Sexting and Pornography Among Early Teens
Source: Daniel Martin, "Sex texts epidemic: Experts warn sharing explicit photos is corrupting children," Daily Mail Online, 10 December 2012.
The news merely confirms what we already knew: the age at which children are being exposed to sex is dropping. The following are interesting quotes pulled from the article.
"Boys and girls as young as 13 routinely swap explicit pictures of themselves."
"‘This is mainstream; this is normal; this is almost mundane for some of the people we spoke to,’ said Andy Phippen, the Plymouth University academic who carried out the study. ‘In pretty much every school in the country, people aged 13 and 14 are talking about this stuff and dealing with this stuff.’"
"The research, based on focus groups with 220 Year Nine pupils aged 13 and 14, found they were becoming sexualised earlier, largely because pornography was so easy to find online."
"Jon Brown of the NSPCC said: ‘What we’re seeing is that there is a very regular and normal consumption of hardcore adult pornography – that the sharing of explicit sexual imagery by photos or by video clips is now extremely normal. ‘It’s important to recognise what was previously regarded as unusual, concerning, or sensationalist, now has in fact become the norm.’ The focus groups found that the influence of porn was pervasive."
"Porn is frequently viewed by boys of 13 and 14, and while the children acknowledge there is potential for harm, they do not feel they are affected themselves. Girls of this age generally do not look at porn, and view it as a negative influence on boys."
