The British Government commissioned four universities to join in a major study of the research literature on pornography.
This study synthesized as comprehensively as possible within the constraints of a given timetable an overview of key findings. This overview would be used by government agencies to guide public policy on pornography.
The findings of this report led to a national fight on pornography which I covered in a previous Eric Note.
The significance of this study's findings cannot be underestimated.
Therefore I will report it in a series of three Eric Notes.
- This note reports on the problem of our children's exposure to pornography.
- Next week, I'll summarize the study's conclusions about the result of this exposure on our children.
- The third week, I'll share the study's recommendations for a response to the problem.
The study reviewed 41,000 literature pieces and "confidently concluded" the following:
FINDING 1: A significant proportion of children are exposed to pornography.
FINDING 2: Children's exposure to pornography occur both online and offline: magazines, videos, television and books, with the internet becoming more dominant. Accessing pornography through one method appears to be positively related to accessing it through others.
FINDING 3: Exposure to pornography increases with age; there is greater risk of exposure with increasing age. Contradictory findings exist in relation to age of first exposure, with variations from 10 to 17 years old.
FINDING 4: Exposure is more prevalent than (ostensibly) deliberate access. However, some studies report significant numbers of children accessing pornography.
FINDING 5: There are gender differences in exposure and access to pornography.
- Boys are more likely to be exposed to pornography than girls.
- Boys are more likely to access, seek or use pornography.
- Boys are exposed to pornography more frequently.
- Boys generally view pornography with a more positive attitude.
- Boys generally state that they view it primarily out of curiosity.
- Girls generally report that pornography is unwelcome and socially distasteful.
- Girls generally report that they feel much more uncomfortable when viewing pornography.
Next week: The result of this pornography exposure on our children.
(Horvath, M. A., Alys, L., Massey, K., Pina, A., Scally, M., & Adler, J. R. (2013). Basically... porn is everywhere. London: The Office of the Children's Commissioner (OCC). Retrieved from http://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/content/publications/content_667)