Back to School – something you might be surprised to learn.
Back to school is a time of new beginnings. We outfit our children with new school supplies and we explain safety practices, like fire drills or crossing the street. But have we considered addressing the dangers of exposure to pornography?
Bitdefender, a cybersecurity and anti-virus company, says that 1 in 10 people who visit porn sites is UNDER 10. That can mean 6, 7, 8, or 9 years old.[1] It can be found in the school environment. Will they stumble across it doing homework, as often happens?[2] Or, will a classmate or older child show them something on their smartphone?
What about when you hand your child a device to amuse themselves in the grocery line or at a restaurant? Is the free WiFi you are accessing filtered, or are they at risk of stumbling across pornography?
Porn is a pervasive, harmful problem in our society. Pornography is often the training ground that leads to other forms of sexual exploitation. With the growing ease of access to pornography, we have seen a growing acceptance of sexual violence, acceptance of rape culture[3] and child on child sexual abuse and exploitation[4].
Porn has been and continues to be marketed to younger and younger children. It is a strategic business model.
We want to ask businesses and organizations to help Canadians avoid being harmed by porn’s business model. As a community, we need to respond.
That is why Defend Dignity initiated the Choose Change campaign. We want to give you an opportunity to use your influence to challenge the harms of sexually violent images online.
We have started the dialogue at ChooseChangeCanada.org. At Choose Change, you can connect with the executives and CEO’s of organizations who are, perhaps unknowingly, facilitating ease of access to these images. With a few clicks you can send pre-written emails to these key players, encouraging them to change their policies and practices. Last year, The Keg responded to emails and Chose Change, and this year, Boston Pizza also chose change. Both have implemented filtering for pornography in their restaurants.
We envision a groundswell of response letting companies know we want and expect more from them and that the current path of pornification must be stopped and reversed.
Join the conversation.
Connect to Organizations[1] https://hotforsecurity.bitdefender.com/blog/one-in-10-visitors-of-porn-sites-is-under-10-years-old-16675.html, accessed Aug. 24, 2017.
[2] http://www.familysafe.com/pornography-statistics/#anchor5, accessed Sept. 5, 2017
[3] Check & Guloien (1989). The effects of repeated exposure to sexually violent pornography, nonviolent dehumanizing pornography, and erotica. In D. Zillman & J. Bryant (Eds.), Pornography: Research Advances and Policy Considerations (pp. 159F184), cited in EFC, Submission to the Standing Committee on the Status of Women: Internet Pornography and Violence Against Young Women and Girls in Canada, 2016 , accessed Sept. 5, 2017
[4] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/feb/03/claims-child-sexual-offences-soar-england-and-wales-police-barnardos, accessed Sept. 5, 2017