Pornography is corrupting very young children
The Universe
(June 13, 2004)
PORNOGRAPHY is considered by many as harmless and
even healthy by some societies. But what is happening today is far from
the girlie magazines read under the bedcovers.
The internet has changed all that and now anyone with access to a
computer can, with the click of a button, summon up the most horrific
images of abuse being done to children. Even worse can be seen if you
pay a fee using a credit card.
This huge international trade has to be detected and the perpetrators
made to answer for their crimes. It is not the victimless act many
claim. Every image of a child being sexually abused is evidence of a
horrific crime. What we need to counter this is a movement as strongly
determined and unrelenting as the pro-life movement. They see the evil
of abortion with a bright shining conviction and work non-stop to save
the babies. We need the same to stop the crimes against children.
A few weeks ago I was visiting a poor family whose child had been
reported abused by some young boys. As I was walking to their house in a
shanty town I noticed a group of men and boys crowding around a TV
showing a hardcore pornographic video. The adults had to pay the owner
of the video machine to join the 'home cinema' but children didn't. Many
were peeping over the backs of the adults.
I was not surprised when I heard that the six and seven year-old abused
children had been abused by two very small nine and ten year old boys.
Brought to us for counseling, they admitted watching pornographic videos
and were imitating what they saw.
The Internet is making the situation worse. This is the advertising arm
of child sexual abuse and the sex industry as a whole.
Some of the eleven-year-old boys that PREDA is getting out of the
prisons for human development training are charged with raping little
girls younger than them. They are pedophiles in the making and have been
corrupted by the adults who set up the pornography cinema in the alleys
and back rooms. We are even accepting children as young as six and seven
with sexually transmitted diseases. Thousands of young people have been
helped but many more have yet to be reached.
There is much evangelization to be done in making the sacredness of
human person a center of Christian spirituality for young people in a
world where it is seen as a commodity to be bought and sold.
Christianity today must reach young people and inspire them to respect
the human person and actively counter the social evils that are
destroying innocent lives. We have our part to play by giving good
example, speaking out and supporting the work to stamp out the evil
trade. Society and Government must be aroused from their non-caring
attitude.
Fr. Shay Cullen is a Columban missionary: PREDA Centre, Kalaklan, Olongapo City. www.preda.org
