Explicit Images and ChildrenHow are children negatively affected by pornography and other explicit images?One of my earliest memories of coming into contact with a suggestive image was when around the age of 11. I went to a friend's house, her dad wasn't home so I kept him company until he came back, we decided to watch a movie but we saw all the ones that belonged to him, then we noticed a movie hid under the chair and shot, he came out, entered the VHS player and watched. It was my first time watching something pornographic, we watched about 10 minutes of it before deciding to stop. Before that, my parents monitored everything I watched, except for the occasional horror movie. After watching this movie with my friend, my life was never the same. Day after day, children are exposed to these images, intentionally or not, but how do these images affect them? Scientists from the University of Cambridge conducted research which showed that sexually explicit images affect the brain in the same way as alcohol or drugs. Dr. Voon discovered that when exposed to these images, the brain's pleasure center, known as the ventral striatum, is activated and stimulated in the same way it would when an alcoholic sees a drink . The ventral striatum, a subcortical structure of the brain, is known for its emotional and behavioral functions, making it a very important part of the brain. If compromised in any way, it could lead to mental problems including obsessive compulsive disorder and depression. (Can pornography be used to become a real brain addiction). This can be even more damaging for children because their brains are still developing. Viewing sexual images is as easy as turning on the television, more than 40 million Americans visit each...... middle of paper ...... After I discovered pornography for the first time, I had no idea how it was going to affect me. I have always had an active imagination, I was also driven to research and learn more about every topic I came in contact with and this one was no different, is watching Did sexual images at this age affect me? Yes, but to what extent I still don't know to this day. Watching these images affects the way a child's brain is formed and distorts the ideas we have about sex and relationships growing up. Since children are so impressionable when presented with these images, it leads them to act them out. Presenting these images to children can turn them into rapists at a young age and into abusers, as most of them do not know the implications of their actions. How can we prevent this? How can we prevent the explicit images around us from negatively affecting children ??