“My son doesn't do it / My son won't do it”. You may think this, but the reality, the statistics, say otherwise. More and more adolescents, both they and they, access at an earlier age content for adults in the network, and increasingly we are getting to know the deep reach that this consumption no filters, no context and no control, has in their lives.
Don't look the other way, we tell you What effects can the consumption of pornography have on children and adolescents and what can you do to address this issue? with your son or daughter
Pornonativos with less than ten years
Martha Zhein and Analía Iglesias, authors of "What hides the hole, porn in obscene times" (Ed. Catarata), denominate pornonative To them boys and girls and adolescents who have arrived before to pornography (online) than to the development of their sexuality.
According to a report published in the International Journal of Developmental and Educational Psycologhy the age of the first exposure to pornographic material on the Internet is the 12.1 years. The 2014 report of the Women's and Equality Committee of the United Kingdom Parliament offers similar results: that 24.6% first saw online pornography at age 12.
In Babies and more Adolescents and pornography: in Spain they see her since she was 10 years old and 35% between 13 and 14 years of age claim to see her "too many times"On the other hand, a study carried out by BitDefender (cybersecurity software provider in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Peru and Romania) indicates that around 10% of online porn consumers are under 10 years old (although these portals ask to be over 18 years old to access).
The aforementioned investigation of the Equality Committee of the Parliament of the United Kingdom yields more relevant data, such as that of the young people who watched porn online before the age of 14, 62% said that they had reached these contents by chance or because they were shown by another person , compared to 22% who claimed to have conducted searches in this regard.
How do our children access pornography?
It is important that we be clear that interest in sex and adolescence pornography is not exclusive to the 21st century, has always happened. The difference that has arisen and that is key in the effects that can be produced by its consumption is the how and when the boys access these contents.
From sporadically seeing a photo with a nude on the cover of a magazine of the Kiosk or sneaking the movie of older Plus (already with an age) to have it very handy. As the experts point out, Porn today is triple A: affordable, accessible and anonymous.
A large part of adolescents access through their smartphones, but be careful, as I said before, they do not always do so voluntarily, but they encounter these scenes and contents for example through pop-ups.
And this access is the same for boys as for girls: they see it too, let's not think that it is something exclusive to the masculine gender.
In Babies and more One of every four teenagers watches porn before age 13: what can parents do?In case we have any doubt, we go with more figures that point in the same direction; A study by the University of Middlesex in London indicates that:
- 28% of children between 11 and 12 years said they had seen pornographic scenes, as well as 65% of young people between 15 and 16 years.
- Of the children who claimed to have seen porn, 33% did so through the smarphone, 24% on a desktop computer and 38% on a laptop.
- 60% claimed to have seen these images for the first time at home.
- 39% of girls and 53% of boys who participated in the survey stated view pornography as a realistic representation of sex.
- And one last fact for reflection: 39% of participants between 13 and 14 years old and 20% of those between 11 and 12 years said they wanted to emulate the behaviors they saw on the screen.
What effect can the consumption of online pornography have on adolescents?
Self-image problems: We have already begun to observe cases of girls who with 15 years undergo cosmetic surgery operations to bleach and "redesign" their genitals. The free porn that we can find on the net presents a canonical image of what female genitals, breasts should look like ... and establish a pattern that is absolutely far from reality.
Problems when it comes to having real-life relationships: before porn we are passive objects, we receive information and stimulation without having to put anything on our side, but when we face another human being, things change. Some of these young people may present difficulties in establishing interactions with potential sexual partners, having blockages ...
Room and therefore a growing need for stimulation: When we are presented with a stimulus on an ongoing basis, we gradually become accustomed to it, which reduces its effectiveness or the sensations it produces. Some adolescents who have consumed pornography in an uncontrolled manner may need great stimulation to be able to have sexual desire precisely because of this habituation.
Erection problems: if the model you see is that of a man who has eternal (and instantaneous) erections and who to "do it right" must be coitus and lasting ... the pressure with which they approach sex is enormous, which produces anxiety and anxiety derives in that: erection problems.
Normalize and internalize a sexist sex model, coitocentrista, in which the woman is object of pleasure, in which it is frequent that there are violent behaviors towards the woman or that the approach to the sex is aggressive towards her, that has to adopt a passive or receiving role. And beware, that this model is made up of them and they: they "assume" that this is how they are expected to behave, they assume that this is how boys should behave ...
An advance in the age of onset of certain sexual practices Like anal sex.
The creation of an imaginary in which certain practices are part of the "casual or standard" sex, when in reality they respond to reasons related to the porn industry itself (sight ejaculations, etc.)
Adopt a submissive, complacent role by the girls: "I have to do it and I have to do it that way."
In Babies and more, seven tips to keep our children away from Internet pornographyWhat can we parents do?
There are three main fronts to address this issue and help our children grow up with healthy sexuality:
The first and fundamental is to provide them with quality affective-sexual education and from the first moment of their lives. Yes, what you hear: from babies we are already transmitting messages about their body, from children they get ideas about what can be and what is not, if it is right or wrong ... So we better pay attention to it, put it first and, Of course, do not wait until adolescence arrives, because then it will be late. I insist: in case we had any doubt about the need to provide them with an adequate sexual-emotional education from the first years here we have one more reason (and weight).
In parallel, but also important, be aware of what content our child access from your smartphone, computer or tablet. Set rules at home (explained, always) about it. It is important that we control the contents to which children have access, in the same way that we try to control that they do not see especially violent scenes we must ensure that they are not watching pornography at an age in which they do not have the capacity to process and understand it. Trying to put barriers to access is not easy, it is possible that at home we have everything under control but ... and his friends? But don't despair, trust.
Create (rather have created) a context of trust with our child so that he feels able to tell us what he sees and what not, what feelings he produces ... Talking with our children is key to providing that context they need to locate those images that, whether we want to or not, may reach their eyes.
So, is pornography negative? At all, it is another resource for the satisfaction of many people, the problem arises when those people are not experienced adults but teenagers, when what they see on the screen is normalized, when they believe that this is the sex to have, when they learn of him a sexual model that does skinny favor to women ...
We are the adults, we are the ones who must guarantee their sexual health, and that happens, as I said, by speaking, informing and accompanying. Do not turn your back on the subject, even if you cut, even if it seems that it is not so important: it is, and much.
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