{"podcast":{"title":"American Thought Leaders","slug":"american-thought-leaders-1056274","podcast_index_feed_id":1056274,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/american-thought-leaders/","website_url":"https://www.theepochtimes.com/podcasts","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/ab93518e-950a-4751-832e-480566fa5ad9/49nazhCbYD-76srv2uuWdJ8Z.jpg","author":"The Epoch Times","episode_count":200,"summary":"At a time when our nation is portrayed as increasingly polarized, media often ignore viewpoints and stories that are worthy of attention. American Thought Leaders, hosted by The Epoch Times Senior Editor Jan Jekielek, features in-depth discussions with some of America’s most influential thought leaders on pertinent issues facing our nation today.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-14T20:19:59.941877+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/american-thought-leaders-1056274"},"episode":{"title":"How Rampant Explicit Material Is Poisoning the Minds of America’s Children | Kristen Jenson","slug":"how-rampant-explicit-material-is-poisoning-the-minds-of-america-s-children-kristen-jenson","published_at":"2026-04-17T01:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/american-thought-leaders-1056274/how-rampant-explicit-material-is-poisoning-the-minds-of-america-s-children-kristen-jenson","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/american-thought-leaders-1056274","url":"https://www.theepochtimes.com/podcasts","audio_url":"https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/4ee81f63-0e0a-4811-8400-f38adf0760a9.mp3","summary":"“Pornography is like a silent epidemic ... but nobody wants to talk about it much,” says child protection advocate Kristen Jenson. She’s the author of the “Good Pictures Bad Pictures” series of read-aloud books that teach children how to recognize and reject pornography. In America, kids are encountering porn at younger and younger ages—often without their parents knowing, Jenson says. Once a child has a smartphone, it is only a matter of time until the child is exposed to porn—often by other children. And it’s having a devastating impact on their impressionable young minds, Jenson says. “Every school bus in America is a triple X theater because children are showing pornography to other children in buses. I’ve heard so many stories of five-year-olds getting shown hardcore pornography on a school bus,” she says. Retroactive studies found that the average age kids first view pornography is around 11 years old, but Jenson concluded from her work and research that the average age is much lower. In our in-depth interview, she walks me through many aspects of porn consumption and how children are impacted by it: How does porn affect children’s overall development and their chances of meaningful sexual relationships later on in life? How does porn affect children’s mental health? How does it affect their sexual health? Do children get addicted to porn? How are girls impacted by porn? How do sexual predators use porn as a grooming tool for kids? Violent porn, in particular, is a huge problem in itself, Jenson said. By the age of 18, the vast majority of teenagers—about 80 percent—have been exposed to violent porn: “That’s the main fare out there. It’s violent porn. It’s hitting, it’s slapping, hair-pulling, strangling.” Many children’s perception of sex is poisoned by violent…","meta_description":"“Pornography is like a silent epidemic ... but nobody wants to talk about it much,” says child protection advocate Kristen Jenson. She’s the author of the…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3727,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/american-thought-leaders-1056274/episodes/how-rampant-explicit-material-is-poisoning-the-minds-of-america-s-children-kristen-jenson/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/american-thought-leaders-1056274/how-rampant-explicit-material-is-poisoning-the-minds-of-america-s-children-kristen-jenson.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}