Ministry Head Speaks on Sexualization of Youth
The consequence of a generation that's been "sexualized" is being publicized through a new book by Teen Mania President Ron Luce who says Christians and others must rally to "save the youth."
Battle Cry for a Generation, released on June 1, was written as part of a comprehensive strategy Teen Mania launched after their president witnessed the "denigration of a generation" in his 18 years of ministry.
In his book, Luce calls on churches, parents, communities, and others to rally to save the youth who feel "abandoned" and "lonely."
"It's going to take all of us to find our role and rally together and rescue this generation. It has to be a paradigm shift in the body of Christ. It needs to get down to the laity."
Through what he calls "cultural sexualization," the youth are being "denigrated."
"It is everywhere, and our children are breathing it in. There are virtually no safe zones, no protected public airwaves, no magazine racks that aren't blaring some kind of 'best sex tips' headline," wrote Luce in "Battle Cry."
According to a study by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the largest consumers of Internet porn are teenagers, ages 12-17.
"We're seeing more younger people being impacted," stated Daniel Weiss, Senior Analyst for Media and Sexuality at Focus on the Family.
Weiss calls the consequences of pornography, a $57 billion dollar industry that generates more revenue than the professional sports industry, a "snowballing effect."
However, armed with new studies that found sexual images to have a "poisoning" effect on the brain, Luce took an almost greater issue with soft-core porn.
"I take a huge issue with not just the hard core pornography but the soft core industry. For example, on MTV... there is huge amount of soft-core pornography. The study came out last fall; the more kids see this, the more likely they are to act."
Neurologist Richard Restak described the lasting effect of pornographic addiction on the brain in a report.
"Thanks to the latest advances in neuroscience, we now know that emotionally arousing images imprint and alter the brain, triggering an instant, involuntary, but lasting, biochemical memory trail. This applies to so-called 'soft-core' and 'hard-core' pornography."
Analogizing soft-core porn to a "gate-way drug" (which leads to harder drugs), Luce stated the soft core industry of movies and music make it much easier to click into harder, more perverse material on the Internet, which then leads to perverse actions.
In one study of teenagers, "Two-thirds of the males and 40 percent of the females reported wanting to try out some of the behaviors they had witnessed. And 31 percent of males and 18 percent of the females admitted doing some of the things [viewed]."
The U.S. Attorney General signed legislation last month requiring every producer to document the ages of actors in an effort to guard against illegal child pornography.
This legislation will open the way for a "crackdown" on illegal pornography in general, says Daniel Weiss, Senior Analyst for Media and Sexuality at Focus on the Family.
The role of mentors, senior citizens, twenty year olds, and others in leadership positions are important.
Each person must rally to help, said Luce, and that starts by "just loving them."
