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I n te rn e t S a fe ty
&
Te e n a g e rs
P a rt 2
E xp e ri m e n t th a t
co n v i n ce d m e o n l i n e
p orn i s th e m ost
p e rn i ci ou s th re a t fa ci n g
ch i l d re n tod a y:
By MARTIN DAUBNEY
The moment I knew
internet pornography
had cast its dark
shadow over the lives of
millions of ordinary
British teenagers will
live with me for ever. I
was sitting in the smart
drama hall of a
specialist sports college
in the North of England
with a fantastic
reputation. B e fore m e
we re a g rou p of 2 0 b oys
a n d g i rl s, a g e d 1 3 -1 4 .
La rg e l y wh i te , worki n g
cl a ss ch i l d re n , th e y
we re we l l tu rn e d -ou t,
p ol i te , g i g g l y a n d sh y.
As the presenter of a
Channel 4 documentary
called Porn On The
Brain, airing next
Monday at 1 0pm, I'd
been invited to sit in on
a forward-thinking class
led by sex education
consultant Jonny Hunt,
who is regularly asked into
schools to discuss sex and
relationships. To establish
what these kids knew
about sex - including
pornography - he had
asked the children to write
an A-Z list of the sexual
terms they knew, no
matter how extreme. M ost
of th e se ch i l d re n h a d j u st
h i t p u b e rty a n d som e we re
cl e a rl y sti l l ch i l d re n : wi d e e ye d , n e rvou s, wi th h i g h p i tc h e d v o i c e s .
Some of the girls were
beginning their first forays
into make-up. Several
wore braces on their teeth.
Everybody was smartly
turned out in school
uniform, and the most antiauthority statement in the
room was a tie worn
deliberately short. A One
Direction pencil case lay
on a desk. These were
clearly good children, from
good homes. So far, so
very, very ordinary.
B u t wh e n J o n n y p i n n e d
th e i r l i sts on th e b oa rd , i t
tu rn e d ou t th a t th e
ch i l d re n ' s e xte n si ve
kn owl e d g e of p orn te rm s
wa s n ot on l y sta rtl i n g , i t
su p e rse d e d th a t of e ve ry
a d u l t i n th e room i n c l u d i n g th e s e x
e d u c a ti o n c o n s u l ta n t.
(Here the content gets too
explicit to publish but
every one of these
teenagers had watched
online porn and in many
cases, on numerous
occasions.)
By the end of the hourlong class - and three
others that followed with
other children - I was
profoundly saddened by
what I had witnessed.
While teenage boys will
always be fascinated by,
and curious about it,
what's now considered
'normal' by under-1 8s is
an entirely distorted view
of it and the way
relationships should be
conducted.
Wh e re a re you g e tti n g
th i s stu ff from ? ' F a ce b ook, '
th e b o y s a i d . ' I t j u s t p o p s
u p wh e th e r y o u wa n t i t o r
n o t, s o m e ti m e s v i a
a d ve rti se m e n ts. You d on ' t
h a ve a n y con trol ove r i t. ' A
g i rl a d d e d , ' O n F a ce b ook,
you j u st scrol l d own a n d
i t' s th e re . I f a n y of you r
fri e n d s l i ke i t, i t com e s u p
o n yo u r h o m e p a g e . '
These kids were balanced,
smart and savvy. They
were the most
academically gifted and
sporting in the school.
They came from ordinary,
hard-working households.
This was not 'Broken
Britain'.
S om e we re cl e a rl y
s h o c ke d b y w h a t t h e y h a d
se e n on th e i n te rn e t. ' I fi n d
i t d i rty a n d d i stu rb i n g , ' sa i d
on e 1 5 -ye a r-ol d b oy. ' I try
n o t to l o o k a t i t, b u t p e o p l e
j u s t ke e p s e n d i n g i t t o
e a ch oth e r. Th e y e m a i l
d i s g u s t i n g l i n ks t o e a c h
oth e r' s m ob i l e p h on e s to
sh ock. ' O n e g i rl p u t h e r
h ead i n h er h an d s an d
sa i d , ' I t' s j u st g ross' .
It's horrifying enough for
parents to know that
children can get porn via
the internet. But to think
they get it from Facebook
- the social media
currency that has become
a universal must-have for
teenagers globally - will
strike terror into their
hearts.
I a ske d th e te e n a g e rs:
' O n a s c a l e o f o n e to te n ,
h o w l i ke l y w o u l d y o u s a y i t
i s th a t b oys a n d g i rl s you r
a g e a re wa tch i n g p orn
on l i n e ? ' Th e re p l y wa s a
ch oru s of te n s, n i n e s a n d
o n e e i g h t.
Wh e n I a ske d th e ch i l d re n
i f th e re we re p a re n ta l
con trol s on th e i n te rn e t a t
h o m e , th e y a l l s a i d n o ,
th e i r p a re n ts tru ste d
th e m . T h e y a l l a d m i tte d
th e i r p a re n ts h a d n o
i d e a wh a t th e y we re
wa tc h i n g , a n d wo u l d b e
s h o c ke d i f t h e y d i d
kn ow. The findings were
backed up in a survey of
8 0 b oys a n d g i rl s a g e d 1 2 1 6 , commissioned for the
TV show. It proves the
vast majority of UK teens
have seen sexual
imagery online, or
pornographic films.
According to the survey,
the boys appear largely
happy about watching
porn - and were twice as
likely as girls to do so;
but the girls are
significantly more
confused, angry and
frightened by online
sexual imagery. The
more they see, the
stronger they feel. THE
BRAIN'S REWARD CENTRE IS
FULLY DEVELOPED BY THE
TIME WE'RE TEENAGERS,
B UT T HE P A RT O F T HE
BRAIN THAT REGULATES
­ T HE P RE ­
FRONTAL CORTEX ­ ISN'T
O UR URG E S
FULLY DEVELOPED UNTIL
O U R MI D ­ 2 0 S .
T h e b ra i n s
o f t e e n a g e rs a re n o t
wired to say 'stop', they
a re w i re d t o w a n t mo re .
The implications of this
study are profoundly
t ro u b l i n g .
( T h i s i s o n l y a e xa m p l e o f
wh a t i s p re va l e n t i n e ve ry
d e ve l op e d cou n try a n d
e sp e ci a l l y h e re i n th e U S A.
I e d i te d th i s a rti cl e d own
b u t sti l l fe e l i t m a y b e a b i t
too stron g . D oe s you r ch i l d
h a ve a sm a rt p h on e ? Wh a t
p rote cti on d o you h a ve for
th e m a g a i n s t th i s s e d i ti o u s
fi l th on th a t sm a rt p h on e or
you r i n te rn e t a t h om e or
F a c e b o o k? I a d v i s e t h a t n o
ch i l d a t h o m e s h o u l d h a v e
a c c e s s to e - m a i l o r s o c i a l
n e tworki n g si te s wi th ou t
th e i r p a re n ts h a vi n g th e
p a ssword s.
D o you l i ke H e a rtb e a t Ch ri sti a n N e ws? P l e a se l e t u s kn ow: fe e d b a ck@th e H B CN e ws. com