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326 British Journal of School Nursing September 2017 Vol 12 No 7
Public Health
© 2017 MA Healthcare Ltd
Evaluating the impact of
pornography on the lives of
children and young people
This article is the second part of a mini-series evaluating the impact of hyper-sexualisation and
pornography on the lives of young people (with a particular focus on females) in relation to their
values, beliefs and relationships in today’s world.
The second part of this mini-series
evaluates the impact of pornography
on the lives of young people
including their beliefs, values, expectations
and relationships. Preventative strategies
are discussed and counteractive measures
are suggested.
Background
It has been estimated that as much as 30%
of all data transferred across the internet
is porn (Hungton Post, 2013). is new
generation is the rst to be dealing with
such easy to access pornography, eectively
by the click of a button on a device that
ts into a pocket—the smartphone.
Pornography is available 24/7 to anyone
who has access to the internet. It shapes
young people’s sexual knowledge but does
so by portraying sex in unrealistic ways
and whether they want to or not, the
majority of teens are getting some of their
sex education from porn, which oers a
warped idea of what partners, sex, and
relationships are really like.
At the same time as this mass influx,
there have been changes in the nature
of pornographic materials. Increasingly
dominated by themes of aggression,
power and control, blurring the
lines between consent, pleasure and
violence—today’s pornography major
messages are ones of male domination,
hypermasculinity, and making male
Stephanie Enson, young people’s
sexual health and relationship
practitioner
Statistical trends
While statistics have shown that over the last
few years the average age of rst exposure to
porn is 11 years old (Randel and Sanchez,
2016), results of recent research by security
technology company Bitdefender, shows that
children are accessing hardcore porn sites
earlier than ever, with one in 10 visitors to
graphic porn websites being under the age of
Adobe stock
‘It has been estimated that as much as 30% of all data transferred across the internet
is porn.’
sexual pleasure the top priority.
Modern trend in explicit ‘hardcore’ and
so-called ‘gonzo’ pornography depicts
‘sexual activity free from any pretence
of narrative or relationships—showing
participants (especially women) being
pushed to the very limits of their physical
capabilities, often in a group sex scenario’
(Papadopoulos, 2010).
September 2017 Vol 12 No 7 British Journal of School Nursing 327
Public Health
© 2017 MA Healthcare Ltd
‘...children access
sites that offer
free and instant
access to hardcore
pornography with
no real effective
access controls in
place to prevent
children viewing
the material...’
10 years (Munteanu, 2016). e research also
shows that under-10-year olds now account
for 22% of online video porn consumption
among the under 18 age [group]’ (see Figure 1)
(Munteanu, 2016). ese children access sites
that oer free and instantly available hardcore
pornography with no real eective access
controls in place to prevent children viewing
the material—‘it is not now a case of if a young
person will be exposed to pornography but
when’ (Papadopoulos, 2010).
Dr Gary Brooks, a psychology professor
who studies the effects of porn found
that (Paul, 2007 cited in: Fight the New
Drug, 2017a):
‘Boys who are initiated in sex through
these images become indoctrinated
in a way that can potentially stay with
them for the rest of their lives’.
Porn is considered by some as a form of
indoctrination that preaches a detrimental
message from a specic world view (Fight
the New Drug, 2017a).
In 2014, the Institute of Public Policy
Research (IPPR) surveyed 500 18-year-
olds to nd out their attitudes to sex and
relationships. Nearly 75% of the young
women surveyed said that ‘pornography
has led to pressure on girls and young
women to act a certain way’ (IPPR, 2014:
4). e Founder of the NSPCC’s ChildLine
service, which launched the ChildLine
FAPZ Campaign to raise awareness and
provide advice to young people about the
potentially harmful implications of over-
exposure to pornography, stated (Childnet
International, 2015):
‘Girls in particular have said they feel
like they have to look and behave like
porn stars to be liked by boys’.
Consequences
of pornography
‘Porn promises immediate satisfaction,
endless excitement, and easy intimacy,
but in the end, robs you of all three’
(Fight the New Drug, 2017b). Many anti-
pornography activists view the present
day ‘pornication’ of mass media as akin
to ‘ghting the new drug’ that hooks you
into wanting you coming back for more.
