One of my biggest frustrations in the church is the fact that we categorize certain struggles. This especially relates to sexuality. The church stereotypes women with struggling with a need for emotional intimacy and men with a struggle of pornography and masturbation and the church is completely oblivious to the idea that children might struggle with these issues at all. Books are written about "Every man's battle." I go to church and hear about a meeting for men talking about "the struggles men deal with," as though no woman would ever struggle with the same issues.
From my experience, I have met and heard of HUGE numbers of women who struggle with pornography and masturbation. The biggest problem is they think they are alone, because the church is blind to it. They cannot seek help because the church offers no help for them. In their loneliness, they only fall into the trap of Satan's lies even deeper, causing them to feel abandoned and helpless.
Not only this, but many of these woman have shared that their struggle began during their childhood or early teen years.
We, as a church don't want our children to hear about these issues in hopes to protect them, but in reality all we are doing is hurting them. They hear about these things at school, or find things on the internet, or even in the garbage. This is NOT where children should hear about the things of this world. We need to be addressing these issues from the beginning with our children so that they feel confident to share openly with us and so that we can point our children to God. So many children are curious and try to find answers. If we as adults are not willing or don't have the time to discuss their sexuality with them, they will turn to other places to find these answers.
