Style: July 01, 2019

STYLE | education 23
NO LONGER A TABOO SUBJECT
It used to be the dreaded sex talk, now experts are urging parents
to talk to our children about porn.
Words Juliet Speedy
Pornography and its impact on children and teenagers is
a large and growing issue. Research both here in New
Zealand and around the world shows teenagers are watching
more porn than ever. It’s affecting the way they think, act and
view relationships. Although porn has been around for many
years, never has it been so accessible. And on top of that,
never has it been more aggressive or degrading.
Australian educator Maree Crabbe is the director of
Reality & Risk. She is an international speaker on the topic
of porn and young people and has recently been to New
Zealand giving talks throughout the country.
Maree first became interested in the subject of teenagers
and porn after working in schools teaching about sexuality.
“Over the years I asked people where they were learning
about sex, and they increasingly spoke about porn. It kept
coming up as a source of education.” She realised more
and more kids were watching porn and using it as their
sole source of sexual education. “So, I started a three-year
project. That was 11 years ago. There’s a lot more work to
be done.”
Maree is one of only a few people in the world educating
people on this topic. Through her subsequent research, she
found pornography certainly is now the most prominent
sex educator for many young people. Most young people
discover porn well before they encounter sex and sometimes
before they have even kissed a partner.
The statistics are blatant and can’t be ignored. More than
90 per cent of boys have seen online porn. More than 60%
of girls have. Nearly 90% of scenes of the most popular porn
include physical aggression.
Maree says there’s some great work being done in New
Zealand, citing particular recent research. The New Zealand
Office of Film and Literature did significant research last year
into young people’s porn exposure in New Zealand. They
surveyed more than 2000 teenagers on how and why they
view online pornography.
The research found porn is a fact of life for young New
Zealanders. They discovered porn influences the way young
people think and act. The research also found porn is
complicated and often troubling for young people and that
teenagers themselves think there should be limits.
Some troubling data came out of the research. One in
four said they first saw porn before the age of 12, but 71% of
those were not seeking out pornography when they first saw
it. Some teens are watching porn regularly and the majority
of that group started watching it regularly by age 14.