Did you know that #KinkTok, which is a form of “BDSM,” glorifying sexual aggression, pain and domination is rampant on TikTok?
Sexual acts in BDSM include spanking, gagging, open-handed slapping, knife-play, hair pulling, choking, and bondage, and have billions of views on TikTok and make these kids believe that this is all normal and acceptable role play.
More than one-third of TikTok's 49 million users base is 14 years or younger. TikTok is profiting massively from this content while children are being groomed to normalize sexual violence and rape in our current digital climate.
Sadly, today's internet titans behave like demigods and are complicit with kids' exposure to violent porn. They trivialize harms, assume zero responsibility, and receive unprecedented legislative immunity from any legal consequences for hosting highly exploitive and even illegal content involving minors.
In our current digital climate, kids are groomed to normalize sexual violence and rape. Their early exposure to porn can make them increasingly numb and even complicit.
Clinical psychologist Steiner-Adair, a leading expert in the field of media education, writes, “Abusive partners have always used belittling, derisive comments to control and punish their partner, and unfortunately, contemporary male culture has always included permission to openly rate and ridicule girls and women, especially in sexual terms. But the combination of media, sex and violence, online pornography, texting, and other social media has normalized this kind of behavior and the impulse to broadcast it.”
Sadly, today’s media is often complicit with kids’ exposure to violent porn, diminishes harms and is largely shielded from any legal consequences.
More clicks, more money; it’s as simple as that. With 830 million teens online, there is money to be made. We talk about porn as the dark corner of the web, but it is much more like the “city of lights,” Las Vegas. Companies will do whatever they can to get you through the door and make money.
Big Tech has created a monster where today’s media will do anything to keep kids glued to the screen and normalizes rape, abuse and violence as entertaining past-time.
The more often the behavior is repeated, the stronger these connections become, which can make kids' adopt sexual ideas they had never even thought about. If porn is so pervasive, without any borders to its consumption, it poses serious questions regarding its effects on the well-being and healthy physical, mental, and social development of children and youth. Perhaps the most alarming side effect of excessive pornography consumption is the erosion of sexual boundaries and an increasing acceptance of dating violence.
Let's talk to our kids about consent, healthy sexuality and why boundaries are so important. Do not lose heart, change is coming.
