One in four pre-teens exposed to porn - survey

More than two-thirds of New Zealand teenagers have been exposed to pornography, and one in four have seen it by the age of 12, according to the results of a new survey.

The Office of Film and Literature Classification surveyed more than 2000 teens aged between 14 and 17 for a research project called 'NZ Youth and Porn.'

The main reason teenagers looked at porn was curiosity, followed by accidental exposure, entertainment, sexual arousal, pleasure or boredom.

The research found 72 percent of teenagers who had seen porn recently saw things that made them feel uncomfortable, and 42 percent of regular viewers said they would like to spend less time looking at porn, but found this hard to do.

Overall, the research found young people thought porn was too easy to access.

Read the full report here.

Chief Censor David Shanks said technological and social shifts had changed everything about porn and young people.

"Our research provides New Zealanders and decision-makers robust and up-to-date evidence about what is happening and what the issues are, which can in turn inform work in areas such as public policy, health, and education."

The Sexual Abuse Prevention Network said the results showed New Zealand needed to ensure that comprehensive sexuality education was available to all young people.

General manager Fiona McNamara said the impact of pornography on young people could be reduced by refocusing conversations around consent and positive intimate relationships with young people.

"Alongside education for young people, there needs to be education for adults who have young people in their lives - this includes parents, teachers and community workers. Adults need to be equipped with the skills to talk to young people about pornography and how to view it critically."

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2 comments

Yawn...

Posted on 05-12-2018 23:08 | By Bay Citizen

So, most teens are interested in porn and have sought it out from curiosity. This is probably the same result as would be obtained in any such survey since time immemorial. Let's get away from this neo-Victorian attitude that pornography is somehow wrong or disgusting when in fact it is entirely normal and natural.


@Bay Citizen

Posted on 06-12-2018 17:29 | By This Guy

Don't be so flippin naive, pornorgophy is fine yeah but the problem is that kids are getting their "sexual education" from completely the wrong place. Porn is not reflective of a healthy sexual relationships and there is some SERIOUSLY messed up porn on the internet and its so incredibly easy to stumble across, sadly there is a lot of "rape fantasy" things and just generally being overly abusive towards women (choking. slapping/hitting) its teaching young people all the wrong things (this country already has an appalling track record for domestic abuse) and more needs to be done, preferably though proper sexual education in schools and from parents. There was a documentary about the subject and it was quite upsetting to see what the children who'd been exposed to porn thought how sex was supposed to be and what it was about.


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