Our
Engagement and Marketing Manager Jo Austin was interviewed by BBC Radio Wales
this morning to give her opinion on why we would advise against this
strategy. Here is what she said on
facebook following the discussion.
But why was Jo voting ‘no’ on this initiative? Psychology
graduate and The Women’s Organisation volunteer Lexine explored this further.
There are many issues raised with pornography over the years,
widely accessed and mostly unrestricted, through smart phones or most internet
linked devices. With increased access to porn, society has also witnessed an
increase in psychological and physical issues: porn addictions, self-esteem
issues, normalised sexualised behaviour, sexualised exploration starting younger,
and incompetence issues. These are just a starting point, and while some argue that
we can’t attribute all of these issues to porn, studies indicate that regular access
to porn has educated young people to see porn as an example of normal sexual
relationships.
Until March 2017 sex education was not compulsory, only
within council-run schools. We have seen movement in recent year in terms of updating
sex education for young people, but how effective can be porn be used as a tool
to learn?
Those arguing for the benefits of using porn within sex ed tend to
present the case for helping young people to visually understand of the act of
sex, supporting those who visually learn. With guidance, could showing porn help teach
what is wrong with sexual behaviours such as aggressive acts or sexual violence
– they argue? However, we'd ask do children really need to be shown this visually through the use of pornography in order to
start that discussion?
This argument assumes that every child in the classroom will
have been exposed to pornography anyway, so why not use that as a starting
point? But consider those who may not have yet.
We may be exposing children and adolescents to visual images that may be
quite overwhelming and traumatising, particularly to individuals who are not
emotionally prepared. Plus, could showing porn desensitise children to acts of
violence or even worse possibly triggering individuals who have suffered sexual
abuse themselves?
Pornography does not typically offer a realistic representation of
women and men’s bodies and using this as the measuring tool of education
within schools could impact on normalising unrealistic body ideals potentially
impacting on self-esteem.
Showing adolescents pornography is a greater risk to
addiction as their brains are still developing shows a study by Riemersma & Sytsma, 2013,
if not amplifying the risk of condoning young people to access porn from a
young age by displaying in schools. One particular study showed that pornography
consumption is significantly associated with stronger gender-stereotypical
sexual beliefs, earlier sexual interaction, increased casual sex behaviour, and
increased sexual aggression both as perpetrators and victims (Peter &
Valkenburg, 2016). This normalising of sexually violent behaviour could send
complete mixed message on what is and isn’t consent and continue the
desensitisation or traumatic triggers in our young people. The average age of
first perpetration of sexual violence is 15 -16 years old and can be associated
with exposure to pornography (Prevention Science, 2017).
Jo told BBC Radio Wales that the week prior to interview she had spent time with trained counselors who noted their fastest growing client group was university students coping with sexual assault. This, she felt, was indicative of the fact that lack of consent is portrayed as 'sexy' in the porn industry, and building a generation of young people who no longer understand what consent means.
Jo told BBC Radio Wales that the week prior to interview she had spent time with trained counselors who noted their fastest growing client group was university students coping with sexual assault. This, she felt, was indicative of the fact that lack of consent is portrayed as 'sexy' in the porn industry, and building a generation of young people who no longer understand what consent means.
While we appreciate that the current sex education curriculum could use an update, the evidence is clear that exposing young people to pornography isn't a helpful step forward. Instead we would recommend considering involving young people in more frank discussion. The discussion should look at sex and sexual relationships from health and legal perspectives, emotional intelligence, and delivered from
a place of unbias and body empowerment with consent at the heart of it. Sex is an aspect of all individuals
lives that children will eventually go on to explore themselves. However, we need
to empower young people when the time comes to understand sex from a point of consent,
emotional capabilities, boundaries, and physical health. These factors should be prioritised over showing pornography
which is certainly not the best example of any of these. It is these
conversations and dialogues that will give individuals freedom to speak out
against violence, to know where their boundaries lay and feel confident to talk
about their sexual health and image in a frank and respectful way.