However, because of the secrecy and
shame oen attached to pornography use,
the more people consume, the more they
tend to withdraw emotionally from real
people and relationships and rely on porn
as their only source of sexual gratication.
is can make it more dicult to be
aroused by a real person or to form a real
relationship, and the resulting isolation
and loneliness can fuel the need for more
porn (Fight the New Drug, 2017).
Pornography and consent
Today’s pornography is often dominated
by themes of aggression, power and
control, and continuously blurs the lines
between consent, pleasure and violence
by portraying women as sexual objects. A
2016 NSPCC study, evaluating the effects
of online porn on young people between
the ages of 11 and 16 years, found that
more than three quarters of the children
surveyed—87% of the boys and 77%
of the girls—felt pornography failed to
help them understand consent, but over
half of the boys (53%) and 39% of girls
saw it as a ‘realistic’ depiction of sex
(Martellozzo et al, 2017). In 2016, Peter
Wanless, chief executive of the NSPCC
(cited in: Children’s Commissioner,
2016) said:
‘...more than three quarters of the children
surveyed—87% of the boys and 77% of the
girls—felt pornography failed to help them
understand consent, but over half of the
boys (53%) and 39% of girls saw it as a
‘realistic’ depiction of sex.’
Figure 1. Online video porn consumption in under-18-year-olds. Figure based on:
Munteanu, 2016
Online video porn consumption
<10 years
10–14 years
15–18 years
22%
36%
44%
328 British Journal of School Nursing September 2017 Vol 12 No 7
Public Health
© 2017 MA Healthcare Ltd
‘A generation of children are in danger
of being stripped of their childhoods
at a young age by stumbling across
extreme and violent porn online’.
Addiction, desensitisation and
pornographic induced sexual
dysfunction (PIED)
e 2016 NSPCC study found that a
tenth of 12–13-year-olds fear they may be
addicted to pornography (Martellozzo et
al, 2017). When porn enters the brain, it
triggers the reward centre to start pumping
out dopamine, repeated viewing provides
repeated dopamine induced, instant
gratication x (Your Brain on Porn,
2011). When dopamine-sending nerve
cells keep pumping out dopamine, the
receiving dopamine (D2) receptors reduce
their sensitivity to it in order to deal with
the never-ending inux (Your Brain on
Porn, 2011). Fewer D2 receptors mean less
sensitivity to available dopamine, which in
turn collates to less sensitive to the pleasure
normally found in experiences. As a result,
users require more and more extreme
images in order to produce their high (Your
Brain on Porn, 2011). In an article for e
Independent, Dr A Gregory, a psychosexual
therapist, said ‘Men are becoming both
physically and psychologically desensitised
to normal sexual stimulation and arousal
with a sexual partner’ and he believes that
as porn becomes more hardcore, explicit
and ubiquitous, more men will suer from
intimacy problems and sexual compulsion
(Hosie, 2016). Several studies have found
relationships between porn use or porn/sex
addiction and erectile dysfunction, delayed
ejaculation, anorgasmia, low libido, and
lower brain activation to sexual stimuli
(Park et al, 2016).
Increase in extreme
pornographic imagery
Today’s competitive media market means
that pornographers are trying to outdo
each other to come up with the most
extreme images to increase viewings and
improve ratings. e impact of which,
on young vulnerable minds, is changing
‘norms’ and negating expectations of what
really happens in adult relationships. ‘is
contest to push the boundaries means that
straight intercourse is oen considered
too boring. Images of brutal anal sex and
women being humiliated and degraded by
two or more men at any one time are the
new norms’ (Fight the New Drug, 2017a).
