the pornification of a generation

Thanks to my sweetie (and Abe Serrano, for forwarding to Matt), I just finished reading this vitally provocative article entitled "The Pornification of a Generation" by Jessica Bennett, Newsweek Magazine.

Where do I begin? Firstly, let me preface my comments by acknowledging that I was a Sociology major in my years at UCLA, which "socialized" me to become someone relatively passionate about Sociology. Or really, someone very interested in how sociological studies can capture a culture in many unique ways that other sciences fall short at doing...I'm still not sold on the sociological perspective of the world. I love learning about the direction in which our culture is headed, as it is always changing and always sinning.

Onto the article. You have to be stuck in a hole next to Osama in order to miss that our culture is completely oversexualized. Unfortunately, it is our generation whom is reaping the consequences of the Sexual Liberators of the 1970s, and we see this in record-high divorce rates, an abundance of homosexual/bisexual relationships (increasingly encouraged by governmental measures), stably-high abortion rates, and incidences of cohabitation that almost match the number of marriages in this country. It is clear that we are a culture much far removed from the "innocence" during the years of the beginnings of track homes and culturally strict gender roles.

One of the statistics that startled me most was that "According to a 2007 study from the University of Alberta, as many as 90 percent of boys and 70 percent of girls aged 13 to 14 have accessed sexually explicit content at least once." Are you kidding me? What a sad state of American culture, in which teenage girls assume incorrect sexual identities and boys immaturely buy into instant virtual gratification.

Although I mentioned earlier that our culture is oversexualized, I never would quite consider that a "porning" effort. But it makes sense; in a culture that is almost rarely free from images and visual stimulation, how could we possibly avoid the objectification of sex and in turn, the apathy towards such provocative images? It is easy when our culture functions solely on the basis of externalities. And I hate to say it, but I think the television and the internet have catalyzed such cultural backwardness.

Reading this article just reminds me that we are a screwed up culture. The world that surrounds us is boiling with sin, and unfortunately that is taking the toll in damaging ways (I think ahead to how I will need to make extreme efforts to feed my children accurate ideas of sexuality). As a Christian community, we need to be showing this confused world that Truth exists and is worth living for. We need to understand the faults of the culture that surrounds us so that we do not fail to blend in and dishonor God in doing so. We need to hold fast to the truth and shine as lights in a world of darkness.

We need to apply the Gospel to this culture of ours that is image-driven, socially shallow, and showered by pornography.