There are calls for urgent action after a new report revealed teenage girls are accessing pornography at younger ages. It also found the majority of young people see porn as degrading to women. Experts are warning online messaging is having real world consequences.
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00:00Kids are being exposed to pornography at younger ages and thinking that what it shows is normal,
00:08despite a majority of young people conceding it's often sexist, racist and violent.
00:14That's according to a new report released by the national violence prevention organisation
00:19Our Watch.
00:21The report makes for uncomfortable reading, revealing that kids first see porn at the
00:25average age of 13.
00:26And for young women that's two years earlier than when we last surveyed.
00:31The Impact of Pornography on Young People report surveyed more than 800 young Australians
00:36and found one third watch porn for sex education.
00:3972% said it showed aggression and violence towards women, 79% believe it impacts how
00:46women are seen in real life.
00:47For young women, many are feeling the pressure to behave in ways that they're seeing in pornography.
00:53Girls are being exposed three years before their first kiss and for boys it's two years.
00:58So what do we learn about men, women, sex, bodies, intimacy, consent, power, pleasure,
01:04if this teaches us about sex well before we've had our first kiss?
01:09The report calls for age appropriate pornography education to be integrated into the respectful
01:14relationships training in schools, something this youth advocate and educator has been
01:19doing on his own for years.
01:22He's also calling for legislation.
01:24Age verification certainly for pornographic material and again putting the onus on the
01:29$100 billion porn industry to address that with their own profits, not our taxpayer money.
01:35If we're going to prevent all violence against women, we need to make sure that we've got
01:39all of the parts of the puzzle working together.
01:42So legislation is one part of that puzzle, education is a really important part of that
01:47puzzle.
01:48The kids themselves give Daniel the most hope.
01:51The report explains pornography itself is not inherently problematic, but the way some
01:56of it represents people is.
01:59It says this may lead to awkward conversations between parents and their children that say
02:04they're critical to prevent violence and increase respect.