According to the National Institute of Health, over half of today’s high school students have reported being exposed to pornography online, with a significant increase since the pandemic. Porn has been a sensitive and controversial topic for decades, from thousand-year-old pottery to bare ankle paintings to newer AI deepfakes.
Senior Maggie Hendricks said she was around 11 years old when she first saw mild pornography, which is close to the statistics in a report by Common Sense Media, named “Teens and Pornography.” It found that 12 was the average age that children first consumed porn. However, Hendricks said that finding it actually had an advantage.
“I needed to be introduced to that. Yeah, my parents didn’t want to — I think they thought they’d scare me — but it was good for me to explore and have that talk with my mom,” Hendricks said.
The effect that it can have on people, yet, can have consequences. Charles Fussell, another senior, is aware of the harm porn often has on people—especially students in a vital period of growth.
“[Pornography] is pretty impactful. It emphasizes the wrong ideals, and there’s a lot of people that go out looking for it because it makes them feel good. They’re chasing after it: it ends up becoming a desperation,” Fussell said.
Porn is often looked down upon due to the effect it can have on people and the idea of sex it creates, but there may be a few upsides. The introduction of pornographic content can become a gateway to more mature conversations around sex, consent, and safety and can lead some to explore their sexuality. Common Sense’s report found that 51% of participants that discussed pornography with a trusted adult said that it “encouraged [them] to think about other ways to explore sex or [their] sexuality other than porn.”
“As part of the normal developmental process teenagers start to determine their thoughts and feelings around sexual boundaries and values,” said Educational Support Counselor Mrs. Shannon Harting.
As one of the counselors available to help students going through difficulties, she’s had experience with the negative effects porn can have on students. Students found having or viewing porn at school are investigated for Code of Conduct violations by the principal, but can also talk with counselors like Mrs. Harting.
“How a person, specifically a teenager, is impacted by pornography is based on multiple factors. To generalize, it’s a common understanding that frequent exposure to pornography can lead to unrealistic expectations for what a healthy sexual relationship looks like. I saw a strong increase in students feeling pressured to send nude or semi-nude images when Snapchat increased in popularity,” Harting said.
Social media and the internet in general has made it easier for people to access and interact with porn, but it comes with a cost.
The “Teens and Pornography” report found that almost half of the teen respondents believed that pornography gives helpful information about sex, but only 27 percent believed that it accurately portrayed sex. Additionally, only one in three respondents said that they had seen material that had someone asking for consent.
“Any information you gain off of [porn] is probably incorrect or not really useful [for] information. It’s changed a lot of people’s lives for the worse,” Fussell said.
“There’s a certain age for [pornography,] when people are more mature. I feel like educating people in general is a good thing—teaching people what is necessary to know. That way something does happen, you’re more prepared,” Hendricks said.
