By Dr Sophie King-Hill, University of Birmingham
Prof. Kieran McCartan, University of the West of England
David Russell, Development Lead & Service Manager: Thriving Survivors
Lucy Harvey, Sexpression: Birmingham
With easier access to the internet comes easier access to adult material. One thing is for certain – pornography is not going away. Safe and open spaces are needed for young people to explore and unpick the things that they may have intentionally and unintentionally seen.
For young people, accessing pornography may not always be sexually motivated. The global nature of the internet is particularly challenging in how we think about and frame children and young people’s engagement with pornography. Young people may be accessing pornography intentionally or unintentionally and, as research tells us, to get sex education.
It is also important to acknowledge the difference between legal and extreme pornography, though what is legal in one country may not be legal in another. Internet service providers and social media platforms have a role in promoting appropriate safeguarding procedures, stopping access to illegal pornography and limiting the access that children and young people have to pornography.
Online safety measures
Current social media platforms, especially those governed through Meta, have age restrictions to join. For example, children must be at least 10 years old to create a Meta account with their parents’ help, and if you’re 13 or older (age may vary by region) you can manage your own Meta account. There are some aspects of internal policing (i.e. groups and individuals are monitored with inappropriate content being removed), and opportunities to report problematic activity and behaviours. However, these are often small-scale and, at times, inconsistent.
There needs to be stronger online protections in terms of the internet and social media coverage of harmful behaviour and activities online (which was suggested in the online harms bill), but given the fact that most of these companies and organisations are not based in the UK it means the government and polices ability to control their operation is limited. This is evident through social media platforms and internet companies removing themselves from problematic jurisdictions.
Impact on children and young people
But what is the impact of accessing porn for children and young people? First, it is important to question whether viewing inappropriate, problematic and/or harmful pornography will lead young people to replicate the behaviours and actions that they see. Will they become desensitised by the material they watch, engage in the behaviours they see, and seek out more extreme content?
The short answer is that we don’t know for certain, we have some indicators in relation to the harm pornography can cause. However, the reasons for accessing pornography are less than clear. Most pertinently, there are no safe spaces for young people to discuss, unpick and understand what they have seen – internalising aspects of pornography for them.
How to support children and young people
What is important is what we do to support children and young people who have accessed pornography, intentionally or otherwise. First, we need to start thinking about the way that we frame the discussions we are having. Rather than demonising or criticising, we should be focusing on harm reduction and health and wellbeing. When we think about the understanding children and young people have when they engage with online pornography, we need to learn about what they are seeing and how this relates to their perceptions of the world.
Parents and professionals also have a part to play in these discussions. However, due to the stigma and shame surrounding pornography these conversations can be difficult. Conversations around pornography can be embedded in robust, evidence based and incremental relationships, sex and health education.
We need to start thinking about how pornography engagement and use are on a spectrum of behaviours and motivations that allow children and young people to understand sexual relationships. Hence, we need to frame our responses to online pornography use across the socio-ecological model (individual, interpersonal, community and societal) so that we can develop a rounded, evidence based and durable response.
As part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2024, join Dr Sophie King-Hill from the University of Birmingham, Prof. Kieran McCartan from the University of the West of England, David Russell, Development Lead & Service Manager: Thriving Survivors and University of Birmingham Med student, Lucy Harvey from Sexpression: Birmingham as they consider the impact of online pornography and what can be done to keep young people safe online.
The event will explore what constitutes pornography in the modern day, the shame and stigma around it and why it is difficult to talk about, despite its widespread usage. The conflicts around young people and sex will be discussed alongside the social expectations that are put upon them. The current context of pornography will be outlined and how it is being used by young people. The importance of relationships and sex education will be explored in terms of creating safe spaces to talk about pornography. The impact of heteronormative education on pornography use will also be highlighted.
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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Birmingham.