This story is the fourth in a seven-part package about sex ed and sexual health at Menlo. A shorter version of this story also appeared in the March 2021 47.4 print edition of The Coat of Arms.

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Kids these days differentiate themselves from previous generations in numerous ways. But, perhaps one of the most noticeable changes from past generations is a widespread, and often unbridled, use of the internet. Complete access to the internet comes with various pros and cons, but a concern is pornography usage among teenagers. The consequences of excessive porn consumption vary, but some common threats include misinformation about sexual relations, misrepresentation of consent and porn addiction, advocacy groups like ‘Fight the New Drug’ say.

In terms of sexual health, pornography spreads massive misinformation about ways to engage with a sexual partner. According to Fight the New Drug, a movement focused on educating young viewers about the risks of porn consumption, 56% of 1200 young adult men surveyed said their taste in porn was “increasingly extreme or deviant.” This essentially means that the porn they preferred became more aggressive and erotic over an extended amount of time. Sexual standards are warped online, which cannot be clarified to younger viewers, as their internet searches are often private. “[Porn] isn’t realistic at all; it sets unrealistic expectations for the actual thing,” a junior girl said. Aggressive and even violent sex misrepresents how sex can be a positive experience both outside and inside a relationship. “There is a huge number of kids getting an inaccurate, unloving view of sex, and that’s wrong,” sexual health expert and sex education teacher Kate Bedford said. 

Another aspect of the misinformation in porn is how women’s bodies and general ‘role’ are depicted: they are often objectified, meaning that they are treated as mere objects, in this case for sexual gratification. According to Bedford, porn is also often shot to appeal to the “male gaze.” The term “male gaze” is used to describe when film or other media is produced for an audience of straight men. In the context of porn, the male gaze can warp the content because it is intended for straight men to watch. This results in men often appearing more dominant, while women appear as sexual objects. There is a lack or misrepresentation of female pleasure, and porn doesn’t focus on intimacy as a whole, but rather just the man’s pleasure. “Men get the opposite of education from porn. [Porn] doesn’t show appropriate consent nor does it show what’s actually pleasurable for women in real life,” Bedford said. 

Despite the male gaze, there are porn sites dedicated to dismantling the sexist filter on the majority of porn. For example, various sites have adopted the name “Feminist Porn,” which refers to porn that emphasizes equality in sexual settings. These sites are mostly directed towards women, and also often feature a wider array of LGBTQ+ pornography.

The physical standards provided by porn also prove to be very difficult to maintain. According to another junior girl, the women shown on Pornhub and other free sites appeal to a certain body standard that girls are expected to have. “[That body type] is impossible to achieve. We have to be skinny but curvy and shaved everywhere,” she said. The messages given by porn contribute to larger, societal standards for women. She said the physical expectations for how a woman should look are unrealistic and extremely harmful towards body positivity. 

One of the main concerns with pornography is that it’s often free, meaning that the manufacturing of the porn itself can be unethical. “When I say porn, we’re talking about the free stuff that’s easily accessible on the internet. There are places to find consensual porn, where the actors are paid. When it’s free, the porn is almost always harmful,” Bedford said. Consensual porn refers to porn where actors have legally consented to any sex they have on camera. But porn can often show non consensual sex where sex workers may be coerced or forced to perform acts they had not consented to. Non-consensual porn can also involve people who were taken advantage of and/or assaulted on camera. Both of these examples show how porn can be an abusive work environment, or rather just abusive in general. According to Bedford, free porn can be made unethically. In free porn sites, sex workers can face abuse and drastic underpayment from their employers. However, there are current ethical porn sites that emphasize safe and fair working conditions for their employees. 

When they were kids, older generations did not have nearly as much access to pornography as current teenagers do, which is why there is miscommunication on how to handle the issue, according to Bedford. “Parents [often] feel particularly scared and overwhelmed because they don’t have any similar experiences,” Bedford said. “Porn is deeply outside of the parent experience, [which] makes it hard and scary.”