You’ve probably seen it – parents who dress their young daughters in provocative clothing.  An eight year old dressed to look 18.   Skimpy mini-skirts, skin tight tops to accent every curve – but the problem is – she’s 8 years old! – she doesn’t have curves. Well, Abercrombie & Fitch has a solution – push-up bikini tops they marketed earlier this year for girls as young as 8. (See our alert https://americandecency.org/archives/moms-across-america-are-upset-over-abercrombie-fitchs-push-up-bikini-top/#more-5365) Or perhaps you recall our recent email regarding the cover of Vogue magazine with the model spread out in a seductive, sensual pose. Typical for magazines such as Vogue – however this provocatively-posed model is a ten-year-old girl! Just a couple of examples of how our culture is sexualizing children and ripping away their innocence. Each night this week in my area (conservative West Michigan), the lead story on the local evening news has reported on sexual assaults upon children – several different cases in just one week! Here are the horrific headlines from our local news this week:
Kent County sheriff's detectives say they interviewed the woman, who "admitted being sexually aroused by the fantasy of 'rape' on small children," the warrant states. She "admitted to being sexually aroused by young girls ages 9 months to 12 years old," detectives wrote in the search warrant. She "admitted to viewing pornography on a computer containing images of young girls and images of older girls who appeared to look younger." …â€Â These headlines are nauseating and heart-wrenching! As our culture has sexualized children, our little ones are increasingly becoming targets for rape and molestation. Notice those accused were all in positions of caring for and nurturing children – a soccer coach; a youth home director; a pastor; a child welfare worker. Instead, these children were traumatized by those who should protect them! The young victims will face lasting detrimental effects from these crimes. I would think that there are few who would or should better understand the emotional and psychological trauma that child molestation victims face than those who treat them and counsel them – psychologists and psychiatrists. Yet there was another headline this week regarding a group who should protect children, but instead are siding with the pedophiles: Mental Health Group Looks to Remove Stigma From Pedophilia.  “ A group of psychiatrists and other mental health professionals say it's time to change the way society views individuals who have physical attractions to children. …â€Â http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/08/24/mental-health-group-looks-to-remove-stigma-from-pedophilia/#ixzz1W9sITo4z OneNewsNow reports: “Several well-known researchers recently made unexpected arguments on pedophilia at an academic conference in Baltimore. Liberty Counsel Action’s Matt Barber attended the conference, which was sponsored by B4U-ACT, a Maryland-based organization* of psychiatric practioners seeking to eliminate what it considers "tremendous barriers" among mental health professionals, the public, and "minor-attracted individuals" (pedophiles). Barber says while at the conference he felt he was on a different planet, as the presenting professionals argued to remove pedophilia from the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). That, he believes, would mean pedophilia would no longer be considered a mental disorder. "The entire focus of the event was on the victimhood of the pedophile," Barber accounts. There was "very little concern for the children who are the victims of these individuals when they are raped, who these individuals lust after," he adds. And he says the experts' discussions were focused on "destigmatizing pedophilia … removing the stigma, and [getting] the public to stop demonizing pedophiles." … http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=1413686 It may seem ludicrous to think that pedophilia would ever be condoned, but this is certainly a step in that direction. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has a practice of withholding “moral judgmentâ€Â from perversion – and thus denying that there are thoughts and behaviors that are morally wrong. Where once there was a great social stigma regarding pornography, psychologists will now “prescribeâ€Â that married couples view pornography together as a supposed marital aid! Not that long ago our society viewed homosexuality for what it is – sexual deviancy. However, in the 1970s the APA ‘declassifiedâ€Â homosexuality as a mental disorder – putting such deviancy on the same level as heterosexuality.  Now just a few decades later we are in a fight to preserve traditional, biblical marriage that has stood for all time and we Christians are the ones labeled as “abnormalâ€Â – “intolerant homophobesâ€Â – if we state that homosexual behavior is morally wrong. Is this the path we are on regarding pedophilia? If we continue to sexualize children I fear that one day such terrible crimes as those listed above will no longer be considered criminal. That is why we cannot just sit back and wring our hands as our culture is increasingly eroticized.  While the APA may not recognize it, there is right and wrong. We must engage the culture, speak out for what is right, and oppose that which is wrong. If we don’t take a stand today, what kind of culture will we leave our children and grandchildren? ========================================================== Your support is important to our ability to make a difference. Donate online at: https://secure4.afo.net/ada/donate.php American Decency Association is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. American Decency Association Bill Johnson, President P.O. Box 202 Fremont, MI 49412 ph: 231-924-4050 www.americandecency.org http://www.twitter.com/billwjohnson
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