This all makes me angry too.
My daughter is 14 and I think (hope) I'm empowering her plenty. I do my bit at work too. I work in a primary school and get lots of the older girls come to me with their issues. The stuff I've had to feed upwards is shocking, the things boys have said to these girls, the expectations from their mothers to 'attract' boys, even at such a young age, the pressure to have a boyfriend or state which boy you like best. It's wrong, they're children.
I'm worried about my son's though, more than anything. DS1 starts secondary school in September. He's had 'girlfriends', which means nothing to him. They're just female friends. He's sent the occasional Valentine's card and bought chocolates for Christmas. But the porn will start being bandied around in Y7 won't it? And all the sex talk? Where do I start with him? When do I start? He's sensitive about things but does open up to me.
As for the pornification of society, that thread yesterday was shocking. About why women work in porn. It was seen as a joke by plenty. 'Because they love sex' was a common answer. 'I'd be a porn star lol' was thrown around too. How do you tackle attitudes like that? And how many of the 'lollers' have children that they're damaging with these attitudes?