Former UFC champion Holly Holm took the opportunity afforded her by defeating Yana Santos at UFC San Antonio to condemn the “sexualization of children” occurring throughout the United States and the western world at-large.
Holly Holm declared the winner by unanimous decision at UFC San Antonio via UFC – Ultimate Fighting Championship YouTube
During her post-fight octagon interview, Holm said, “I got one more thing. Something that’s been on my heart and I feel like I have the platform to say it, I need to say it. I just feel it’s really sad all this sexualization of our children right now. And we need to protect them whatever that may be.”
She reiterated, “Let’s protect the children. Please do anything we can to help.”
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Holm would also speak on her comments in the post-fight press conference.
She said, “I’m not a real political person. I don’t like to put that stuff on any of my social media ’cause I think there’s this… But there’s also just right and wrong, and I feel like everybody should be on the same side on that. I don’t feel like that has anything to do with left-side, right-side, or anything like that. I feel like everybody should be wanting to protect our children.”
“There’s a lot of child trafficking. I mean that’s the extreme part, but there’s a lot of levels to it,” Holm continued. “You just see it almost being more accepted and I think that that’s really sad. So I just feel like we should all do what we can.”
Holm went on, “A lot of people don’t know what to do, but if I can at least have a voice on it then that’s something I can speak out on. And it’s just to get everybody together to protect children. Childhood really affects people in their long-term life too.”
“I have friends that are adults and their biggest thing that kind of is this shadow, kind of that dark space, and that is being sexualized when they were young. And I just feel like it’s almost getting accepted,” she concluded.
Holly Holm via MMA Junkie YouTube
Holm is correct to call out the sexualization of children as it is a grave threat to our society and shows how truly depraved large segments of the population have become.
Jesus Christ made it perfectly clear children should be protected and warned of grave consequences to those who lead them to sin.
Matthew 18:6 states, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
Artistic representation of Jesus Christ God, the second divine Person of the Most Holy Trinity (Cathedral of Cefalù, c. 1130.) Photo Credit: Andreas Wahra, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons
One of the biggest ways to fight back against the sexualization of children is legislation banning pornography. Back in 2020 the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops encouraged then Attorney General William Barr to enforce obscenity laws, investigate pornography producers and website owners for criminality and requested they encourage states and localities to “develop rigorous policies against the industry.”
Their letter to Barr also explains the dangers of pornography, “Rather than remembering and loving our fellow humans as brothers and sisters, it objectifies them – often directly exploiting them – and diminishes the health of users’ relationship with others.”
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Fall General Assembly 2021 via United States Conference of Catholic Bishops YouTube
From there the letter also states that “pornography harms families and communities in perceptible ways. Especially when viewed by the young, it provides a terrible model and expectation of how persons should treat each other, potentially leading to coercion or violence. The ubiquity of pornography in the hands of adolescents renders this not a concern of isolated incidents but of cultural proportions.”
The letter concludes, “‘Pornography use hurts the user by potentially diminishing his or her capacity for healthy human intimacy and relationships.’ As pastors, we frequently see the pain that results from a pornography habit. Marriages that are injured or even broken by a spouse’s pornography use, which some divorce lawyers report as a factor in over half of their cases, have a ripple effect on children and society. Strong families are necessary for strong, safe communities.”
Bishop Michael Burbidge via Catholic Diocese of Arlington YouTube
Along with pornography being one of the major problems in the sexualization of children, Bishop Michael Burbidge of the the Catholic Diocese of Arlington notes the recent rise in transgender ideology “presents a view of the human person contrary to the truth.”
He also states, “At its core, the belief in a ‘transgender’ identity rejects the significance of the sexed body and seeks cultural medical, and legal validation of the person’s self-defined identity-an approach called ‘gender affirmation.’”
Bishop Michael Burbidge via Catholic Diocese of Arlington YouTube
In order to deal with this issue, Bishop Burbidge instructs that one must not shy from the truth, “To affirm someone in an identity at odds with biological sex or to affirm a person’s desired ‘transition’ is to mislead that person. It involves speaking and interacting with that person in an untruthful manner. Although the law of gradualness might prompt us to discern the best time to communicate the fullness of the truth, in no circumstances can we confirm a person in error.”
To that end he also notes that children need to know the truth, “First and foremost, a child needs to know the truth: He or she has been created male or female, forever. Affirming a child’s distorted self-perception or supporting a child’s desire to ‘be’ someone other than the person (male or female) God created, gravely misleads and confuses the child about ‘who’ he or she is.”
Furthermore he also instructs, “The faithful should avoid using “gender-affirming” terms or pronouns that convey approval of or reinforce the person’s rejection of the truth. It is not harsh or judgmental to decline to use such language. In the broader culture, Catholics may experience significant pressure to adopt culturally-approved terminology. However, in no circumstances should anyone be compelled to use language contrary to the truth.”
Bishop Michael Burbidge via Catholic Diocese of Arlington YouTube
Bishop Strickland of Tyler, Texas also indicated that more states should follow the lead of Tennessee and ban drag shows on public property and near schools as well banning gender transition treatments for minors.
In response to news coverage of the bill, Bishop Strickland tweeted, “Thank you Tennessee,49 more to go. The absolute shame of our nation is that this was ever allowed. Our children and our families deserve better. I’m calling our Texas legislators to make this happen in the Lone Star State…now please!”
Bishop J. Strickland Twitter
The sexualization of children is a grave matter affecting our culture at-large and Holly Holm is correct to address it and call it out because as she notes it’s not about politics, it’s about morality, what is right and wrong. More should follow her lead.
What do you make of Holm’s comments?
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