Sexual health and relationships: Research evidence

Everyone’s Invited, the website where people can post experiences of abuse at school, and Ofsted’s follow up review, highlighted the prevalence of sexual harassment and abuse in schools. As the national body for personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education we have been supporting schools to address this specific issue, as well as some of the contributory factors.

Online pornography, and ease of access to it by children and young people, is a major factor to consider in discussions about abuse and harassment. We therefore wanted to highlight evidence of its impact and ways that schools may address the topic through the PSHE education curriculum.

This is timely given that schools are now required to teach about pornography and its effects as part of statutory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) content at Key Stages 3 and 4.

Ease of access and themes of pornography

The prevalence of, and easy access to, free online pornography means that it is viewed by a significant proportion of young people, whether intentionally or by chance. The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) Young People, Pornography and Age Verification (2020) research found that the proportion of young people that have viewed pornography rises as they get older (see graphics).

This often depicts violence, exploitation, humiliation and denigration, in most part towards women. For example, in a content analysis of 400 of the most popular free online pornography films, Klaassen and Peter (2015) found that 41 per cent of professional videos depicted violence towards women. And a concerning minority of films depicted non-consensual or manipulative sex.

In a study exploring what adolescents and young adults actually view when they access pornography Davis et al. (2018) found that 70 per cent frequently saw men portrayed as dominant, compared with 17 per cent frequently seeing women as dominant; 36 per cent frequently saw women being called names or slurs, compared with seven per cent frequently seeing men treated this way; 35 per cent frequently saw “consensual” violence towards women, compared with nine per cent frequently seeing this towards men; and 11 per cent frequently saw non-consensual violence towards women, compared with one per cent frequently seeing this towards men.

And sexism is not the only prejudice ingrained in much of pornography; overt racism is still routine (Jensen, 2011) and demeaning stereotypes of women, girls and men of different ethnicities are promoted and sexualised.

Impact on attitudes to self and others

There is growing evidence of mainstream online pornography’s wide-ranging harmful effects on people, including on self-perception but also attitudes to women and girls and on the prevalence of harassment and other unethical behaviour.

Our recent research briefing for educators collates this evidence in detail, but examples include that pornography use is associated with subsequent increases in objectified notions of women and sexism (Hald et al., 2013; Peter & Valkenburg, 2009b; Wright & Bae, 2015). The 2020 BBFC survey found that 41 per cent of children surveyed who were aware of pornography agreed that “watching porn makes people less respectful of the opposite sex”.

Longitudinal controlled studies published since 2009 following adolescents or young adults over time have found pornography consumption predictive of subsequent sexual coercion and aggression. For example, Ybarra et al. (2011) found that — after controlling for other relevant factors such as nonsexual aggression, witnessing violence and alcohol use — adolescent violent pornography use increased the risk of subsequent sexual aggression by nearly six times.

Using the PSHE education/RSHE curriculum

The principal aim of teaching young people about pornography is to keep them safe from harm. For some, teaching about pornography will be a new aspect of the PSHE curriculum. Others have taught about it for some time, but may now want to update and revisit their planning.

Whatever stage schools are at, content should be carefully planned and sequenced – Ofsted’s June 2021 review into sexual harassment in schools recommended “a carefully sequenced RSHE curriculum, based on the Department for Education’s statutory guidance” and this applies to all other aspects of RSHE as well. This must involve regular curriculum time delivered by trained teachers.

Our teacher briefing on addressing pornography through PSHE education provides an overview of advice and strategies on how schools and teachers can approach this challenge, and advice on what stage to introduce the topic.

Advice includes:

• Start with values and expectations: for example, with secondary pupils, consider approaches that begin by helping them to reflect on their own values and expectations of sexual encounters.

• Try to move pupils away from a concept of sex as “performative” and focus on features of sexual interactions such as mutual enthusiasm, equality and empathy.

• Equip young people with facts about pornography’s impact, potential harms and its power to influence behaviour.

• Explore pornography’s influence on young people’s decisions and behaviours, including the techniques used by the pornography industry to manipulate these decisions (see our Fully Human initiative for more on this topic).

• Signpost to further support if required.

• It is both inappropriate and unnecessary to show sexually explicit images or film in lessons on pornography.

• Avoid approaches that (even unintentionally) normalise pornography. This would include messages that suggest that everyone has seen it, or that all boys have, or that all young people have high sexual interest, as this will not always be the case.

• Avoid limiting teaching about pornography as a one-off input, such as a single session, drop down day, or visiting speaker/theatre group. While these approaches might supplement teaching, education about pornography needs to be embedded and sequenced within the wider context of healthy relationships and sex education in order to be effective.

FURTHER READING

• Pornography and Human Futures, Fully Human Issue 1

• Review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges, Ofsted, June 2021

• Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education, and Health Education statutory guidance, Department for Education, 2019

• Gender (in)equality in Internet pornography: A content analysis of popular pornographic Internet videos, M Klaassen and J Peter, The Journal of Sex Research, 2015

• What behaviors do young heterosexual Australians see in pornography? A cross-sectional study, A Davis, E Carrotte, M Hellard, M Lim, The Journal of Sex Research, 2018

• Stories of a rape culture: Pornography as propaganda, R Jensen, 2011

• Big Porn Inc: Exposing the Harms of the Global Pornography Industry, Abigail Bray and Melinda Tankard-Reist

• Pornography and sexist attitudes among heterosexuals, G Hald, N Malamuth, T Lange, Journal of Communication, 2013

• Adolescents’ exposure to sexually explicit internet material and notions of women as sex objects: Assessing causality and underlying processes, J Peter, P Valkenburg, Journal of Communication, 2009

• A national prospective study of pornography consumption and gendered attitudes toward women, P Wright, S Bae, Sexuality & Culture, 2015

• X-rated: Sexual attitudes and behaviors associated with US early adolescents’ exposure to sexually explicit media, J Brown, K L’Engle, Communication Research, 2009

• Predicting sexual aggression in male college students in Brazil, L D’Abreu, B Krahé, Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 2014

• Adolescent sexual aggressiveness and pornography use: A longitudinal assessment, K Dawson, A Tafro, A Štulhofer, Aggressive Behavior, 2019

• Prospective predictors of technology-based sexual coercion by college males, M Thompson, D Morrison, Psychology of Violence, 2013

• Predictors of sexual aggression victimization and perpetration among Polish university students: A longitudinal study, P Tomaszewska, B Krahé, Archives of Sexual Behavior, 2018

• X-rated material and perpetration of sexually aggressive behavior among children and adolescents: Is there a link? M Ybarra, K Mitchell, M Hamburger, M Diener-West, P Leaf, Aggressive Behavior, 2011

• Predicting the emergence of sexual violence in adolescence, M Ybarra, R Thompson, Prevention Science, 2018

• Addressing pornography through PSHE education, PSHE Association
  
  

Read more in CYP Now's Sexual Health and Relationships Special Report