Internet World

The world is filled with many avenues of recreation—with many being merely escapism—especially in the Western world. Television, movies, dance clubs, bars and the Internet allow people to escape their daily lives or to meet others who share similar interests. By far, the most effective of these is the Internet. Never has it been so easy for so many to reach those who share similar interests—no matter how extreme.

The Internet literally has “something for everyone.” For instance, if you are interested in flying model airplanes, or stamp collecting, and have recently moved to a new city, the Internet permits you to find others in your area who share your interest. While these pursuits are harmless, with the click of a mouse, one can just as easily find people who are interested in paedophilia!

The Internet is the ultimate form of full-information access without regard to age or purpose. How it is used, and how sex has dominated this medium, is astonishing.

Never before could someone who was “curious” about same-sex relationships (or any other kind of sexual practice) find a partner to explore that curiosity in such an open and encouraged forum—and almost instantly. In the same way, children are now exposed—often without their parents’ knowledge—to predators of every kind, who could be across the world or just next door.

Such “windows” within society now exist for anyone who is even a little bit computer savvy.

But where does society itself now stand? Collectively, what is happening to children and the family? Are these things really having an effect on society? Is this public fascination with sex actually changing how we act, think and live? What about children? Does the explosion of sex-related material taught in schools and presented by the media have positive or negative effects on them?

Effect on Children

As part of political correctness, psychologists have suggested that children need the “seeds of tolerance” planted in them, beginning at an early age, to allow them to blossom into “well-rounded, open-minded”—and “tolerant”—adults. The result has been that many school curriculums have been altered to allow alternative lifestyles and viewpoints to be expressed, very often without the parents’ permission or even knowledge. Strict neutrality is maintained in the presentation. Taking a position is condemned as making a “moral judgment.”

Such seeds of knowledge have no chance of sprouting into a better, more tolerant society. In reality, this “re-education” of children today has come at a heavy price.

In today’s world, it is common, even expected, to lose one’s virginity by age 16. However, this is almost tame in comparison to the problems in middle schools throughout America. Instead of learning math and English, reports regularly appear about students caught having oral sex in school, or even in the classroom itself. Outside school, this practice is now generally considered to be at epidemic levels—and it has actually become common—even fashionable—for middle school children to have “oral sex parties” because they have been taught that “there is no danger of getting pregnant!” (What is reported to actually occur at these parties simply cannot be mentioned in this book.)

Over half of all American teenagers between 15 and 19 report that they engage in oral sex, with this number rising to seven out of ten for those aged 18 or 19. But these were the statistics in 2002. What are they several years later? And recognize that young people report that the use of oral sex is their way of remaining virgins. Incredible!

How bad have things become? It is reported that in a major metropolitan area, one in every seven girls now regularly masturbates on the bus to and from school—with no thought or concern about whether or how many boys are watching!

Fifth grade graduation parties often feature children involved in so-called “freak dancing”—a form of dancing in which participants simulate the sex act while keeping their clothes on. Is it any wonder then that young adults in their late teens and early twenties find it easy to go on to “raves”—a far worse form of party in which vast quantities of alcohol and drugs are mixed with free sex? This merely becomes the next natural step for ever-growing numbers who crave acceptance in whatever is the next trend.

Way Too Early

Preoccupation with being “sexy” is now starting even younger. The long popular “Barbie” doll has recently introduced a version called “Lingerie Barbie.” Although the manufacturer stated that this Barbie is for girls age 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 peek-a-boo peignoir.”

Of course, it takes little imagination to see what the obvious message is here. And no one has to wonder whether that message is being received.

Here is a worse message: A young college student reported to us that a professor in one of her classes stated that she did not wish to “decide” the gender of her child, so she dressed it in yellow—not pink or blue—so that the child would feel completely free to decide its own sex without any kind of “pressure” from the mother. Astonishing!—but this is the world of today, a world where such “professors” (the above was a gender studies professor) are permitted to teach tomorrow’s husbands and wives, and mothers and fathers!

One market that seems to have no concept of childhood is that of fashion. It seems that, if you want sex to sell, you must start with the very young, as this quote from ABC News demonstrates: “A fake lizard miniskirt...boots and fishnet stockings...If you think it’s the wardrobe of a 20-something, think again!” The report went on to explain that this is in the closet of a five-year-old!

Reading racy books has become a widespread trend among younger teens (and even earlier), particularly girls. The emphasis in them is on either fantasy or pure smut. Why is this not being connected to 10 million STDs among teens in 2004 alone, one half the national total?

Magazines for teenagers promote a level of sex obsession never seen before, with article titles such as “Boyfriend Gave Me Herpes” or “Sex Slang Explained” or “My Affair With Teacher” filling them. Girls as young as nine are reading such promiscuity-glamorizing magazines. With the latter title in mind, a survey reveals that one in ten American students have had sexual contact with school employees.

Emphasis on Beauty

Society has also become completely obsessed with the idea of being beautiful—that a person’s attractiveness, and to a large degree one’s worth, is connected to physical beauty. This kind of thinking is primarily affecting girls but is also having an effect on boys. Everywhere one looks—television, magazines, Hollywood and advertisements—the look is the same, that of the “beautiful people” being the ones who get to enjoy the good things in life, who receive life’s rewards.

How far has this thinking gone?

Another British newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, carried an article “My Daughter Wants Surgery to Her Thighs, Eyes and Nose...She is 13.” This article depicted ten very attractive, scantily-clad, wanton-looking teenage girls and young women with supposedly “perfect” bodies posing in a picture as its centrepiece. The intent was to give the reader an idea of what large numbers of girls today are seeking to look like. It went on to report that little girls as young as five now believe that they have to be slim to be popular.

In ever greater numbers, children of such tender ages are reported to be unhappy with their bodies, and developing eating disorders as a result—with more now wanting surgery. In a growing tragedy of untold proportions, entire childhoods are being lost to foolish obsessions with vanity. And no one has any idea what to do about it.

Society’s current extreme emphasis on physical beauty—“being gorgeous”—has played more than a small role in the explosion of illicit sex around the world, and we have barely scratched the surface here of what is happening! It is foretold to grow worse.