Portions of this article were originally posted on The Daily Telegraph. 3-minute read.
Boys as young as 12 are so obsessed with online porn they can’t make it through the school day without fulfilling their “need” to see explicit images, top teachers and academics have warned.
One teacher from an elite boy’s high school in Australia has compared the widespread consumption of pornography to “smoking, alcohol, and drugs.” He warned it was even becoming an issue among elementary school students.
“I deal with adolescents every day who have an addiction to internet pornography,” Redfield College science teacher David Youl said. “Many of these young men find it difficult to fulfill their normal daily duties (including school work and spending time with family or friends) due to a ‘need’ to access internet pornography for excessive amounts of time.”
Related: The Percentage of 12-Year-Olds Who Admit Being Addicted to Porn Will Shock You
Youl also expressed how the issue was also affecting how boys treated girls socially.
“We’ve also seen an increase in the prevalence of [elementary] school students who have accessed porn,” he said. “They’ve shown it to other students on their phones.”
Watch FTND’s documentary about Mark, who says he was addicted to porn by age 12:
What does the research say?
Research claims up to 93% of adolescent boys have been regularly exposed to/are regular consumers of porn, and children as young as seven are exposed to it due to its availability through online devices.
Youl—who is one of the hundreds of concerned teachers and academics who wrote to the Australian government and warned of the harm internet porn was having on children—said “many parents” were blind to the danger.
“In the same way that parents and governments try to protect children from the potential damage caused by smoking, alcohol, and drugs, it is imperative the government take steps to minimize the harm that pornography is causing too many young people,” he said.
Related: Sex Before Kissing: 15-Year-Old Girls Dealing With Porn Addicted Boys
Christine Kuhl, a mother of three daughters, was one of the many increasingly concerned parents.
“I do not know if [my daughters] access pornography online, but I do know boys they may befriend are statistically very likely to,” she said. “This concerns me a great deal, as I think that it will affect my daughters’ experiences of sex—possibly making it a violent experience between adversaries, rather than a beautiful one between equals.”
Click here to read the full article by The Daily Telegraph.
Why this matters
Research shows that young people are as likely to see online porn accidentally as they are to actively search for it.
That means that with the amount of porn that’s online today, it is actually easier for a kid to stumble across it than to search for it on purpose. And for almost 2/3 of the children, this first exposure to porn happened right in their own home. We don’t share this info to scare parents, but to shine a light on these important facts so safety measures can be taken, including talking openly to children about porn and sex.
Related: Parents: If You Don’t Teach Your Kids About Sex, Porn Will
Another unsurprising finding goes to show the escalating nature of porn viewing. Children described how their feelings towards porn have changed over time. About 27% surveyed reported feeling ‘shocked’ the first time they viewed it, but follow up surveys revealed that just 8% remained shocked after the first time they watched it.
Citing the research we’ve stated above, an incredibly in-depth survey by The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (click here to read the full report) shows the massive role that porn is playing in the development of young kids these days. What they’re learning is skewed perceptions of sex and harmful attitudes about their natural sexuality.
Related: What’s The Average Age Of Someone’s First Exposure To Porn?
By being educated and raising awareness on these findings, we can hopefully spare the next generation of the many harms that are sure to come due to this pornification of our society.
Your Support Matters Now More Than Ever
Most kids today are exposed to porn by the age of 12. By the time they’re teenagers, 75% of boys and 70% of girls have already viewed itRobb, M.B., & Mann, S. (2023). Teens and pornography. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense.Copy —often before they’ve had a single healthy conversation about it.
Even more concerning: over half of boys and nearly 40% of girls believe porn is a realistic depiction of sexMartellozzo, E., Monaghan, A., Adler, J. R., Davidson, J., Leyva, R., & Horvath, M. A. H. (2016). “I wasn’t sure it was normal to watch it”: A quantitative and qualitative examination of the impact of online pornography on the values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of children and young people. Middlesex University, NSPCC, & Office of the Children’s Commissioner.Copy . And among teens who have seen porn, more than 79% of teens use it to learn how to have sexRobb, M.B., & Mann, S. (2023). Teens and pornography. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense.Copy . That means millions of young people are getting sex ed from violent, degrading content, which becomes their baseline understanding of intimacy. Out of the most popular porn, 33%-88% of videos contain physical aggression and nonconsensual violence-related themesFritz, N., Malic, V., Paul, B., & Zhou, Y. (2020). A descriptive analysis of the types, targets, and relative frequency of aggression in mainstream pornography. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49(8), 3041-3053. doi:10.1007/s10508-020-01773-0Copy Bridges et al., 2010, “Aggression and Sexual Behavior in Best-Selling Pornography Videos: A Content Analysis,” Violence Against Women.Copy .
From increasing rates of loneliness, depression, and self-doubt, to distorted views of sex, reduced relationship satisfaction, and riskier sexual behavior among teens, porn is impacting individuals, relationships, and society worldwideFight the New Drug. (2024, May). Get the Facts (Series of web articles). Fight the New Drug.Copy .
This is why Fight the New Drug exists—but we can’t do it without you.
Your donation directly fuels the creation of new educational resources, including our awareness-raising videos, podcasts, research-driven articles, engaging school presentations, and digital tools that reach youth where they are: online and in school. It equips individuals, parents, educators, and youth with trustworthy resources to start the conversation.
Will you join us? We’re grateful for whatever you can give—but a recurring donation makes the biggest difference. Every dollar directly supports our vital work, and every individual we reach decreases sexual exploitation. Let’s fight for real love: