A UCG academic is advocating that children be taught the ‘positive’ as well as the negative aspects of porn.
Writing on the RTE.ie website, Kate Dawson said “there is a real need for youth to be equipped with information about pornography and be supported in developing skills necessary to critique sexual representations in media so that they can make healthy and informed decisions about their sexual lives.”
Defining porn literacy as “the ability to deconstruct and critique sexual messages in pornography”, she said it would facilitate “discussions on the positive, negative and neutral outcomes” of porn, so as to “help young people to understand how personal beliefs vary about the appropriateness of sexual practices seen in porn”. This would enable them to become “critical thinkers” about porn and sex.
One of her recommendations for porn literacy educational initiatives would be to reduce shame around porn use so as to encourage conversations about the sexual encounters portrayed in porn, particularly regarding sexual consent, body image and self-esteem.
“By reinforcing stigma and shame (saying porn is bad, don’t watch it), we close off conversations.”
Ms Dawson caused outrage earlier this year when she appeared on ITV’s This Morning show to advocate masturbation classes for primary school children.
