In Sex Ed. PornHub gets an 'F'

Recently it was announced that PornHub is launching a new website to provide the public with sexual education. The site is called the Pornhub Sexual Health and Wellness Center. According to Executive Director Dr. Laurie Betito, the aim is to bring sexual information, wellness, and happiness to PornHub's 70 million users and the world at large (including our kids). Their tagline is "Real Talk About Sex from Those Who Know It Best". Unfortunately, such a website is most definitely the worst place to obtain an education on healthy sexuality. In fact, it's nearly impossible for any secular website to provide an adequate education on healthy sexuality.

Such a website is most definitely the worst place to obtain an education on healthy sexuality.

Highlights

By Peter C. Kleponis, Ph.D., SATP-C
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
3/31/2017 (7 years ago)

Published in Marriage & Family

Keywords: Sex ed, Sexual Education, Abstinence, Teenager

To understand human sexuality, we need to ask four questions.  The first three are:

1. What is healthy sexuality?
2. What is the purpose of sex?
3. How were humans created to be sexual?

Seeking the answers to these questions naturally leads us to the final question:

4. What is God's plan for human sexuality?

Being a secular organization devoid of any religious foundation, PornHub cannot answer the fourth question. As a result, the only answer it can give to the first three questions is that sexuality is whatever an individual or couple wants it to be. This purely relativistic view is very dangerous. The only rules they could possibly set are that sexual contact should only be experienced by consenting individuals and that no one should get hurt. However, they would immediately be contradicting these rules because the pornography distributed by PornHub is often degrading toward women and physically dangerous to all parties.

The notion that healthy sexuality is whatever a person or couple wants it to be can easily justify engaging in sexual practices that most would consider deviant, such as bondage, bestiality, homosexuality, and dangerous fetishes. The goal is to legitimize all forms of sexuality. Thus, according to PornHub, there would be nothing wrong with a man who enjoys engaging in sex with animals as long as he is happy and able to function in society.

Much of the sex portrayed on PornHub is not healthy. Often it portrays one or more men using a woman is sexually violent ways. While the woman may appear to enjoy the sex, the reality is that nobody could endure such physical abuse and enjoy it. Many porn stars are either drunk of high while filming such scenes in order to endure the pain.  

Other scenes include hitting, slapping, and various forms of verbal degradation. Even if a person enjoyed having this happen to her/him, this could not be considered healthy sexual intimacy. Other forms of dangerous sex presented by PornHub include unprotected "bareback" gay sex and "barely legal" porn stars that resemble prepubescent children.  What's scary is that young people will turn to PornHub for their sexual education and believe that this kind of sexuality is normal and healthy. This will not teach them about healthy intimacy. If they learn anything it will be that sex is solely for one's personal pleasure and that it is okay to use other people to obtain that pleasure.

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I believe the results of this education will be disastrous. Young people will come to engage in forms of sexuality that will be physically, emotionally, and spiritually devastating. Physical injuries, sexually transmitted infections, unplanned pregnancies, and abortions will increase. Instead of feeling loved and fulfilled, people will end up feeling used and exploited. This can lead to an increase in severe loneliness, depression, and even suicide. 

If people turn to pornographers for their sexual education, all the negative effects of pornography use that are well documented will only be magnified.

If we seek God's plan for human sexuality we can adequately answer all four questions listed above. In God's plan, we will find a blueprint for the healthiest form of sexuality. This is because it does not view the only goal of sex as having the most intense orgasm possible. If we study St. John Paul the Great's Theology of the Body, we find that the purpose of sexuality is to deepen and celebrate the intimate relationship between a husband and wife. It further unites them in their marriage covenant and, because it is so holy, it is open to the creation of new life. It also mirrors God's love for humanity and the love among the three persons of the trinity. This does not negate the importance of orgasm. Sex is a beautiful gift from God that feels good! Nothing else feels like an orgasm. It is an important part of sex; however, pornography reduces sex to nothing more than an orgasm. In pornography, sex is reduced to a recreational activity where people are exploited for personal pleasure. People who view sex this way shortchange themselves of all the wonderful benefits of healthy sexuality.

Parents need to be aware of how the pornography industry wants to hijack our kids. The primary goal of the pornography industry is to earn high profits. It's difficult to imagine such an industry being so benevolent as to want to teach people about healthy sexuality. More likely their goal is to attempt to legitimize and normalize Internet pornography and thus get more viewers. This will lead to more people becoming addicted to Internet pornography and at younger ages.  This will ensure the pornography industry more paying customers and higher profits. 

The challenge for parents today is to not only teach their kids about the dangers about pornography, but also about healthy sexuality. Fortunately, the Church has resources available to teach young people about God's beautiful and healthy plan for human sexuality. This will help our kids not get trapped in Internet pornography or the unhealthy sex it promotes.

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