A typically functioning young person frequently viewing porn will not lead to sexual violence

There have been calls to implement restrictions on pornographic content in the wake of the sentencing of two boys for the murder of Ana Kriégel. Frequent pornography use has often been presented as an explanation for sexual crimes, especially when the motive for these crimes are particularly hard to fathom.

Sensationalist headlines which misconstrue pornography research findings have contributed to moral panic over the impact of porn on young peoples’ lives. Yet, pornography use is common in Ireland, and thankfully, events such as this are extremely rare.

There is a limited amount of research conducted on the link between pornography use and sexual violence, particularly among teenagers. Therefore, it is difficult to say with certainty what the implications of pornography use are among this population. However, consistent trends within the limited body of research are evident; personality traits are among the most reliable predictors of sexually aggressive tendencies, not pornography.

For a typically functioning young person, frequently viewing pornography will not lead to sexual violence

A recent study conducted by NUIG in collaboration with Prof Aleksandar Stulhofer from Zagreb University looked at the link between pornography use and sexual violence over a 20-month period. We found that pornography use is associated with sexual aggression, but only among teenagers who are pre-disposed to violence.

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Pornography use, partnered with aggressive tendencies such as bullying and delinquency more accurately predicted sexual violence amongst teens. In isolation, however, pornography use was not associated with sexual aggression. In other words, for a typically functioning young person, frequently viewing pornography will not lead to sexual violence – this is a positive finding as NUI Galway research shows that 77 per cent of young men and 15 per cent of young women living in Ireland report watching pornography at least once a week.

Controls

An individual’s pornography content choices may also indicate a preference for, or acceptability of, aggression. Engaging with certain types of pornography can reinforce a person’s beliefs about the acceptability of inappropriate sexual behaviour. In this context, someone who has aggressive tendencies may seek out violent content, this reinforces the acceptability of their beliefs about violence and so the cycle continues.

Whether the evidence from the research literature is enough to warrant controls on pornography is another question – causal inferences cannot be drawn from much of the existing literature. Pornography was designed for adults, and age ratings were in place on sexually explicit material long before we began researching the effects of porn on young people. Yet, its use is common among teenagers and this has become increasingly difficult to monitor. A number of solutions have been proposed to address children and teenagers accessing explicit content online. Most attempts have been unsuccessful.

Even countries with strict pornography laws have failed to prevent its use among young people – all pornography is blocked by default in Israel (unless you opt-in by contacting your internet service provider to enable access) but young people circumvent these restrictions by using VPNs (virtual private networks).

Closer to home, the UK spent £2 million drafting legislation to enable pornography restrictions. This was recently retracted because the associated advisory committee admitted that they could not find a suitable solution which did not involve the serious infringement of individual privacy and data protection rights. Recently, Australia proposed the use of facial recognition software to validate that a porn user is over the age of 18. It is quite easy to see the problems that would come with using a software like this – a database that stores a person’s pornography content choices and their personal information (and a picture of their face) – what could go wrong?

Sex education that focuses on healthy relationships and the promotion of positive attitudes toward consent needs to be a central focus of sex education curricula

Parental controls restrict access to certain content, yet studies show that only 35 per cent of parents set controls on their child’s devices. Parental controls can help to support positive parenting practices, but cannot act as a stand-alone solution to pornography access, and certainly should not replace conversations about internet safety.

Consent

It is an uncomfortable reality that even if we restrict young people’s access to pornography, they are likely to see it long before they reach the age of 18. Technological solutions to this are proving to be problematic. Better sex education is a feasible and sustainable alternative.

Sex education that focuses on healthy relationships and the promotion of positive attitudes toward consent needs to be a central focus of sex education curricula. Understanding individual autonomy and respect for personal boundaries, what constitutes consent and what does not, how to communicate consent or lack thereof, and challenging social norms about the acceptability of coercive sexual strategies, are key objectives in this regard. Evaluations of the SMART sexual consent workshops rolled out nationwide at third level demonstrate the effectiveness of consent workshops to enhance young adults’ confidence in discussing consent.

However, tailored initiatives are also needed for teenagers in secondary school. Developing these skills can arm young people with the competencies that they need to reject harmful messages they may see, not only in pornography, but also in the media more generally, or amongst their peers.

Dr Kate Dawson is a post-doctoral researcher on the Active Consent Programme at the School of Psychology, NUI Galway