PORN LITERACY LESSONS: THE FUTURE OF SEX EDUCATION?
- SISTERHOOD
- Mar 5, 2018
- 2 min read
Updated: Mar 6, 2018
65% of 15-16 year-olds have already watched porn in their lifetime, photograph: CC
By Ellen Ormerod
05.03.18
Teens in America are being taught to look at porn through a critical lens; the UK should take note.
Porn Literacy is a voluntary course taught to 15-18 year-olds in Boston, USA.
Whilst students don’t actually watch porn in class, the lessons cover how consent, body image, aggression and gender stereotypes are portrayed in porn, as well as how the industry operates.
With sexual harassment in schools on the rise and a sex education curriculum that experts have informed me is woefully inadequate, we clearly need to try a new approach.
In a 2016 survey, 53% of boys and 39% of girls think that pornography is “realistic”. Peter Liver, a director of ChildLine Services, stated that "Girls in particular feel they have to look and behave like porn stars to be liked by boys."
There is an entire generation learning about sex through pornography. It is no longer enough to hope and pretend they aren’t watching it, when in fact, 65% of 15-16 year-olds already have.
Some argue that school is not an appropriate place to have these discussions, which teens may find distressing. Others worry it may fuel the attraction to pornography and expose teens to a world that some may not have encountered.
But as Emily Rothman, Associate Professor at Boston University, states “this is not an ‘anything goes’ environment”, there are rules around respect, judgement and sharing personal stories in class. Students are not required to watch pornography to take part.
Now more than ever our conversations around consent and sexual violence are necessary. Prudish and scare-mongering sex education, like the classes I had in school, benefit no one. They drive discussion into corners, encourage rumour and unrealistic attitudes towards sex.
Taking a leaf out of Boston’s book would be a huge step forward in sex education.
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