Teens using porn for sex education on ‘what the naked body looks like and the mechanisms of sex’

BOYS are accessing porn before the age of 13, and girls before they’re 16, and using it as a form of sex education, some saying it boosted their self-esteem.

Some teens said porn boosted their self-esteem as they got to see what other naked bodies looked like.

YOUNG people are accessing pornography online easily, anonymously and frequently, but many insist they are using it as a form of sex education.

Teens also felt confused because the reality didn’t match the fantasy portrayed in porn films.

New findings from the Melbourne’s Burnet Institute reveals young men look at explicit images online at least weekly, with their female counterparts logging on monthly.

First exposure to pornography starts at a highly impressionable time in teenager’s lives: before the age of 13 for boys and by the age of 16 for girls.

While it’s clear that technology has made it more readily available, until now little has been known about the impact it has on young people’s sexual socialisation and health and well-being.

Lead researcher PhD candidate Angela Davis survey of 1000 young Australians aged 15-29 tried to shed light on the influence that pornography had on their lives.

“Many reported that pornography provided them with basic information about sex; so what the naked body looked like and the mechanisms of sex— they used it as a way to get information they couldn’t get from formal sex education,” she said.

While some described this as “helpful” and “liberating”, others felt that it gave them misinformation about “what sex should be like.”

“They thought that what they were seeing in porn was a normal way to participate in sexual behaviour in real life,” Ms Davis said.

“When they had their own sexual experiences, they were often left confused because their perception did not match the reality.”

“It gave them this limited representation of sexuality and sex and some of the behaviours were actually quite harmful to themselves and others.”

But others reported that pornography boosted their self-esteem because they got to see what other people’s bodies looked like naked, including the size and shape of genitals and breasts, and it confirmed to them that they were ‘normal’.

It also gave them a safe space to explore their desires.

“I think this really highlights the need for us to provide more comprehensive sex education that includes pornography,” Ms Davis told the Australasian Sexual Health Conference in Adelaide.

“We need to give young people the opportunity to talk about what they are learning in ways that are not moralistic or judgemental.”