Youth are in the age of intense sexual urges because of their biological changes. Adolescent sexuality is the theme of most films. They are combined with provocative clothes, sexual violence etc. The advertisement industry highlights adolescent sexuality in many ways. The phenomenon of sexual abuse of the young, of widows and other single women is more evident in the daily newspapers. Yet, Indian parents are reluctant to speak of sex matters with their children. Youth have very less opportunity to learn about a healthy sexual life. Social values are changing and it is not uncommon to see young boys and girls together at movies, cafes, picnics and so on. For many Indian youth, pornography is the only form of sexuality or the only accessible sexual material available. Casual contact leads to casual sex and lands the girls into a frightening spiral of rape, black mail and prostitution.

Schools and colleges do not take sex education seriously. Teachers either conveniently skip the topic or are reluctant to speak about it. Media has more impact on students than teachers do. This results in teenagers acquiring false and distorted notions about sex and sexuality, leading to behaviour that may prove hurtful. In the light of this, the researcher wants to present how pornography adversely affects human life.

The literal sense of the word is the graphic depiction of whores as derived from the ancient Greek words - porne (cheap women) and Graphos mean writing or drawing. According to Esther D. Reed, pornography is defined as material that combines sex and/or the exposure of genitals with abuse or degradation in a manner that appears to endorse, condone, or encourage such behaviour. It is also defined as the explicit written or visual depiction of living beings, including humans and animals in sexual acts or fantasies primarily to arouse sexual responses in the reader, viewer or listener.

Research has demonstrated that young people are heavy consumers of sexually oriented media including television and cable channels, videos, movies, magazines, cell phones and the Internet. Women characters in films are created to provide visual pleasure for the male audience. The overt and covert acknowledgement of homosexuality is seen on the Indian screen. In most of the cinemas, dance contains sexual actions and steps. The arrival of satellite and cable television multiplies choice and gives pornography access to the unsuspecting household. Print pornography in India has a large audience. Print magazines download most pornographic and sexual images from the Internet. Young people are experimenting with the Internet and in their curiosity they surf through many sites and enter into dangerous areas which may be self-destructive and de-humanizing.

The conclusion arrived at by recent research on popular media programs is that 85% of sex represented in media are abnormal or illegal in the sense of forbidden love, pre-marital sex, extra-marital sex, adulterous love, teenage sex, rape, incest, homosexuality and infatuation. This attracts children and youth to such a way of life. A recent research among school girls done by a Delhi-based national commission for women revealed that aggressive advertising of consumer products lure school girls into part-time prostitution. An alarming number of children from schools have taken on sex trading, so that they can earn quick money and buy fancy products.

Sexual feelings take roots in some form or the other from a very early stage of human life. Sex feelings like knowing things related to sex, love, masturbation, or hunger for sexual intercourse starts when an individual is a child of eight or ten years of age. Sexual problems of an adolescent are highly complicated and difficult because bodily changes take place and development of genital organs cause revolutionary psychological changes. During this stage,the adolescent wants to win appreciation and approval of the opposite sex. But in India, it is generally observed that parents pay very little attention to children’s sexual feelings and education. The schools and colleges do not take sex education seriously. This results in the teenager acquiring false and distorted notions about sex and sexuality, leading to conduct that may prove destructive. In a recent research conducted by a Goa based NGO on young people’s sexual lives, it was noticed that 80% of the students responded that their knowledge of sex was from magazines, videos especially blue film, Internet and friends.

Studies done in red light areas have shown that young boys, barely in their teens, visit sex workers for their first sexual experience.

Commissioned by The Week, the market research agency Taylor Nelson Sofres Mode conducted a survey among 516 unmarried men and women in the 18-30 age group, to find out their attitudes and practices in premarital sex, not always with the person they planned to wed. About 72% had their first experience during their teens, and 45% reached orgasm the first time. Most of the youth wished that Indian society was freer and open about sex. Dr.Alikhwaja of the Banjara Academy pointed out that,

In such a situation, it is the responsibility of teachers and parents to make arrangements to impart the knowledge and information which the adolescent needs for satisfying curiosities and feelings related to sex matters. The adolescent should get a feeling of confidence that they are free to consult mature and responsible adults about their sex problems when the necessity arises.

Pornography can have a dramatic effect on children. Most people confess that their first introduction to pornography resulted from finding secretly stored magazines belonging to either their father or a friend. It is scientifically proven that emotional arousal causes the release of epinephrine in one’s brain that chemically impregnates the pictures into permanent memory. This enables those airbrushed and digitally enhanced pictures of women to remain through adulthood, and emerge at the most inopportune times. Therefore, early exposure to such pictures set many people on a path towards sexual addiction. Sons seek to imitate the actions of their primary role model and often view women through the same angle that their father does. Daughters, on the other hand, look for their sense of self-worth in their father’s love and find instead a sense that women are valued only for their bodies.

Dr. Jennifer Schneider, the assistant editor of the journal-Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity says that children are often victimized by Internet sex. She explains that children get stimulated by the pornographic material left on or near the computer or walk in when a parent is masturbating at the computer. According to Gary Lynch, the neurologist, brain research reveals that what one sees in three-tenths of a second, produces a structural change that is in some ways as profound as the structural changes one sees in (brain) damage. It can leave a trace that will last for years.

The experience of sexual arousal can be adrenalized and intense when viewing pornography. One’s body will crave again for another hit. The result is a pattern of addiction and escalation. Soft core pictures of women in lingerie will soon become boring and one will seek for full nudity. When this loses novelty, one will look for something more enticing.

Pornography and violence has a psychological link. Some pornography is in itself overtly violent in theme and context. Those who view or read such material run the risk of carrying over distorted attitudes and wrong behavior into their own relationship. This can cause lack of reverence and respect for others. Violence is defined by the Pontifical Council as "a presentation designed to appeal to basic human instincts of action contrary to the dignity of a person and depicting intense physical force exercised in a deeply offensive and often passionate manner."

For children, frequent exposure of internet pornography can be confusing. They may not be able to readily distinguish between fantasy and reality. Violence in Internet pornography can condition the young to regard this type of sexuality as normal and acceptable behavior suitable for imitation. An incident which the researcher came to know is about a six standard boy in Kerala who raped an L.K.G. girl while she was just coming out of a bathroom in school. His parents were well educated and had good status in the society. After that incident he revealed to the counsellor that the senior students gave 80 pornographic photos, which were downloaded from the Internet that encouraged him to commit rape. Thus Internet pornography photos became an impetus for the boy to commit the crime.

The adolescents’ sexual urge is natural. It is meaningless to hide matters related to sex from the growing generation. They can easily get in touch with pornographic materials from different sources. Since adolescence is a very impressionable age, viewing of pornographic material can unfavourably affect their personality development. Very often, the Church has become a passive spectator to the impending danger that affects the family, church, society and even the nation. The sexual urges in the youth have to be properly channeled in a constructive way. The church should guide the youth in a healthy manner through various awareness programs such as media education and sex education. It should also conduct programs that support and inculcate social and ethical values to promote the unity and health of family and of the society itself. This would help them to learn how to resist manipulation and avoid merely passive listening and viewing habits. Teachers in schools and colleges should take sex education seriously. Parents also need to be educated to open up to youngsters especially in regard to sexual matters. Thus the church, teachers and parents can enable the new generation to have an effective role in the renewing and recreating mission of Jesus Christ in the world.