There was this teenage girl in the back of the room, and she came up to me afterwards, and she said,

thank you so much for what you've said, because so many of my friends are reading these kinds of books,

and it's pulling them into pornography, and their parents have no idea because they think it's a book,

so it's fine. And she said, I just wish more people

would talk about this because it's a real problem.

Hey, friend, welcome to Java with Julie. I am your host, Julie Slattery, and this podcast is a production

of authentic intimacy, which is a ministry helping you make sense of God and sexuality.

Well, today we're going to talk about a new

trend that parents need to know about, the infiltration of erotica into young adult fiction.

Now, the publishing industry has figured out that they have a whole new audience for erotic fiction,

teenage girls, and they're packaging it with kid-friendly illustrations

and sticking it right in the middle of the young adult section of libraries and bookstores,

and you might not even know that. So what I find so dangerous about this trend is that

reading involves the power of our imaginations. You know, sometimes books can actually even be more powerful than movies or pictures because

we create our own scenes in our mind and that never goes away.

So how do you protect the kids in your life?

Well, I've invited two guests that will help us walk through this.

Corey Johnson is the founder of Good Bookmom.com and Greta Eskridge, the author of a new book called It's Time to Talk to Your Kids About Porn, and she's a host of the Greta Eskridge podcast.

We'll link to all that in our show notes.

Now, this is a great episode to share with anyone who works with teens or has daughters or granddaughters at home. So let's head to the coffee shop

for my conversation with Corey and Greta. Well, Greta and Corey, I'm so thankful that you all

are here. The topic we're going to dive into today is one that I've

...