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Teach Kids About Dangers of Porn, But Don't Let the Sex Ed Crowd Do It

Posted: 28/10/2012 23:00

A head teachers group has called for children, some as young as 10, to learn about the dangers of pornography as part of sex education classes. Kids are bombarded with sexualised images in the media on a daily basis, and hardcore porn is only ever an online click away. There is no doubt in my mind that they need to be aware of the way that porn can wreck their future relationships.

Research recently released by the University of Plymouth shows that it is having a devastating impact on a generation of youngsters. Some children start viewing this stuff at age 11. Many become hooked on it. It twists and distorts their view of sex, so when they enter a relationship as adults their attitude to intimacy is warped. In the minds of young men, woman should behave like porn stars in the bedroom - because that's what they've watched since their childhood.

Sadly, many teenage girls believe they must perform exactly like that. Not yet emotionally mature, they go along with a boyfriend's relentless pressure to act out the fantasies he has been viewing on the internet. She poses while he takes pictures or videos. It's just for the two of them, he promises. But when he's dumped her for some other girl the images and videos get passed around his mates and, oops, get uploaded to the internet.

The explosion of free online porn, much of it populated with that sort of material, has alarmed many experts. Known as 'tube' sites, users upload their own made-at-home content. Because it's freely available, the sites rarely put any mechanism in place to block under-18s from viewing it.

In days when teenagers, and younger kids, often have laptops in their bedrooms or smartphones in their pockets, this material is all too easy to access. Parents try their best to manage their children's internet use, but many will be oblivious to the real extent of the problem. There has been talk that the government should impose an automatic block on all online adult content. If an over-18 user wants the block removed, they would have to request it from their internet provider. The problem is so great, that I believe we do need a solution like that.

Until then, isn't it a good idea to teach children about the dangers as part of sex education classes? Sorry, but I just don't trust the sex education crowd to do it properly. They've been part of the problem for decades. Take for example this latest project by a team of 'sexual health professionals' in Coventry and Warwickshire. They've developed a website and app aimed at kids as young as 13. It has tips on oral and anal intercourse, how to lose your virginity, and a body map of erogenous zones.

No doubt they think they're being edgy to grab the attention of hard-to-reach youths. But this value-free approach to sex is what has caused this mess in the first place. As adults we are supposed to give our children boundaries, and one of them should be don't mess around with sex. Parents would like to see more of this, but the sex education lobby dance around the issue of genuine parental involvement. Just leave it to the experts, they say. If mums and dads knew the half of what is really taught in sex education, they'd be horrified. Which is why I don't trust them to teach the risks of porn to 10-year-olds.

 
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14:16 on 10/11/2012
It is a very concerning issue, as freely available porn must also make many young people believe that the porn stars bodies and actions are the norm, leaving them feeling inadequate, which could have horrific consequences. If however, the school is not thought the best education medium for sexual education and parents are not willing or able to advise youngsters, who then is going to give them the necessary information on how to stay healthy and safe, within a sexual relationship?
12:34 on 06/11/2012
Its the parents job to protect their kids, it all looks nice and fun, going around half naked and having sex with whoever takes your fancy, man or woman. But behind it all there are a whole lot of STD's, abortions etc making peoples lives a living hell. And in some cases eeven death.
11:27 on 05/11/2012
Perhaps this odious author of this article would prefer the education to be given by his mates in the Catholic church? Or by decent, honoured Christians like Jimmy Savile? Or, indeed, people like himself, whose ideas on sex are 70 years out of date?

I'd rather that any kid of mine watched porn than spend 10 minutes alone in a room with Mike Judge.
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stephen70
Please dont fan me as my next comment could leave
20:40 on 31/10/2012
No its best to teach them the old fashion christian way of sex. Be utterly ashamed and embarrassed by your bits and bobs, and never let anyone touch them apart from members of the clergy or scout masters.
Really grow up and find a middle ground. Kids don't live in some christian bubble away from society.
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SGillLondonUK
DEMOCRACY DOES NOT EXIST.
22:30 on 30/10/2012
A lot of parents reel in horror that their children are looking at porn and becoming sexually aware. is there a point where adults get a sudden bout of amnesia, and somehow "forget" what its like? Its no different today than it was 20 years ago. Kids talked about and did the same stuff then as they do today, and back then the same arguement was being made when i was at school, so why all the shock?
14:22 on 10/11/2012
I disagree, in that the porn of 20 years ago was mainly still images, whereas now every kind of porn can be viewed on the web, with much of it being very brutal and all of it without any emotional or affectionate content. I think that if I was 12/13 now and viewing porn as the 'norm' I would probably be very upset that I was different and I did not have breasts like oranges!
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SGillLondonUK
DEMOCRACY DOES NOT EXIST.
15:03 on 10/11/2012
Porn is made for Adults, if kids are watching it, then that is due to parents not making the effort to stop it. 
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SGillLondonUK
DEMOCRACY DOES NOT EXIST.
22:24 on 30/10/2012
The problem with our society, is that when it comes to sex, there is too much emotion in the way that it is taught. Kids are sheltered from the truth, and in many cases the first time they will become informed about the reality of sex, is when they find themselves pregnant when they should be studying for their GCSEs. The more you hide something, the more likely they are going to go in search of it, and it will be found, usually on a site with porn. In many respects our society hasnt changed. It used to be the teenage boy and his first playboy, the only difference is technology has moved on
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17:40 on 31/10/2012
I understand where you are coming from and agree to an extent. The thing is though, the sort of stuff you see in playboy and the like is very mild compared to some of the extreme porn on the internet. I can see how young minds could be warped by some of this stuff and I hate the thought of children watching it.
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SGillLondonUK
DEMOCRACY DOES NOT EXIST.
19:46 on 31/10/2012
The only difference between playboy back then, is that the internet hadnt been invented. To the kids of that era, that first skin mag was considered a right of passage
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22:50 on 29/10/2012
As adults we are supposed to give our children boundaries, and one of them should be don't mess around with sex.
-----------------------------
That is not a boundary. It is an infinitely ambiguous, poorly expressed order.

