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12-16-2021 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Enough is Enough applauds Grammy award-winning singer Billie Eilish for courageously speaking out about harms of online pornography
Viewing pornography isn’t “harmless fun” as many are led to believe.
Musician Billie Eilish, 19, revealed she had been exposed to “abusive” pornography since the age of 11, and as a result suffered from nightmares. “I think it really destroyed my brain, and I feel incredibly devastated that I was exposed to so much porn.”
Sadly, her story is all too common, especially as the viewing of online pornography has become normalized and acceptable in our society. Children under the age of 10 now account for 22% of online porn consumption among those under age 18; 10-14-year-olds make up 36% of minor consumers. Popular themes depict teen rape, choking, incest, strangulation and violence.
This graphic content, deemed obscene under Federal law and not protected under the First Amendment, has been left unchecked for the majority of the past two decades as obscenity laws have not been prosecuted. The Department of Justice has collectively failed to uphold its duty to aggressively enforce the laws on the books, and until it prioritizes obscenity prosecution, countless millions of children’s lives will be shattered.
Pornography content fuels the sexual exploitation and abuse of children, leading to sexual addiction, decreased mental and physical well-being, compromised youth development, sexual predation and sex trafficking. Peer-reviewed research confirms increased pornography use is linked to decreased grey matter and reducedfunctional connectivity in the brain. Tragically, it is destroying innocence, shaping sexual templates.
“Courtney,” who shared her experience with Enough Is Enough® in the filming of its groundbreaking Internet Safety 101® program filmed in 2007, said that at the age of 13, “the boys she’d been with expected her to act just like the boys did in the hard-core material.” Nearly a decade-and-a-half later, children and youth routinely share similar, horrifying experiences. There is no excuse. Our children deserve better!
Enough Is Enough® continues to fight alongside so many advocates to help make the Internet safer for children and families so young people are not exposed to these horrific, life-altering images and suffer the impact that is has had on Ms. Eilish.
For more information about the harms of pornography and resources, please click here.
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