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Technology has enabled the proliferation of pornography, making it so pervasive that it has become the main sex educator for many young people. This is a profound problem because it gives a distorted view of sexuality and human relations, predominantly involves violence against women and encourages hazardous practices.
It is causing young people confusion and anxiety, and they are feeling pressure to mimic acts that are common in pornography but that many girls, in particular, find distasteful, degrading or painful.
Research shows more than nine in 10 Australian boys aged 13 to 16 and more than six in 10 girls in the same age group have seen pornography online. They can seek it out anonymously and effortlessly. Many, too, stumble upon it inadvertently through internet search engines.
Today’s guest in The Zone has worked for more than a decade with young people and sexuality, and is the joint leader of a project called Reality and Risk, which seeks to arm young people – and parents, carers and educators – with information and confidence to think critically about pornography and the messages it conveys about women, men and sex.
Maree Crabbe has worked with young people for 20 years, and has focused on sexuality and sexual health for the past decade, developing and presenting programs about sexual violence prevention, sexual diversity and prevention of sexually transmissible infections.
In our interview, the full transcript of which – as well as a short video statement by Crabbe – is at theage.com.au/opinion/the-zone, she gives advice to young people and adults and sets out the scope of the pornography issue.
“Pornography has become incredibly accessible … and more aggressive. What was most accessible a couple of decades ago was a centrefold – a still image of a naked or semi-naked woman. Now what is most accessible is moving imagery of people having sex, often quite aggressively. It is shaping the ways that many people are thinking about and experiencing sexuality.” Continue reading
Sources
- Michael Short in The Sydney Morning Herald
- Image: youthbullet blogspot
Michael Short is editor of The Zone. He also writes editorials and columns.
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News category: Analysis and Comment.
