What is your child seeing online?
These days with most teens having their own devices, or access to a device it is pretty much expected that their natural curiosity will lead them to seeing porn.
However, unlike the ‘good old days’ where a softcore magazine was found in the woods and “all” that was seen was photos of women, the porn our teens are likely accessing today is graphic and extreme.
If your child has access to a device they have access to very explicit, disturbing and potentially damaging porn.
So, if it is a given that it’s likely most teens today will be viewing porn, then it follows that there needs to be some education around what they “do” with what they find.
What is your child learning about porn at school?
In the The 7th National Survey of Australian Secondary Students and Sexual Health conducted in 2021, over 95% of young people reported that they believe relationships and sexuality education (RSE) is an important part of the school curriculum, and 93.0% reported receiving RSE at school, most commonly in Years 8 and 9. However, only 24.8% reported that their most recent RSE class was very or extremely relevant to them. Education around porn literacy is one of the missing topics in RSE in schools.
The more we can educate our teens about porn, then the less they will fall into the traps of becoming addicted, conditioned or educated by porn.
What’s wrong with porn?
Pornography today normalises violence:
Pornography has been shown to cause men to lose their sensitivity and empathy for women, and instead to see women as sexual instruments there for a “one-way interactive transaction”.
Physical aggression occurs in 88.2% and verbal aggression occurrs in 48.7% of porn.
Women are the receivers of sexual aggression in porn 97% of the time.
1 in 3 women (31.1%) have experienced physical and/or sexual violence perpetrated by a man they know.
1 in 4 women (23%) have experienced physical or sexual violence by a current or former intimate partner since age 15.
1 in 4 women (23%) have experienced emotional abuse by a current or former partner since the age of 15.
“The Truth about Pornography”
“The Truth About Pornography” is a 9 session ‘Porn Literacy’ course originally developed in 2019 by Emily Rothman and her team.
The curriculum was developed with the intention that talking about something that will spark teens’ interest (aka Porn) will create an atmosphere of openness and readiness in the teens to talk about the essential topics of consent, healthy relating, safety, respect as well as fostering an attitude of critical thinking around porn.
The Course:
Consists of 9 one hour sessions
Is recommended for ages 14-18
Each session is designed to stimulate healthy discussion, and to develop critical thinking around the topic of sexually explicit material.
The foundations are neither anti-porn nor pro-porn, this doesn’t mean the teachings are opinion or perspective free, rather that there is no identification with a particular ideology.
Porn Literacy:
The “media literacy” model of the curriculum allows multiple viewpoints and is about offering information in a way that encourages the participants to think deeply and critically about both the information and their own evolving opinions. The goals of the curriculum are about equipping teens with these critical analysis tools as well as promoting healthy dating relationships, sexual consent, respect and safety.
The group format teaches teens to deconstruct media, and to make informed choices about what they may want to view, and why they want to view it.
Please note:
The content is not about showing or promoting sexually explicit media, and nor is it presumed (or a pre-requisite of the class) that a teen has already seen porn, had any sexual experience, or received any prior sex education classes.
While the course aims to teach teens to be critical consumers of any media it does not expect or assume that everyone will choose to consume it at some point.
Sexually explicit media is not shown in any session.
Permission forms from parents/carers must be completed prior to the course commencing.
The content covers:
History of sexually explicit images
Norms relating to violence and double standards
The teen brain and how porn use can become compulsive
Healthy intimacy
Healthy flirting, dating and caring for others
Porn as not reality
Commercial sexual explotation
Revenge pornography and sexual selfies
Peers and porn use
Natalie completed her “The Truth about Pornography” training with Emily’s team in 2022. Please contact Natalie to arrange a course for your school or teen peer group.