A major media watchdog is sounding the alarm and urging parents to take action after a study revealed that the number of children aged 9 to 12 who shared their own nude photos online has doubled.
A new study conducted on 1,002 minors showed that 14% of those aged 9 to 12 said they shared their own nude photo online, versus 6% who admitted to doing the same a year earlier.
According to the Christian Headlines, the new study conducted by Thorn, a nonprofit formed against child sex abuse, and the Benenson Strategy Group titled "Self-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Material: Youth Attitudes and Experiences in 2020" showed that about one-fifth or 21% of children aged 9 to 12 said they believe it is normal for peers their age to share nude photos of themselves online, a significant increase from the 13% who said the same last year.
Among those who said they have shared nude photos of themselves, up to 50% said they did so with someone who they have never met in real life.
The study was released in November and compared data from October to November 2020 to data from 2019. The Parents Television Council (PTC) reacted negatively to the results, saying it was a "disturbing trend." PTC president Tim Winter said that there were two reasons why the study yielded such shocking data.
Firstly, he said that there was a "pandemic-driven increase in screen time." Secondly, Winter blamed "entertainment programming promoting sexual experimenting and nude selfies," referencing programs on Netflix, Hulu, and HBO. Such programming, he argued, "encourages them to take nude photos and upload them, encourages them to be sexually active and sexually explicit."
"It normalizes that kind of behavior," Winter argued. "We're talking about shows like Big Mouth, A Teacher and PEN15."
Winter expplained that "Big Mouth" is "about 11- and 12- and 13-year-old children. And they are sexually provocative." The show has long been criticized by conservatives for its content, which has full nudity. The PTC president said that due to its animated nature, "children are naturally attracted to it," but its content is not appropriate for children. He also criticized FX's "A Teacher" and Hulu's "PEN15."
"It encourages children to do it. And it whets the appetite of those who prey on children. And sadly, that's exactly what we're seeing now in the data," Winter lamented. He said that the study must be a "clarion call to parents" because parents are "the first and last line of defense" in protecting children from highly sexualized materials.
Winter remarked that parents need to understand what type of media is being served to children nowadays because he believes parents are not able to grasp "how graphic a program like 'Big Mouth' is." He added that this "extreme content" is the kind that the PTC has "never seen before in its 26-year history."
