Parents, It's Time to Talk With Teens About Porn

Dr. Harold Koplewicz: It can distort their views of relationships
By Luke Kelly-Clyne,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 2, 2011 3:40 PM CDT
Parents, It's Time to Talk With Teens About Porn
A pornography site optimized for iPad is seen on an iPad at the Pink Visual booth at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Vegas.   (Getty Images)

Sorry, parents, but it's time to add porn to that talk about the birds and the bees. The days of hidden Playboys have been replaced by a 24-7 pornography culture that gives confused teens a skewed sense of sexuality, as seen in all those lewd "sexts" and salacious Facebook poses, writes child psychiatrist Dr. Harold Koplewicz of the Child Mind Institute. Parents need to be there to provide the "reality check."

Porn can have an ill effect on kids' perception of healthy relationships, he argues. They need to know that "porn sex isn't real" but mere "fantasy" and that real people "don't relate to each other this way." (Nor do they look like porn stars.) Admitting that sex talk may be uncomfortable for all parties, Koplewicz tells moms and dads to belly up, because "when your kids are faced with confusing, or even dangerous, situations, you want them to know that they have an adult they can trust to turn to—you." (More internet pornography stories.)

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