The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) recently published an article highlighting two main tactics to help prevent online and offline child sexual abuse:
- Preventing predator's online access to children
- Preventing pornography exposure in childhood
Preventing predators' online access to children is key because we live in a world filled with technology, social media, and gaming platforms that are risks to children. It's important to hold bigger companies accountable for their practices to ensure that children are safe from predatory people.
Exposure to pornography in childhood is an established risk factor for child sexual abuse perpetration and victimization. According to a study done by Lin et al [3], early adolescence exposure to sexually explicit media was strongly related to three risky sexual behaviors—early sexual debut, unsafe sex, and sexual partners.
Parental controls are a good option to help keep your child safe if they use technology. There are stronger parental control options available, like Covenant Eyes, that have monitoring and filtering tools to help filter out explicit material. Overall, it's important to be aware of your child's games, social media, online platforms, and friends.