The Importance of Intentionality in Parenting (and Self Direction)
This study clearly shows that we are shaped by and literally become our environments. We mimic the behavior of others. That’s a fundamentally human trait… a survival tactic.
The study makes the argument for strong parental guidance regarding movie watching and media consumption in general. This of course comes with the compromise of making your kids feel out of place when all their social peers have seen movies and are familiar with various sexual practices. Parenting ain’t easy. The key, I think, is to teach them to make informed decisions. To make them aware of how their decisions will impact who they become.
What the study doesn’t really go into, is the general benefit for us as individuals to be selective in what we expose ourselves to. The people we spend time around. The movies we watch, etc. I’m not telling you to be prudish… my sex life has been great thanks in large part to the variety I’ve been introduced to in both hollywood films and, yes, porn (though porn has become increasingly boring to me, and real sex increasingly more exciting, with time and experience… i suppose we need to build up our repertoire earlier in our lives, and once we’ve learned the tricks of the trade, can get off the training wheels, so to speak).
What I do think we can do, as men, is be mindful of whether we allowing ourselves to be shaped in a direction that we do not want to go, and then to counteract that by choosing to expose ourselves to other, more wholesome things.
