Why Teens Are Vulnerable to the New Sexual Environment

In this episode, we breakdown why teens are vulnerable to the new sexual environment and how to reduce their vulnerability. Essentially, their developing brains make them more vulnerable to all sorts of things! This, in combination with pubertal changes related to sexual curiosity and arousal makes them vulnerable to sexualized media specifically.

Teens’ growing curiosity about sex is perfectly normal. Throughout recent history they have had to manage this curiosity without the real world experience to balance out desires and expectations. For example teens have been able to hear about or read about all sorts of sexual activities that they have yet to engage in that might have shaped their desires about what to expect but today they are bombarded with all sorts of sexual imagery that prior generations did not have access to and this imagery may be perhaps more influential…you know how they say a picture is worth a thousand words?