How Grandparents Combat Pornography

Why I Fight! Today you get to meet the amazing Vauna Davis, Executive Director of UCAP (Utah Coalition Against Pornography). Their annual conference is in March and guess what? It’s the largest conference in the world to educate the public on problems (and solutions) of pornography

Why leading UCAP makes me hopeful

I have an interesting and unique job as the executive director of Utah Coalition Against Pornography. You might think this job would be discouraging and heavy, but actually I nearly always feel very hopeful. That is because it is more energizing to do something about the things you are concerned about than to sit around feeling worried and powerless.

My concerns started when our four children were growing up during the time when the internet first became standard equipment in homes. My husband and I knew that it could be risky, so we used a filtered service from the start.

Yet over the years, as we discovered the disturbing pornography that our children were exposed to at friends’ homes and on the school playground, we realized that internet filters were not enough. When we looked for advice, we didn’t find very much to help us teach our kids. We felt the lack of practical info to help parents prepare their children for the sexualized culture they were growing up in was a major problem. I decided this was the challenge I wanted to take on.

How does being a grandma change my perspective?

Now my children are adults, and I am a grandmother of two sweet young ones. They are growing up at a time when pornography is embedded in their culture in a startling variety of forms and channels.

To grow up with a deep understanding of what sexual integrity is and why it is a key to their happiness is going to take constant engagement from their parents, grandparents, and other teachers. I see how busy my daughter and her husband are with parenting, and feel strongly that grandparents have a crucial role to support young families.

Extended families can work together

Grandparents can share what they have learned about parenting, both from successful and less effective experiences.

Grandparents can also:

• find good resources to share (such as ProtectYoungMinds.org and the best-selling children's book Good Pictures Bad Pictures),
• be an example of positive values, and
• establish safe media and tech rules in their own homes.

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Children are getting bombarded with destructive sexualized messages. Extended families can work together to push back on this social attack and surround children with values of respectful, loving, healthy sexuality.

This is absolutely essential if we hope to see children growing up to have lives filled with love, purpose, and freedom.

Check out the UCAP website for video of previous speakers.