Sexploitation: Helping Kids Develop Healthy Sexuality in a Porn-Driven World

As surprising as it may be to parents, young people today are immersed in porn culture everywhere they look. Through Internet porn, gaming, social media, marketing, and advertising, kids today have a much broader view of social and sexual possibilities, which makes it difficult for them to establish appropriate expectations or to feel adequate in their own sexuality. Even more important, no one is talking to kids directly about the problem. Parents tend to convince themselves that their children are immune to cultural influences, wait until it comes up, or hope schools and pediatricians will address the issues. Educators and doctors may be able to start the conversation but it is fundamentally a parent’s job to provide information about sex and relationships early and often to help young people find their way through their social and sexual lives. Delaying the necessary but awkward conversations with their kids leaves them vulnerable. The media, marketers, and porn and gaming industries are eager to step in anywhere parents choose to hold back. Sexploitation exposes the truth to parents, kids, educators, and the medical profession about the seen and unseen influences affecting children, inspiring parents to take the role as the primary sexuality educator. With more information, parents will gain conviction to discuss and develop values, expectations, boundaries, and rules with their kids. Kids who enter their teens with accurate information and truths stand a better chance of developing an ＂inner compass＂ when it comes to sex and relationships, which sets them up for a healthy adulthood. In her comic and straightforward style, Pierce brings together the latest research with anecdotal stories shared with her by high school and college students in the thick of it. Above all else, her goal is to get people to develop more comfort around those difficult conversations so that kids gain more confidence and courage about drawing boundaries based on their own values not those put upon them.

Cindy Pierce, comic storyteller and sex educator, engages audiences with her message about making healthy choices and navigating cultural pressures amidst a world with confusing messages on sex. She frequently speaks to groups of parents, educators, and students at colleges, high schools, and middle schools. Her insights on sex education have been featured on NPR s Here & Now. Recently, Cindy has been performing her newest shows, ＂Comfort in the Stumble＂ and ＂Are We There Yet＂ around New England and the Pacific Northwest. She is the co-author of Finding the Doorbell: Sexual Satisfaction for the Long Haul.Cindy and her husband Bruce live with their three teenage kids in Etna, NH, near Dartmouth College, where they own and run Pierce s Inn. You can learn more about Cindy s work at cindy-pierce.com.
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