And the problem you need to face up to is that the era of subordination yielded to the era fo compliance and that is now yielding to the era of consent. And the seculars who favour consent systems do not wished to be preached to those who cannot make moral decisions for themselves but rather rely upon obeying orders from their faith.

Since the Reformation the seculars have been fighting to keep people like you off their backs. You want another fight. Bring it on prayer boy.
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17:47 on 31/10/2012
"Dont mess around with sex" sounds like the sex education I got off my very religious parents.
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mmartini54
Roll on 2015!
18:43 on 29/10/2012
"If mums and dads knew the half of what is really taught in sex education, they'd be horrified"

Oh, yawn yawn yawn. Leave your infantile suspicions at the gate please. This is precisely the kind of hysterical piece that gives Christians a bad name.

Just what do you think is being taught? Do you think any teacher in their right mind would seriously jeapordise their career with gratuitously promiscuous, inaccurate, over graphic lessons? Stop basing your opinions on this most flimsy of evidence.

Parents are not 'horrified'. With the exception of a very few odd minded people like the writer of this piece, they are quite happy that their children are allowed to learn and asked questions in a controlled, monitored environment with a trusted adult. Which is what happens, mate.
20:35 on 29/10/2012
Well, I for one am horrified. The stuff my kids came home with was totally unsuitable for year 7 children. It was much more about experimentation than about forming loving relationships.
Last week they were shown a video with references to rape and paedophilia.- this may be appropriate in some schools in areas where parents do not give their children much attention, but in areas where there is a good deal of parental involvement, it is not only unnecessary, but also dangerous. This an example of successive governments' policies of libertarianism, and I believe is partly responsible for the culture at the BBC.
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mmartini54
Roll on 2015!
20:42 on 29/10/2012
People can claim many things on a site like this.  Context is all, and in most people's opinion 12 years of age is a good time to start sex ed. Do you know the name of this video?  What was the nature of these these references?  Do you think these things do not exist?  And have you contacted the school to discuss this? How is giving the children information which will enable them to protect themselves dangerous?  How patronising and innacurate is it to suggest that middle class kids are somehow less at risk of coercive behaviour by the adults around them?    
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Mneme
The truth shall make ye fret.
13:55 on 29/10/2012
Sex is to fundamentalist Christains what food is to a person with an eating disorder - a guilt plagued obsession.
You wouldn't ask an anorexic how to have a healthy diet, so why would you ask a group like the CI how to have a healthy attitude on sex?
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12:44 on 29/10/2012
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Christian_Institute

Credibility?
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Mneme
The truth shall make ye fret.
13:55 on 29/10/2012
Indeed
09:58 on 29/10/2012
As a representative of the Christian Institute, a registered charity that exists for the purpose of promoting Christianity, is it really appropriate for you to be running political campaigns on issues that are completely unrelated to Christianity, and in which you have no relevant expertise? Haven't MPs and the Charity Commission repeatedly criticised you for doing this?
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gtobynj
If it's really funny, it's bound to offend someone
23:40 on 28/10/2012
If we weren't so uptight this would not be a problem. It is alright to have sensationalized images of violence all over mainstream entertainment but then flip out when a mammary is exposed. I am not a fan of boxing, UFC or similar, but if it was banned it would head underground and become much worse and I believe that is what has happened with porn, because it has been sidelined by our embarrassment about our bodies and sexuality it has become more extreme than would otherwise be the case. That having been said, I like porn, but have watched enough of the "professional" stuff to be turned off by most of it - I don't think my proclivities are too far away from normal - and instead much prefer the "amateur" variety, the kind where the participants consent completely to it and are enjoying it - genuine people, genuinely turned on is arousing I find, not the robotic professional stuff of people just going through the motions. This kind of porn I don't think is dangerous in any way shape or form, it is simply people sharing giving and receiving pleasure without embarrassment.
22:39 on 28/10/2012
sex ed isnt about teaching kids how2perform sex,its about educating them so they can make informed decisions.so many times u hear victims say they thought it was normal. its better sex professionals show them whats what than kids turn2porn2learn. this argument seems 2 contradict itself.
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Wendyda
Jill Stein org
22:02 on 28/10/2012
Did I read that right? "The DANGERS of Porn"????

How weird can ya get?
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dsws
No owning ideas. Limit only commercial use.
21:03 on 28/10/2012
When a boy is creepy and manipulative to a girl, demanding that she act out his fantasies without regard for what she wants and then betraying her trust afterward, maybe the problem is that he's creepy, manipulative, and treacherous. Maybe it's not that flappers are showing their ankles, or greasers are necking in convertibles, or kids these days are downloading. Maybe the problem is that he's being creepy, manipulative, and treacherous.

Improve gender relations between actual people. Don't scapegoat the latest trendy thing to scapegoat.