Skateboarder With His Head Down (Unsplash) By Kate Anderson, DCNF. Young men in America are “lost” and “unmoored” and pornography’s devastating im
Young men in America are “lost” and “unmoored” and pornography’s devastating impact is wreaking havoc on an already struggling next generation, according to a new report obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The report “Men Without Meaning: The Harmful Effects of Expressive Individualism” examines the current issues afflicting young men in the U.S., such as suicidality, addiction, a lack of stable families and education, among others. Lawmakers and advocacy groups have raised concerns about the harms of pornography, specifically where minors are concerned, and several states have pushed legislation to place restrictions on online sexual content.
The reports author Brenda Hafera, the assistant director and senior policy analyst for the Simon Center for American Studies at The Heritage Foundation, told the DCNF that people would be “surprised” by the role porn has played in the growing “boy crisis.”
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“Some studies are indicating that boys are being exposed on average at the age of nine to pornography, and I think that would surprise a lot of people,” Hafera said. “I think, first of all, there needs to be an awareness of this, that when we’re talking about pornography, it’s not just men, it really is boys as well, and that 80% of children between 12 and 17 have seen pornography unintentionally, children under 10 now account for 22% of online porn consumption under 18.”
Hafera explains in her report that the “boy crisis” was born out of the sexual revolution and the idea of “expressive individualism,” which “combines radical autonomy with the idea that the internal self is the real self.”
“It replaces an idea of objective truth with I’m able to create my own morality and determine whatever it is that I want to do and I shouldn’t be restricted by any burdens of obligations or any ideas. That it’s apart from me. Expressive individualism took hold during the sexual revolution, and the boy crisis and what’s happening to men and boys now is a symptom, I would say, of that problem,” Hafera told the DCNF.
As a result, boys and young men “are in trouble,” according to the report, with the second leading cause of death for men under 45 in the U.S. as suicide. Additionally, only a quarter of men in 2020 between the ages of 17 and 24 were fit to serve in the military due to the vast majority being “overweight, having issues with drug abuse, for mental health and medical/physical reasons, or for a combination of those factors.”
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Only 20% of male students are considered proficient in writing and “more than seven million men between the ages of 25 and 55 have checked out of the workforce,” according to Hafera’s report.
Porn directly contributes to these problems by altering a boy’s mind “before their brains and capacity for self-control are fully developed,” according to the report. Addictions to porn have been linked to “high stress, social anxiety, romantic attachment anxiety and avoidance, narcissism, depression, anxiety, aggressiveness, and poor self-esteem” and have made it more difficult for young men to engage in meaningful relationships, harming not only themselves but the generation of young men who are left with absent or withdrawn fathers, which Hafera notes is the most important influence on young men.
However, Porn Hub, one of the largest pornographic websites, announced on March 14 that it would no longer be accessible in Texas due to a law that requires the site to verify the age of anyone attempting to access its content or face fines of $10,000 per day and up to $250,000 if “one or more minors accesses sexual material harmful to minors.”
The company blocked access in Mississippi, Virginia and Utah after elected officials passed similar laws. Hafera also expressed support for lawmakers to continue with their efforts to divest from the company Byte Dance, the owner of the app, which has been accused of pushing “sexually explicit ads to teenagers” in the U.S. as young as 13.
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Ultimately, however, in order to halt the crisis among young men, society needs to encourage meaningful pursuits such as marriage, fatherhood and work, Hafera told the DCNF.
“Part of this I would say is cultural, of actually promoting the narrative that fatherhood and marriage are important for happiness for both men and women, and that work is important and work is actually tied to family aspirations,” Hafera said. “We need to have a better understanding of the purpose of marriage and why marriage is good. So many young people today, grew up in households where their parents were separated and studies have indicated that they’re not really sure why marriage is important, or they’re not sure how to have conflict in a healthy manner, so recognizing that and offering resources, I think, is really important.”
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