Rise of violence against
women and girls (VAWG)
Although we cannot attribute the origins of
hundreds of years of negative bias toward
women to pornography alone, it can be
argued that pornography is part of a greater
collective paradigm that devalues the
feminine, emotional and caring in favour
of the practical, dominant and controlling
aspects of human behaviour. In a Ted Talk,
Porter (2010) explained this paradigm
well when he speaks of the ‘collective
socialisation of men’ in US society. He stated
that by teaching them from an early age to
show no fear or pain, no emotion (except
perhaps anger) and demonstrate control
over women (who are by denition of less
value) we are creating a ‘man box’ by which
women are perpetually viewed as second
class citizens and treated as sexual objects.
Research has shown that pornography
reinforces a negative bias toward women,
as well as decreased empathy for victims
of sexual violence, and an increase in
dominating and sexually imposing
behaviour. A meta-analysis of 22 studies
undertaken by Wright et al (2015) found
that exposure to violent porn increased the
incidence of verbal and physical aggression.
In a further Ted talk, Katz (2012) concurs,
stating that ‘men’s violence to women is a
much deeper systematic social problem than
that of individual perpetrators’ and asks
‘what is the role of the various institutions
of our society which are helping to produce
these abusive men?’
Increased violence in young
people’s relationships
We are witnessing disturbing levels
of physical, emotional and sexual
violence within young people’s intimate
relationships in today’s society. A survey
undertaken by the University of Bristol
and the NSPCC in 2009 looked at the
issue of partner violence in teenage
intimate relationships and found that
(Barter et al, 2009):
1 in 3 teenage girls has experienced some
form of physical violence from a partner
Nearly 3/4 of girls and ½ of boys reported
some form of emotional partner violence
One in three girls and 16% of boys
reported some form of sexual partner
violence.
Rising levels of sexual
harassment and sexual
violence in schools
In 2016, the Commons’ Women and
Equalities Select Committee launched an
inquiry in sexual harassment and sexual
violence in schools. e inquiry ndings
included the following:
59% of young women aged 13–21 faced
some form of ‘sexual harassment’ while
at school and college (Girlguiding UK
Girls’ Attitudes Survey, 2014: cited in
the report)
Almost a third (29%) of 16–18-year-
old girls said that they had experienced
unwanted sexual touching at school
(EVAW/YouGovPoll, 2010: cited in the
report).
Key recommendations included:
e Government needs to take urgent
action to ensure every school takes
appropriate action to prevent and
respond to sexual harassment and sexual
violence
Every child at primary and secondary
school must have access to high quality,
age-appropriate Relationships and Sex
Education delivered by well-trained
individuals
Safeguarding initiatives in relationship
to new technologies (such as mobile
phones—oen used to coerce and
control); peer support and counselling
schemes should be set up within schools
and PSHE classes should focus on
physical, sexual and emotional forms of
partner violence.
‘...nearly 3/4 of girls and ½ of boys
reported some form of emotional partner
violence, one in three girls and 16%
of boys reported some form of sexual
partner violence.’
September 2017 Vol 12 No 7 British Journal of School Nursing 329
Public Health
© 2017 MA Healthcare Ltd
Pornography
and grooming
Pornography has long been known as a
tool for ‘getting in the mood’, one of the
darker sides of which is the use of this ‘tool’
to instruct women and children of what
is expected of them by the sex industry
and exploiters. In some cases this also
leads to the violation of these victims
who are then being lmed and distributed
as pornographic material. Lederer et al
(2010) stated:
‘Pornography creates and
provides rationalisations for
exploiters as to how and why their
sexually exploitive behaviours
are acceptable… normalising the
behaviour to their victims…’
ey recommend that national and
international law enforcement agencies
and academia share best practices and
research, including establishing an
information repository or data centre for
applied research purposes.
Pornography and the law
In accordance with Section 63 of the
Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008,
It is illegal for a person under 18 to send
explicit images or lms of themselves, or
of another young person. Such activity
amounts to (producing and distributing
child abuse images and runs the risks of
prosecution) even if the picture is taken
and shared with the subject’s permission.
You can legally buy porn magazines and
videos at 18 (all regulated porn websites
say they try to prevent under-18s from
accessing their sites). However, in line
with Section 63 of the Criminal Justice and
Immigration Act 2008, there are certain
types of porn which are illegal—even for
an adult to be in possession of—these are
called ‘extreme pornographic imagery’; for
example, acts which threaten a person’s
life, acts which are likely to, or result
in serious injury, degrading porn, violent
porn (including rape and abuse) or porn
involving under-18-year-olds.
