The New York Times has a shocking article about the prevalence of teenage boys getting caught up in the online pornography world, selling images of themselves to predatory men who ask them to pose for them. As one victim reasoned when asked to bare his chest for a man, he wasn't doing anything that he wouldn't do at the local pool. Kids with webcams are especially vulnerable; this victim got a free webcam from this ISP, and when he installed it, it automatically put a picture of him up on a public website, where a predator within minutes found it and contacted him. Shamefully, his father even approved of it, accepting a share of the thousands of dollars of proceeds he got.
I think today's moral climate is ripe for such despicable abuse, on both sides; men who have no qualms about exploiting children, and parents who don't teach their children about sex in such a way that guards against exploitation. I think modesty is the term here. Much in past years has been made of female modesty, but there is a place for male modesty as well. Perhaps it's all the more important, since a woman can clearly tell when she's being treated as a sex object, and she encounters it enough to be wary, but it's much more subtle with men who exploit boys. Sadly, it's hard for teenagers to overcome the rationalization that they are getting good money to do something that is simple and doesn't appear to hurt them in the least (and in some cases is pleasurable).
The Internet is definitely in many ways a double-edged sword. This is probably the worst aspect of it. I'm not sure what the solution is. Moreover, it is not really the kids that are being brought up by loving, vigilant parents who are becoming victims, but in many cases those whose parents are asleep at the switch.
Lord, keep all children from harm. Grant the grace of conversion of heart to those who prey on them. St. Don Bosco, pray for us.
Amen to that. I'm lucky that my mother is far quicker on the uptake than that poor young man's father...the night I ran to her in tears because a stranger in the Mensa for Children forum on Compuserv was trying to pressure me into giving him information about me (not to mention cybersex) was one of the scariest events of my childhood. I was seven. My mother immediately IMed the woman who ran the forum and had the pedophile locked out for good.
In her words: "When my mother told me about hard parenting experiences, she never mentioned having to explain sadomasochism to a confused and terrified seven-year-old."
G-d bless the children with less worthy parents. May He protect them always from harm.