Worldwide we always talk about the importance of sex education and way to provide information to the world population about safe and healthy sex life, and relationships. While digging deeper into the ways of people getting information about sex, pornography was the most-mentioned “helpful” source of information for 18- to 24-year-olds. A lot of young adults name pornography as a best source for them to learn aboout how to have a sex. Statistics show that by the age of 18, 93% of the first year male students and 63% of female students have at least once seen a porn in their lives.
History of Sex Education
Many nations have banned modern, official sex education, and historically, knowledge about sexuality and relationships was passed down through various indigenous cultural institutions from one generation to the next. Teenage females in Sierra Leone received sexual education and norms from women’s secret clubs. In group discussions with boys and girls, extended family members like Ssenga (paternal aunts) and Koja (maternal uncles) served a similar purpose. However, these institutions have weakened or vanished entirely. So, most teenagers, and not only, turn to porn to get more information about sex.
Porn and Aggression
There are a lot of researches, which prove that porn promotes aggressive ways of communication and behaviour. Research published in the journal “Violence Against Women” analysed the content of popular pornographic videos and findings point to high levels of verbal and physical aggression in pornography. 48.7% of the 304 scenes examined involved verbal hostility, predominantly name-calling, while 88.2% of the scenes featured physical aggression, including spanking, gagging, and slapping. Aggressive acts were mostly committed by men, but the majority of the targeted were women. Most frequently, targets either replied to the aggressiveness with neutrality or pleasure.
Porn and the Fantasy Realm
These contents of the pornographic videos might create false impressions and beliefs about the sexual intercourse, which does not create healthy or safe-sex environment for couples, and somehow stands in the way of communication between partners. Porn videos might create non-realistic views about the body image of the desired partner as well, which could make a problem while looking for a partner.
Results of the research suggests that there is a need for more education about the healthy relationships and communications between couples. A lot of the activists and scientists work on the porn literacy instructions for the teenagers. One of these activists is professor of Boston University, Emily F. Rothman. According to her, the goal of porn literacy is not to control or shame individuals for their interest in pornography. Instead, their trainings and seminars promote dialogue between sexual partners, put pornography in perspective, and assist young people understand why they might view stuff that doesn’t represent healthy, consenting relationships.
The Verdict
In the end we can say that we can use pornography as the jumping off point for discussing healthy topics like: “how do I know when I am hurting someone during sex?”, “where are the healthy boundaries when you are flirting” and topics related to healthy and safe-sex life. And try to use topics that are desired to talk about, for teenagers and young adults, for promoting and providing all the important information for them to start healthy and respectful relationships.
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Elene Jashi, 24 years old, student of Master – Clinical, Social and Intercultural psychology, Intern of Sex clinic of Willingness. Mostly my interest in the field of psychology are very wide but I would say positive psychology
Bibliography
Bridges, A. (2010). Aggression and sexual behavior in best-selling pornography videos: a content analysis update. Violence Agains women .
Albury, K. (2014). Porn and sex education, porn as sex education. Porn studies .
Rothman, E., 2018. How porn changes the way teens think about sex. [online] TEDMED. Available at: <https://www.tedmed.com/talks/show?id=730488> [Accessed 15 July 2022].