How the Sex Industry is Altering a Healthy Growth of Our Community
There is no doubt that the sex industry in the US affects not only black families but every single family. We live in a sex-saturated society. There is no where you turn that you do not see or hear something related to some sex or sexual perversion. This industry’s now worth approximately $33.9 billion annually.
Over 90% of children have been exposed to pornography before the age of 18. Sex is, no doubt, a system God created for very distinctive purposes on earth, and which certain divine laws guide, protect, and honor. But it is no news that sex is seen right there on the internet, print media, television, social media, and everywhere else. More shocking is the fact that libraries are not exempted from these offensive sexual scenes.
The Impact of the Sex Industry
Many unsuspecting black families have innocently opened their doors to this monster. As a result, they live their children to learn sex the wrong way. The unwholesome sexual practices which children watch form a stronghold on their minds. Before you could say ‘Jack Robinson’, they begin to exhibit strange behaviors. From masturbation and phonography to sex addiction, many innocent young children have now grown into teenagers living with various types of mental health challenges.
Some of the behaviors we are beginning to see include but not limited to the following:
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- isolation
- lack of interest in activities
- lack of interest in friends
- loneliness
- rejection
- low self esteem
- moodiness
- depression
- irritation
- disrespect for adults
- foul languages that are often suggestive of sex
- they become unusually secretive
- they ‘password’ all their devices
The snowball effects of all these behaviors along with peer pressure and environmental factors ultimately push teenagers into drug use, and subsequently its addiction.
How can Families Guide and Protect Kids?
Now that we know the method of operation of this demon of sexual pervasion and its disguise to alter the destinies of our future promise, let’s look at what families can do to help.
1. Tell them about sex and its consequences
The sex industry has pervaded everywhere, and it doesn’t leave out religious places. It’s become a sort of material used as a lead magnet. Terrible, isn’t it?
So, what’s the way out? Let your kids know what sex is. Yes, there’s no need hiding it. They know it anyway. But, they have been wrongly informed about it. This is where your own job comes in – teach them what it is, when it is okay, and when it is poisonous.
2. Don’t be too trusting of family members:
Sexual abuse from close ‘friends’ are common. An abuse from the people we often refers to as “friends” have kick-started many negative experiences that changed people’s lives for worse. Many cases of sexual abuses have to do with people that are so close that you couldn’t think it could come from them. Abuse can come from uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces, celebrities, pastors or priests, church members, whomever.
Parents should be wary of people who are close to the family. This doesn’t mean you go around suspecting everybody in the community, but you should take precautions and set clear boundaries to protect your kids.
3. Observe your kids and talk to them
Be close to your children. Show love to them and seek to hear them out. Who knows? They might be suffering abuse. Worse still, their abuser may have threatened them to never speak out. So, become friends with them. This will help them to speak out.
4. Find a bible-believing church in your community and attend
The local church community does more than just ‘church’ stuff. They can actually be sources of succor and help to the dying. Quite a number of churches are doing a good job when it comes to helping families heal of sexual abuse as well as other crisis.
Beyond healing victims, such a congregation may give out practical teachings that help families and parents in particular to avoid this monster ever before it raises its ugly head. As a result, we’ve had people whose lives were transformed as a result of attending a local church.
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Help for those who have already become addicted to any form of sexual pervasion
To every problem, there is a solution. The fact that we have people who were once victims of sexual pervasion tell their stories of deliverance and victory is evidence that anyone trapped can be free. So, how can an addicted person be helped?
The following are some tips that could help:
- Pray. It may sounds this simple, but talking to God is critical. Family members should pray fervently for their loved one going through this challenge. God is gracious and powerful to turn things around for them. So, seek God’s face.
- Consider seeing a counselor: Addictions to things related to immoral sex aren’t easy to break. In most cases, help is needed.
- Engage in activities that will make you productive. Tap in to your potentials. Develop your gifts. If you love to write, consider writing to earn.
- Go for sporting activities.
- Discipline yourself. Develop your inner strength – one day at a time. There’s almost nothing that cannot be achieved through discipline. George Washington once said; “Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.”
- Have someone you can be accountable to. Find a person of integrity who can hold you accountable. It helps.
- Consider reading the Bible. Many of the scientists who have invented something tremendous were not foreign to the Bible. Scientists such as Marie Curie, Robert Boyle, Michael Faraday, James Clerk Maxwell, Isaac Newton, John Dalton, to mention a few were committed Bible readers.
Your turn: How do you process sex as God’s design, and yet a destructive instrument in the devil’s hands? What other tips and guide would you add to the above to support families and your community? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.