Eyes Wide Open: Protecting Children From Porn at School and Libraries

“I will do something to stop this!” I thought, as a friend of mine from Colorado told me that in the school databases in her state and my state, she found XXX elicit pornography? In fact, there are two easy things that we can all do to stop this porn-pandemic in the schools and libraries. I will discuss how you can help below.

I contacted friends and leaders of organizations in my state. I arranged meetings and approached every angle to get the pornographic words, images, and videos out of the school and library databases that are used by children ages 5 and up to do their school projects and research.

After a call to a state senator, I went on the news, and the UETN temporarily shut the databases down. (This shutdown is proof the problem is real.) Sadly, after 3 weeks, the databases were declared “clean” and put back up for all to use. Within 15 minutes of that declaration, I found live links to Penthouse magazine, horrible images, and a story about a 6th grader having sex with his drama teacher in the Utah Online Library database called EBSCO.

Databases are not the same as the internet. They can’t be filtered by internet filters. They are promoted to states and school districts as the “safe way” for children to search because all the content in them has to be put there deliberately.

So, how does the content get there, you might ask? Well, the database companies like EBSCO and GALE solicit any kind of magazine who will pay to put their content in the database. The database companies promise these contributors that they will “find their target audience,” and “increase their subscriptions…”

What?!?! Our children are the “target audience?” Yes.

Then, the database companies solicit states and school districts to pay them millions of dollars annually to access these perfectly groomed databases. The database companies are taking money on both ends of the deal. They’re essentially selling our children to the magazine companies and paid contributors. This is called child exploitation.

Good News And Bad News

After two years of working to stop this problem, I have some bad news and some good news. The bad news is that we’ve been able to locate the database-porn problem in schools and libraries all over the world. The good news is that some states are passing laws to stop this harmful content from reaching the children, and we are conducting studies right now to help every state and nation who wants to take steps to protect children to stop this problem.

How You Can Help!

Below are links to a petition and a survey. The survey will ask if anyone you know has ever accessed pornographic content at school, through a school tablet or portal at an offsite location, or in a library. And, the petition will allow you to show your concern and support for stopping the database companies from being able to exploit our children at safe places like the school and library.

Share these links with your friends and consider bravely sharing your stories with us.

Link to Survey

Link to Petition   (When you go to the petition, it will ask you for money to fund petitions. That money does not go to us. You don’t have to donate to sign the petition.)

When mothers and fathers know how porn is finding the children, they can do something about it. Now more people know. This is a fight we can win. Please help us! Share the petition, survey, podcast and blogpost with people who would care about keeping children safe from this. 

If you’d like to find out more information about this situation and how to help, you can listen to our recent podcast.

Link to TSG Podcast With Additional Details 

And, if you want even more information, these links will give greater insight.

EARN IT Act of 2020 Is Worth Supporting!

South Carolina senator, Lindsey Graham, seems to be one of those brave men we love here at WOW who isn’t afraid to take a stand for protecting children. S-3398 “Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act of 2020” or the “EARN IT Act of 2020” is being championed by her in the senate at US Capitol this summer.

Some people are critical of the EARN It Act of 2020 because they say it takes away important internet freedoms. WOW understands that perspective and has never been in favor of censoring or controlling people or taking rights away. In fact, we have vocally be in full support of all legal rights owed to citizens of the United States.

However, WOW fully acknowledges that while adults should have full internet freedoms, children should not. We know so much about the brain these days. Developmentally, children aren’t prepared to self-govern their choices fully until they are at the very least 18. Many brain experts are saying the pre-frontal cortex of the brain, that does all the logical problem solving for the person, isn’t fully developed until the person is between the ages of 18 and 26 years old now.

An undeveloped child brain is not capable of full discernment and can be too easily groomed (or led by others) to crave certain behaviors or have certain ideas. Also, chemically child brains are even more prone to addiction than adult brains. Dr. Jen Brown explains in this video.

The EARN IT Act of 2020 establishes a national commission on online child sexual exploitation prevention. This commission will, “develop recommended best practices that providers of interactive computer services may choose to implement to prevent, reduce, and respond to the online sexual exploitation of children, including the enticement, grooming, sex trafficking, and sexual abuse of children and the proliferation of online child sexual abuse material.”

This commission is a very positive move for the United States to make. So many children are sexually exploited in the Untied States through sources that are marketed as safe or are deceiving children every day like school and library databases. This act will take steps to protect some of the most vulnerable among us, the children!

The only reason WOW sees for this act not to be adopted is if adults in leadership in our country think children should be exploited, trafficked, and sexually violated by digital purveyors and businesses. We call upon all responsible citizens to reach out to their senators and representatives at the United States capitol to ask them to support the EARN IT Act of 2020. We must save the children!

Click Here to Find Your Senator’s Contact Information

A Child’s Brain on Porn

The devastating effects of pornography have been seen over multiple years now. We see families and marriages fall apart, increased rape and child trafficking, decreased social skills and social caring, the push to embrace pedophilia and other sexual perversions as sexual preferences, and increasing amounts of child sexual abuse. We know porn is bad for individuals, families and societies, but have we taken the time to learn what it really does to the brain?

My colleague, Dr. Jen Brown, has spent years working with neurologists to present the full truth about what porn does to the brain. In this special TED Talk, Dr. Brown talks about what happens to the brains of children who view pornographic words, images, sounds, or videos. She explains this complex topic in an easy to understand way so we can fully understand.

Share this video with your friends and neighbors. We need to help others be aware so that we can all better protect children.