10 good reasons to include porn in RSE
10 good reasons to include porn in RSE ;
- Over half of 11-13 year olds have seen pornographic material before starting secondary education[1] and 94% have seen it by 14[2].
- 74% of 11-18 year olds say that porn should be discussed in sex education[3].
- Safety Net research says that pornography has a detrimental impact, including premature sexualisation, negative body image and unhealthy notions about relationships[4].
- Porn often depicts sex in ways that are threatening, misogynistic, violent and without boundaries[5].
- From the age of 7 girls feel the impact of daily sexist images in the media, online and around them[6].
- On first viewing pornography, young people were most likely to report that they felt curious (41%), shocked (27%), confused (24%) or disgusted (23%)[7].
- More than a third of teens rely on getting advice about sex from pornography[8].
- The majority say they believe that the porn they watch is more educational than the SRE they receive in school[9].
- 53% of boys and 39% of girls consider porn a realistic depiction of sex[10]
- 42% of 15-16 year olds say pornography has given them ideas of sexual practices that they would like to emulate.[11]
[1]YoungMinds, January 2014
[2]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-36527681
[3]NSPCC Sex education survey 2013
[4]http://www.safetynet.org.uk/thefacts.php#sthash.fMxj1GY9.dpuf
[6]Girls’ Attitudes Survey 2016 https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/globalassets/docs-and-resources/research-and-campaigns/girls-attitudes-survey-2016.pdf
[8]YouGov (2011)
[9]Author research based on date from 100 young people aged 11-19 asked independently as part of the research for ‘We need to talk about pornography’.