Our culture, media, and entertainment bombard us online and offline with objectification and sexualization of women every second of the day. A person cannot look at a national news article online without scrolling down to see the latest movie star posing nude or some teacher having an affair with a student. The themes of many TV shows portray women as objects for men's fantasies and pleasures. Rap songs, which I never listen to, are full of derogatory, nasty and degrading themes about what men are going to do to women. Not to mention the millions of pornographic images featuring rape, torture, BDSM, revenge videos and intense, non-realistic, manipulative sexual experiences which give our children and young adults a warped view of healthy sexuality.  

What did you expect would happen when an entire society is bombarded with these images, videos, sounds, chat rooms, sexting, and sending provocative pictures to people's "smart" phones. We live in a fantasy world of falsehood and deception where vulnerable men and women are enticed online and offline to sexually harass co-workers in the workplace and engage in "dating" sites meant for one thing only - an anonymous sexual experience. What else did you expect?  My private practice is replete with stories of men who feel entitled to sex several times a day. Men and women who look at pornography for hours at a time and wonder why they cannot have a healthy relationship with a spouse. Men and women who post picture of themselves and their affair partners on Facebook, Instagram and "smart" phones (to review later) and when caught by their spouses become defensive. "How dare you look at MY cellphone? I have this secret life I don't want you to know anything about."  

The real victims are children. They are victims of sex-trafficking, kidnapping and forced into prostitution. The other victims are our children who are victims of the new technology; "smart" phones which entice children with adult oriented games, videos, not to mention pornography. But we live in a society where everything goes, what do you expect?  We are all victims of the society and environment we live in. Today morals, ethics and common decency have been thrown out the window and replaced with filth. We live in an instant gratification era where everything goes and people who make bad decisions don't think of the consequences and repercussions of their actions. But what did you expect?

Allan Katz LPC CSAT 

Copyright Allan J. Katz, 2020