not unusual for him or her to avoid eye contact, and be hesitant to answer questions.

The practitioner/ counsellor should attempt to minimize shame by being supportive and nonjudgmental about the struggle. Many teenagers who are developing compulsive pornography problems do so in agonized isolation, often believing that they are perverts and alone in their actions.

It can be helpful for the counselor to educate them on the prevalence of the issue while still clearly communicating the dangers so they don't trade their isolation for an "oh well, since everyone is doing it…" idea, for that is common too. One of the fundamental mistakes practitioners make when dealing with teenagers and pornography is to willingly or inadvertently reveal, or even attempt to impose, their own religious or moral values.

Counselors must never make assumptions about values of their clients (or their families), nor try to impose personal religious or moral viewpoints, even if they feel it is in the best interest of the client. Also, it is very important to closely monitor any self-disclosure about your own sexual experiences.

Never underestimate the power of the addiction

With pornography, professionals/ counselors sometimes fail to understand the power of the compulsion teenagers are facing, and it is not uncommon for professionals to advocate a simple treatment plan that is based upon willpower or moral character. Since pornography can be an addiction, these "just say no" types of approaches are likely to only create more frustration and self-defeating ideation in teenagers who do not have the will-power to stop.

For such young people who can no longer control their actions, the intervention and treatment modality must recognize the problem as a full addiction, and treat it with the same consideration given to alcohol or chemical substances.

Because we live in such a sexually charged culture, there is no way to totally isolate teens from exposure to inappropriate or harmful sexual content. Indeed, since the goal of totally shielding teenagers from sexuality is unrealistic (and probably unhealthy), counselors can play a key role in helping teenagers make good decisions and set boundaries as they grow into the sex roles of healthy adult men and women.

Concluded ....