TY - JOUR
T1 - ‘Censorship is cancer’
T2 - Young people’s support for pornography-related initiatives
AU - Lim, Megan S.C.
AU - Roode, Kirsten
AU - Davis, Angela C.
AU - Wright, Cassandra J.C.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Goldschlager Family Charitable Foundation. Caitlin Douglass assisted with data collection.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Policymakers are considering initiatives to reduce potential harms of pornography, including educational and legislative approaches. In determining the appropriateness of policies, however, it is important to consider community attitudes. We conducted an online survey with a convenience sample of 1272 young people aged 15–29 in Australia, recruited via social media. Seventy-four per cent reported having watched pornography in the past year. Participants were asked whether they believed that pornography was harmful, and whether they supported or opposed five different kinds of initiatives. Most (65%) believed that pornography was ‘harmful for some people but not everyone’, 11% believed it was ‘harmful for everyone’, 7% harmful for children only, and 17% believed it was not harmful. Eighty-five per cent supported school-based pornography education, 57% supported national education campaigns about pornography, 22% supported a national filter to block all access to pornography, 63% supported requiring condom use in all pornography, and 66% supported banning violence in pornography. Extended responses demonstrated that despite general support for policies, many participants were concerned about how these would be implemented, for example, with respect to the content of education and definitions of violence. Participants wanted initiatives to be implemented in a way that did not introduce harm or shame pornography users.
AB - Policymakers are considering initiatives to reduce potential harms of pornography, including educational and legislative approaches. In determining the appropriateness of policies, however, it is important to consider community attitudes. We conducted an online survey with a convenience sample of 1272 young people aged 15–29 in Australia, recruited via social media. Seventy-four per cent reported having watched pornography in the past year. Participants were asked whether they believed that pornography was harmful, and whether they supported or opposed five different kinds of initiatives. Most (65%) believed that pornography was ‘harmful for some people but not everyone’, 11% believed it was ‘harmful for everyone’, 7% harmful for children only, and 17% believed it was not harmful. Eighty-five per cent supported school-based pornography education, 57% supported national education campaigns about pornography, 22% supported a national filter to block all access to pornography, 63% supported requiring condom use in all pornography, and 66% supported banning violence in pornography. Extended responses demonstrated that despite general support for policies, many participants were concerned about how these would be implemented, for example, with respect to the content of education and definitions of violence. Participants wanted initiatives to be implemented in a way that did not introduce harm or shame pornography users.
KW - adolescents
KW - Australia
KW - harm reduction
KW - policy
KW - Pornography
KW - sexual violence
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85097405009&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/14681811.2020.1845133
DO - 10.1080/14681811.2020.1845133
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85097405009
VL - 21
SP - 660
EP - 673
JO - Sex Education
JF - Sex Education
SN - 1468-1811
IS - 6
ER -