How porn changes the way teens think about sex | Emily F. Rothman

The Power of Pornography

In this section, the speaker shares how she discovered that mentioning pornography can capture the attention of bored teenagers. She also talks about her professional mission to find solutions to end dating and sexual violence.

Discovering the Power of Pornography

• Mentioning pornography captured the attention of a roomful of extremely bored teenagers.

• The speaker's job was to inspire high school students to think about having a career in public health.

• One of the adults suggested talking about research on pornography.

• The room full of high school students exploded into laughter and excitement when they heard the word "pornography."

Finding Solutions to End Dating and Sexual Violence

• The speaker's professional mission is to find solutions to end dating and sexual violence.

• Data from US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that one in five high school attending youth experience physical and/or sexual abuse by a dating partner each year in the US.

• The speaker was working with a research team that was hunting for novel answers to the question: What's causing dating abuse, and how do we stop it?

• Eleven percent of teen girls reported being forced or threatened to do sexual things that perpetrators saw in pornography.

Investigating Pornography

In this section, the speaker talks about her investigation into whether pornography is part of the reason why so many young people are experiencing unhealthy relationships.

Keeping an Open Mind About Pornography

• The speaker wanted to know what kinds of sexually explicit media youth were watching, how often, why, and if it was part of the reason why so many of them were experiencing unhealthy relationships.

• The speaker tried to keep an open mind about pornography, even though there were plenty of members of the public who had already made up their minds about the issue.

• The speaker is sex-positive and fully supports people's right to enjoy whatever kind of sex life and sexuality they find fulfilling, as long as it includes the enthusiastic consent of all parties involved.

Investigating Pornography

• The speaker investigated whether pornography was bad or good for young people and whether it was misogynist or empowering.

• There was not one singular answer that emerged clearly from her investigation.

• One longitudinal study showed that teenagers who saw pornography were subsequently more likely to perpetrate sexual violence, but the design of the study didn't allow for definitive causal conclusions.

The Complicated Nature of Pornography

In this section, the speaker discusses the complicated nature of pornography and how it is capitalizing off of audience's fascination with seeing women being degraded during sex. She also talks about how anti-pornography position has been used as a pretext for discriminating against gays and lesbians.

Pornography and Misogyny

• The porn industry capitalizes off of audience's fascination with seeing women being degraded during sex.

• Pornography probably isn't helping with misogyny, sexual violence, and rape in this country.

• Anti-pornography position has been used as a pretext for discriminating against gays and lesbians.

Free Online Mainstream Pornography

In this section, the speaker talks about free online mainstream pornography that teenagers are most likely to see. She also discusses what it does to their brains or sexuality.

Terrible Form of Sex Education

• Free online mainstream pornography is a completely terrible form of sex education.

• It probably is not instantly poisoning their minds or turning them into compulsive users.

• By the time they're 18 years old, 93 percent of first-year college males and 62 percent of females have seen pornography at least once.

Adolescents and Sexual Violence Perpetration

In this section, the speaker talks about adolescents' exposure to sexualized images in other kinds of media besides pornography. She also discusses how focusing on potential harms of pornography alone may be distracting ourselves from bigger issues.

Exposure to Sexualized Images

• Adolescents are more likely to see sexualized images in other kinds of media besides pornography.

• Exposure to a steady stream of violent media that instead of or in addition to the sexualized images is causing our problems.

• By focusing on the potential harms of pornography alone, we may be distracting ourselves from bigger issues.

Pornography as a Jumping-off Point

In this section, the speaker talks about how adolescents are turning to pornography for education and information about sex. She also discusses how less than 50 percent of states in the United States require that sex education be taught in schools.

Using Pornography as a Jumping-off Point

• Adolescents are turning to pornography for education and information about sex.

• Less than 50 percent of states in the United States require that sex education be taught in schools.

• We could cover all of the same topics that we might normally talk about under the guise of healthy relationships education by using pornography as the jumping-off point.

Teaching Pornography Literacy to Teenagers

In this talk, speaker Emily F. Rothman discusses the importance of teaching pornography literacy to teenagers. She explains that trying to scare adolescents into a particular point of view or jamming a one-sided argument down their throat about pornography does not work and really doesn't model the kind of respectful, consensual behavior that we want them to learn. Instead, she advocates for presenting the truth about pornography in a nonjudgmental way and encouraging critical thinking.

The Approach of Pornography Literacy

• Adolescents like to question things and they like to be invited to think for themselves.

• Pornography literacy is about presenting the truth about pornography in a nonjudgmental way and encouraging critical thinking.

• The secret ingredient is being nonjudgmental.

• The goal is not for youth to watch pornography but rather become critical thinkers if and when they do see it.

Requests for Curriculum

• There are many parents and teachers who want more nuanced and realistic conversations with teenagers about pornography.

• Requests have come from across the US and beyond.

Conversations with Teenagers

• Teenagers are ready to engage in conversations about what they did and didn't want to see in pornography, what they did

and didn't want to do during sex, what was degrading or unfair.

• They make sophisticated points exactly as violence prevention activists would want them to be talking about.

• Conversations can range from sad moments such as boys thinking all women have orgasms from anal sex, but also positive moments such as seeing someone shaped like oneself as the object of desire in some tame pornography.

Conclusion

• Adolescents may not be adults yet, but they are living in an adult world and are ready for adult conversations.