Effects Of Pornography

Coming of age or cuming too soon?
The effects of pornography on adolescent development

Pornography, as a growing industry in the 21st century, has a negative impact on youth’s perception of the formation of self-respecting, generous, sexual and romantic relationships. A central developmental task for youth and young adults is learning to establish romantic and sexual relationships. However, access to explicit sexual content may compromise one’s ability to establish and maintain healthy intimate relationships. The exposure of youth, defined as those between the ages of thirteen to seventeen, to pornographic images is detrimental to the normal social, emotional, and moral development of those individuals. This is because the false depictions

Sexuality is much more than just sex. As explained by Ineke van der Vlug “self-image, developing a sense of identity, gender roles, and learning about how to express yourself, your wishes and your boundaries” (Walia, 2015). Vlugt is a youth development expert for the Dutch Sexuality Research Institute and is behind the Netherlands curriculum that introduces conversations surrounding sexuality in kindergarten. The curriculum is called “Sexuality Education”, rather than the traditional “sex education” taught in North America. It attempts to facilitate open and honest conversations about relationships and love (Walia, 2015). Often times, in any form of pornography, the individuals engaging in sexual relations do not wear condoms or use any visual forms of contraceptives. When youth view pornography with the intention of gaining information about sex, relationships, and contraception, it has a profound negative impact on gender, relationships, self-identity, and self-esteem. Pornography does this by imprinting the young mind with false notions about sexuality because the information available to them does not adequately depict a healthy relationship. It is for this reason the Netherlands has “Sexuality

The behaviorist approach to pornography suggests that the roles taken in sex are learned, and that the consumption of pornography by men “teaches” men to be overtly or systemically violent towards women (Gray, n.d.). For example, a Vogue fashion spread done by Richard Avedon and a Warner Brothers billboard advertisement, which was later discontinued, read: “I’m black and blue from the Rolling Stones and I love it” (Gray, n.d.). As formally discussed, through the use or reiteration, pornography gradually erodes inhibitions against aggression toward both men and women (Gray, n.d.). Women Against Pornography target material such as this and attempt to let society know that media depicting violence towards women shouldn’t be commonplace. The increase of adolescents having sex with a lack of emotion is a worrisome attitude because the use of impersonal and violent statements such as “I hit that” and “I nailed that bitch” are becoming more conventional when they should not be. The moral implications of this is that erotica and pornography depersonalize sex by referring and instilling in youth that women are sexual objects. This is problematic as it seduces people into a world of fantasy. It stunts moral development in youth because it normalizes the use of derogatory language