Sharon Cooper M.D. "Imagery Affects Children Differently"

Briefing at US Capitol Hill. Dr. Cooper has been a pediatrician for 34 years. This briefing was given in 2010.Show more

Dr. Cooper explains imagery and children's mirror neurons. How exposure to pornography affects behavior in an underdeveloped frontal cortex. The frontal cortex is the home of good judgement, common sense, impulse control, and emotions.

More here:
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_interest/child_law/resources/child_law_practiceonline/child_law_practice/vol-33/may-2014/how-pornography-harms-children--the-advocate-s-role/

http://PornHarms.com briefing. Dr. Sharon Cooper http://www.missingkids.com , is a Forensic Pediatrician & instructor & Board member of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. As a pediatrician for more than 3 decades she is the lead author of the most comprehensive text on child sexual exploitation & Internet crimes against children, (Child Sexual Exploitation: A Training Curriculum http://3.ly/NZY2 ), & serves on the faculty of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Medicine.
"Adult pornography normalizes sexual harm & provides children visual examples of lack of emotional commitment, unprotected sexual contact, & visual examples of violent rape in many cases."
2006 COOPER CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY:
II. As a Forensic Pediatrician I have provided direct patient care to several children who have been sexually abused & pornographically photographed or videotaped. These
clinical evaluations have included family & investigator interviews, review of the pornographic images, victim medical interviews, behavioral analyses, & full medical
examinations as well as case conferences after the medical assessment. I have also evaluated children who have been exploited through prostitution both from within their families as well as by acquaintances & intimate partners. In addition to having evaluated children & youths victimized in this manner, I have also analyzed thousands of images of child pornography.
IV. Child sexual exploitation is cited to be the most underreported form of child abuse. Child pornography on the Internet in particular has as yet untold impact upon victims. The possession & distribution of these images, which are in fact, digital crime scenes, promotes a need for newer, more plentiful & more graphic images. The two most commonly cited reasons that individuals collect these images are for sexual gratification through masturbation & as a plan for action. Criminology studies to date from the US Postal Inspection Service, the Toronto Child Sexual Exploitation Unit & the Federal 4 Bureau of Prisons reveal that those who possess these images have a 1 in 3 chance to as high as 3 out of 4 chance of having already sexually abused a child. Further research from the National Juvenile Online Victimization Study has revealed that from 2000-2001, offenders primarily collected child pornography of children between the ages of 6 & 12 years. It is important to know, though those offenders are often diverse in the content of their child pornography collections and during that same period, nearly 50% of collected images were of children less than 5 years old. Such young victims are prime targets for sex offenders because of their proverbial nature & the fact that they often unable to be made competent on a witness stand in criminal proceedings.
V. Child pornography constitutes insult to injury for a victim: the injury is child sexual abuse in all of its methods of victimization. The insult is the memorialization of that exploitation for an untold amount of time. Many of the images which I see on a regular basis show severe vaginal & anal assault against toddlers, bondage of these children with gags in their mouths, ligatures around their necks, & on occasion, physical beatings in conjunction with video clips of brutal oral, vaginal & anal penetration. In addition, recent research has shown that 88% of girls who have been sexually abused do not make a disclosure during childhood. Numerous case examples of victims of child sexual abuse & pornography production, denial of the existence of photos or videotapes etc. is also very common, even though children do acknowledge the sexual abuse. Training for interviewing & treating such children & youths as well as those who have been groomed into compliant victimization is both essential & an immediate priority.
VI. It is very important to understand that child pornography is a common thread in all forms of child sexual exploitation: prostituted children & youths, cyber-enticement, child sex tourism & human trafficking of children. The bottom line is that children have become
a commodity for a practice that seeks to normalize sexual harm. Preferential sex offenders who produce these images have been reported to be responding to special
requests from like minded online offenders, or strictly as a means of financial gain.
Infant & toddler sexual abuse is a frightening & sobering reality particularly in light of the National Institute of Justice report in 1994 which cited that victims of child sexual abuse were twenty-eight times more likely to be arrested in their lives for prostitution, than children who had never been sexually abused. Recent high profile multiple victim & multiple offender sex rings have alerted those of us who work in this area to the fact that immense technology exists in support of these types of heinous crimes against our most important national treasure, our country's future, our children. http://3.ly/QFbQ