Puberty is a stage of human development in which a teen begins to experience both physical and hormonal changes. Part of this growth involves sexual development, whereby one begins to experience more intense sexual feelings and thoughts.
While it is natural to be sexual, most adolescents have not matured to deal with conflicts within them, and their judgment may still be underdeveloped. If introduced to pornography at this stage, it can easily be a source of both knowledge and sexual relief, especially where masturbation follows after watching.
Since the nature of this developmental mileage is to have sexual thoughts and feelings, it follows that more sexual thoughts increase the amount of watching, which can ultimately lead to addiction.
Teenagers watch and read pornography, as information about sex is readily available everywhere anytime, from YouTube, sexting to pornographic sites. Values guarding human sexuality are no longer appealing to the younger generations. Virginity is not valued anymore.
Morality and religious practices that glorified chastity at this developmental mileage have not been emphasised in our times.
There are very powerful lobbies that, in the name of human rights, say it is the right of a child to have sexuality information and even to enjoy sex since it is a natural need. So many students can easily feel the need to have sex since it is their right.
Drug abuse makes students not to see the dangers of early sex. At times, they are high on drugs and cannot control themselves sexually. Some drugs also intensify sexual desires, and one can easily have sexual intercourse with or without protection.
There are cults slowly emerging in school, which instruct students to engage in sex as an initiation ritual.
WHAT COUNSELLING REVEALS
In counselling, we encounter many students with very low self-esteem or poor personal concept, and being good in sex and winning many sexual partners makes them feel like they have redeemed their esteem.
There are those who were raped while growing up, and since they were not in control of their sexuality then, they will continue having sex, making them feel they have regained control. Since that control is not redeemed or resolved within one sexual encounter, they keep having more sex.
Pornography can lead to lack of sexual arousal since, over time, the brain has been configured that one gets sexually aroused only in the presence of pornography.
It may make some people rape or have forced sex with others, especially after watching pornographic content and one is horny.
Paedophile behaviours may arise when one has watched pornography and no one is willing to have sex with them. Minors become a target since they are helpless and cannot defend themselves.
Pornography may lead to diverse and unnatural sexual orientations, since pornographic content is of different orientations, involving children, animals, lesbians, homosexual, sadism, fetish, among others
It can obviously lead to sex addiction and masturbation. Prostitution can be a trigger by pornography addiction. When targeting minors, one can land in jail.
Silas Kirinya is a psychologist and CEO at Amazon Counselling Center.
