by AMY O’LEARY
Jeanne Sager set up a separate computer login for her 6-year-old daughter, Jillian, to protect her from objectionable material after Jillian stumbled upon a graphic video while watching “My Little Pony” videos. PHOTO/Randy Harris for The New York Times
When Children See Internet Pornography
Parents have learned to expect, and often dread, two sex talks with their children: the early lesson about the “birds and the bees” and the more delicate discussion of how to navigate a healthy sexual life as a young adult.
But now they are wrestling with a third: the pornography talk.
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Dana, a divorced mother of three in Massachusetts, assumed her sons would seek out pornography and thought it was normal for her 9-year-old to want to look at pictures of naked women. But when he was 13, he asked why women liked to be choked. She then realized she needed to explain to him that pornography isn’t real and that the people are paid actors. She compared it to WWE wrestling matches, which her son knows are fake.
Unlike many parents, Dana had an opportunity to help her son understand what had upset him, which is why therapists like Mr. Klein say that keeping the lines of conversation open is the best safeguard against any potential harm. “We’re not going back to 1950 here,” he added, “to a world where there are no mobile devices, no apps.”
The New York Times for more
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