12 January 2012: Exposed to porn – the plight of our young

It isn’t a case of if a young person will be exposed to pornography but when, according to The Sexualisation of Children, a government report published in February 2010. The average teen spends one hundred minutes a week surfing for porn, according to research by cyberSentinel.co.uk

The Home Office report adds that online porn is increasingly dominated by themes of aggression, power and control. The 2008 Eurobarometer survey found that 65% of parents of 6-17 year olds are worried about this. Most young people in the UK now have access to the Internet. It’s estimated that 87% of 6-10 year olds and 95% of those aged 15-17 are regularly online, and a report on Parent Channel TV says more than over half (57%) of young people aged 9-19 have already seen internet pornographic images.

As a youth worker, we bump into this topic on a weekly basis, we talk about it often – knowing that young people are often caught up in the trap of secrecy surrounding pornography. It often becomes more insatiable and more violent in nature and presses itself into their daily lives with or without want. Family Lives state that ”research carried out worldwide shows that people who grow up on a diet of porn have more difficulty forming relationships. It doesn’t teach you about emotions and love, and it desensitises young people to violence and rape. Men and women are just seen as sex objects and body parts.” It traps people in an unrealistic mindset – a vicious and downward spiral of addiction.

How do you talk to young people about this sort of thing? It is a challenge, especially when it involves your own children. The best thing is to address it, don’t let it go unchecked for fear of embarassment or shame. When you take the initial leap to talk about it in a calm and understanding manner, discussing openly and honestly how porn affects minds and futures, it generally means that the young person will be more transparent about it in the future and open to conversing about his sensitive topic. You never know, they may approach you about it the next time round.

I read a brilliant article by Family Lives which deals with some case studies of parents talking to their children about porn (or lack of that, in some cases). Definitely worth a read. http://familylives.org.uk/advice/has-your-child-watched-online-porn/