A YouGov (2017) survey found that 8
in 10 respondents in Britain support an
age limit for watching online pornography
and earlier this year the government nally
conrmed that an age verication wall for
corporate industry will be made mandatory
from April 2018 as part of the Digital
Economy Act 2017, thereby restricting
access to adult content online prior to
age verication. e Government is also
expected to announce plans to appoint a
regulator to police the sex websites.
Parents
Parents have reported being unsure who
to go to with their complaints regarding
their children’s access to unsuitable online
material. In recent years there has been a
strong call for industry regulators to be
more accountable and transparent with
calls for a single website complaints body
to be set up for parents to go to regarding
their online concerns (Bailey, 2011: 74).
So far, the British Broadcasting Authority
has not complied with this request.
Recommended websites to support
parents include:
Internet, safety, 101 (https://
internetsafety101.org)
ink you know—a guide to internet
safety and safe surng for young people,
parents and teachers (https://www.
thinkuknow.co.uk/)
Get Safe online—offering free
online security advice (https://www.
getsafeonline.org/).
Young people
We must provide young people with the
tools to individually build and sustain
healthy relationships and a healthy
sexuality themselves. For example,
by providing young men with strong,
positive male leaders, who set examples
of positive masculinity and call out
sexism, through offering workshops
(in schools, colleges and youth centres)
discussing topics of gender equality,
diversity and sexual violence training
for both young men and women alike
(Katz, 2012). Additionally, we must
promote positive online resources,
such as ChildLine’s FAPZ (Fight
Against Porn Zombies), which raise
young people’s awareness by providing
information on how pornography can
affect an individual’s brain and heart, as
well as having an impact on the wider
global community.
RSE/PHSE t for 21st
Century Britain
Aer over a decade of lobbying, on 1st
March 2017 the government tabled an
amendment to the Children and Social
Work Bill which will make it a statutory
requirement that all secondary schools
in England teach Relationship and Sex
Education (RSE) (formerly SRE) and
all primary schools teach about healthy
relationships by September 2019. is is
an historic step and hopefully one which
will begin to bring the much needed and
long-awaited transformation changes to
RSE from a science-based ‘clinical nuts
and bolts’ subject to a wider, inclusive
relationship-based subject, more able to
meet the needs of young people living in
21st century UK.
ere is no place for complacency
however, as this new ruling does not
cover academies and free schools (which
are except from local authority control).
And, critical aspects of RSE are still being
neglected or in some cases ignored by many
schools, such as inclusivity of teaching on
LGBTQ issues despite the Marriage (Same
Sex Couples) Act 2013.
Conclusions
Pornography has a negative impact on the
lives, beliefs and relationships of young
people today. Pornography use can lead
to addiction, desensitisation and PIED,
and can aect the building of healthy
relationships. It can lead to sexual violence
and can also be used as a tool in grooming
and sex-trafficking. It is, therefore,
‘Pornography use can lead to addiction,
desensitisation and PIED, and can affect
the building of healthy relationships. It
can lead to sexual violence and can
also be used as a tool in grooming and
sex-trafcking.’
330 British Journal of School Nursing September 2017 Vol 12 No 7
Public Health
© 2017 MA Healthcare Ltd
important to promote healthy relationships
through RSE and PSHE, to take measures
to protect children and young people from
exposure and to support those who have
already been aected by pornography.
It should be remembered that
pornography is part of a greater collective
paradigm, one which devalues the
feminine and by default treats women
as sexual objects, a paradigm to which
we have all been conditioned. erefore,
as professionals, we should constantly
question our own internal beliefs and social
constructs and stand up against gender
bias and sexism wherever and whenever
we encounter it. BJSN
Conict of interest: None declared
e rst article in this series, focusing on
hyper-sexualisation, can be found in the
July/August issue of BJSN (Volume 12,
Issue 6).
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