38
Caribbean News
week ending February 16, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com
Porn addiction rising among youth in Jamaica
A
leading sexual health agency has expressed distress over what it says is a mounting addiction to pornography in the 12 to 14 age group in Jamaica. According to Chairman of the National Family Planning Board Dr Sandra Knight, the
addiction is increasing and more so among boys. "It's going up yearly. Teenagers are addicted to pornography and we know from research that pornography inhibits the proper development of certain parts of a child's brain to consolidate healthy relationships as
adults. So we are having even more problems there," Dr Knight told the Jamaica Observer Press Club last Thursday. She said that tackling the issue was even more complex, given the fact that there was fierce competition from so many different influ-
Dr Sandra Knight (left), Chairman of Jamaica's National Family Planning Board-Sexual Health Agency, addressing the Jamaica Observer Press Club last Thursday. Caught in a contemplative mood is Executive Director of the National Family Planning Board Sania Sutherland. (Joseph Wellington/Jamaica Observer photo)
ences.
Entertainment industry
"We are competing with other things that are happening but compete we must. In addition to us competing we have to reach out to the entertainment industry for example and say to them, look, what is it that you are doing? Look at the message you are putting out there," Dr Knight said. She also registered disgust with the productions of some female members of the entertainment industry. "I look at some of our female entertainers and I say look at how long and hard you have worked to be recognised and this
is the explicit sexual crap you are putting out there. You have the opportunity to positively influence the young people in Jamaica and you are spewing crap," she said. Commenting on a seeming trend whereby teens have been featured in locally-made sexually explicit 'videos' making the rounds on social media, she said that the activities that are now being shown in videos "have been happening a long time".
Incest
"It's not now, it's just that they are being recorded because everybody's phone now has a camera. I cannot imagine why a father having sex
with his daughter is putting that on camera," she said in reference to one of the most recent incidents where a father was reportedly filmed frolicking with his daughter and other underaged girls. "I am a little alarmed at how person's ability to discern between a right decision and a wrong decision is so diminished. It's troubling, it's very troubling," Dr Knight said. Addressing the issue Marion Scott, acting director of Outreach and Prevention with the Board, said that it has brought parenting to the forefront. "This is where parenting comes in, parents are not talking to their children about sex. They think if they don't talk about it, it won't happen, which is the complete opposite. If you don't talk about it, they are curious, they will get the information somewhere and it is often inappropriate or incorrect information from the wrong source. So we definitely have to work on the parents and the dialogue," she said, noting that sex is taboo in many households. (Excerpted from Jamaica Observer)