Handling Pornography

This past week, I was on Instagram looking at my friend's 16th birthday party pictures.  It was really cute and the publisher of this post put #sweetsixteen.  I clicked on the hashtag so I could see more sweet sixteen pictures.  Instead of seeing something happy and uplifting, I saw dirty, crude, sinful images.  I saw pornography.  I freaked out and turned if off immediately.  I was so taken aback.  I hadn't expected to see what I saw, and I certainly wasn't looking for it.  The image stayed with me throughout the day.  I had all of these questions in my head.  "Why would anyone choose to exploit their body like this?  Why would anyone put this on the internet for everyone to see?  Why would people choose to look at this?"  Even though I do in fact know why many people view pornography, I felt so uneasy and upset that I had seen this image by mistake.
That night, Josh and I were getting ready to go to bed.  I felt kind of nervous to tell him about what I had seen.  I'm not sure why I was nervous but I was.  I finally just told him, "I saw pornography today."  As soon as the words left my lips, I felt this distance between me and what I had seen.  Before I felt like the feeling I got from looking at this pornography was sticking to me like some kind of wet, dirty tar-like glue.  When I told Josh what I had seen, I felt like it wasn't stuck to me anymore but it was an entity that something I stumbled upon.  I felt in control again.  I felt more like this was a fact and not an emotional attachment that I had to reluctantly hold on to.
After I told Josh, I had the thought come to me that this is what I needed to teach to my kids.  When they see it, (because they will), they should feel comfortable enough to come and tell me or Josh.  It's not something that they have to hold onto.  It's not something that lessens their value or their worth.  They need to feel distanced from the sin of pornography.  I don't want these bad thoughts rolling around in their heads.  Talking about it openly and without judgment is what I want for each of our family members.