Protecting Your Child in an X-rated World

Rating:
Summary: Should be Required Reading for Parents
Review: A better parental handbook will be hard to find. The authors have drawn from their own life experiences and decades of professional involvement to produce a volume that should be required reading for every parent.

Protecting Your Child sounds the alarm on an issue that should be alarming to every parent. The authors point out that there has been a 500% increase in rape over the 19-year period from 1980 to 1999, the decades during which the U. S. porn industry grew from a $4 billion annual business to a $10 billion dollar business. Worldwide, it is estimated that pornographers profit $56 billion a year.

York and LaRue document countless law enforcement records that tie pornography to sex offenses. Other disturbing statistics add to the cause for concern. For example, the authors write, "A report in the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1993 noted that nearly half of the nation's child molesters were children. In addition, in 1983 there were only 22 juvenile sex offender programs nationwide; in 1993 that number had grown to 755. Today there are more than 1,200."

Readers should not overwhelmed by the barrage of statistics and tragic stories told in the opening pages. LaRue and York always provide an antidote including concrete steps for action.

Both authors are honest and straightforward in sharing how they were themselves victims of pornography at a young age.

"I am fighting pornography for the sake of our nation's children who are becoming the primary consumers of pornography," says LaRue. The book documents how children are, indeed, being exposed to hard-core pornography at younger and younger ages.

York was first exposed to pornography as an 11-year-old in 1955 when a local drugstore began carrying the brand new Playboy magazine. "Pornography was not widely accessible in those days," he says, "or I might have become a seriously addicted child." Today York is editorial director of Traditional Values Coalition.

In Part 1, York and LaRue detail why pornography is a danger to families, then take a look at its pervasiveness. They illustrate how it has infiltrated even our homes, public schools and libraries largely via the Internet.

Part 2 gives practical responses for the challenge to stop pornography from destroying our children and communities. The chapters on how to keep it out of your home, and how to help the child who has already been exposed to porn are invaluable resources for parents.

Protecting Your Child may paint a scary picture of the present, but it also offers a vision of hope for the future.

Rating:
Summary: Deep Christian Overtones
Review: This book has practical helps for parents to teach children about sex from God's point of view. Pornography violates that, and parents need to know how pervasive pornography is: sex-ed materials in public schools, dial-a-porn, the Internet, magazines, comic books, videos. If children don't learn about good sex from their parents, they'll learn about bad sex somewhere else. Highly recommended!!!

Rating:
Summary: Parents - pay Attention!!!
Review: This book has practical helps for parents to teach children about sex from God's point of view. Pornography violates that, and parents need to know how pervasive pornography is: sex-ed materials in public schools, dial-a-porn, the Internet, magazines, comic books, videos. If children don't learn about good sex from their parents, they'll learn about bad sex somewhere else. Highly recommended!!!

Rating:
Summary: Protecting your child in an x-rated world
Review: This is an excellant book to equip parents with up-to-date information on how to protect our children from pornography. The authors include resources for internet filters, counselors, and groups that can provide additional support.

Rating:
Summary: Deep Christian Overtones
Review: York and LaRue's book presented interesting arguements of reasons to protect children in the so-called "X-Rated World". However, the book also shared opinions and social commentary with serious religious biases. It was difficult to concentrate on the topic when the authors often digress onto religious topics of which I do not agree. The authors address the issue of premarital sex and homosexuality with complete intolerance for those of alternative lifestyles. When they accused Planned Parenthood of "promoting traditional-values-free sex for teens" and of having a "radical agenda" I grew frustrated and abandoned the book. The authors, while presenting accurate information about the pervasiveness and danger of children accessing information via the Internet, they also presented their own "radical agenda"s with Christian biases and promoting wholly the intolerance of homosexuals.