Page 245 - (DK) Help Your Kids with Growing Up: A No-Nonsense Guide to Puberty and Adolescence

PORNOGR APH Y 243

Pornography and the Internet

Downsides of pornography Tweens and teens are increasingly exposed to pornography online,
and often before they have learnt about sex or had sex themselves.
Pornography can be misused or They may seek out pornography intentionally or stumble across it by
misinterpreted, which can lead to an accident, if it appears unexpectedly on a website, or in a search for
unhealthy relationship with sex in the educational material about sex. Such early exposure to sexually explicit
real world. images may be distressing, and is likely to leave teens misinformed about
intimacy and sex as part of a healthy relationship. Young people may feel
pressured to imitate activities they have seen online, or engage in risky
sexual behaviours, such as not using a condom.
“Porn sex” is often very different to “real sex”:
the people typically behave differently from ◁ Online access
regular people, and what they do is often Parents can set age-
very unusual, or even unpleasant and violent. appropriate restrictions
on phones, tablets, and
computers, too, and keep
the familly computer in a
The sex or sexual acts portrayed in porn do common area. Having a
not show sex as part of a healthy relationship. conversation is essential,
Instead, porn can lead people to think that too, as talking about porn
they can treat those they have sex with as will help teens to approach
it responsibly.
“sex objects”.

Some people may feel disappointed by Finding balance GOOD T O KNO W
sex in the real world because it’s not the If a teen is concerned Talking about pornography
same as sex portrayed in porn. about their own use of • Start by asking someone you trust
porn, or is unsure if it’s what they think about pornography.
healthy, then talking to This allows you both to contribute as
a friend may be useful. much or as little as you want.
Having open conversations
Female porn actors tend to have large about pornography can • Ask them to keep everything
breasts and no pubic hair, while males have help a teen to establish confidential, but don’t be ashamed
large penises. This can damage people’s limits for what’s a healthy or make the person you are talking
body confidence, as most people don’t use of porn and what isn’t. to feel ashamed, either.
look like this.

▷ When and where
Some people become desensitized to the Having a balanced approach
porn they watch and it no longer arouses to pornography includes Porn should not be
them, or it desensitizes them to the pleasure restricting use to when used in public.
of real sex. and where it is appropriate.

Some people develop an unhealthy
obsession with porn if they overuse it.
Over-watching porn can be difficult to stop.

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