When porn affects teenage perceptions of sexuality
The majority of teenagers today have easy access to pornographic images. But how do they interpret them? And is their perception of sexuality affected?
- 1. Teenagers are more and more exposed to pornographic images. Do we know how widespread this phenomenon has become?
- 2. How do teenagers react to pornographic images?
- 3. How does this ambiguity translate into teenagers’ attitudes to sex?
- 4. Faced with this confusion, how important is discussion with adults?
- 5. Porn is often accused of being at the origin of the worst kind of acts. Is this opinion perhaps a little excessive?
- 6. How can we offer meaningful sexual education to teenagers?
© Thinkstock
Co-author of the book ‘Alice in Porn-Land’, Michela Marzano, philosopher and researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), tells us more about the consequences of this normalisation of pornography.
1. Teenagers are more and more exposed to pornographic images. Do we know how widespread this phenomenon has become?
Michela Marzano: Many studies1 have proved this trend. In our research, the objective was above all qualitative, more than quantitative. However, 90% of the teenagers we interviewed had not only already watched an X-rated film, but also proved to be ‘semi-regular consumers’. Without agreeing with media shortcuts that links the worst of sexual crime directly to pornography, we can’t deny the influence of these images on the construction of adolescents’ sexual imagination.
2. How do teenagers react to pornographic images?
Michela Marzano: We distinguished two different attitudes in teens with, on one hand, an attitude of disgust which assumed that porn did not reflect reality at all (a way of thinking that’s often feminine) and on the other hand, the opposite attitude of considering X-rated films as documentaries, instruction on the kind of acts to perform and a veritable manual on everything that must be done as an adult man (or woman).
But in the majority of cases, teens hold a very ambivalent attitude towards these pornographic representations. An ambiguity that is inherent in these X-rated films, which mix fiction (there are actors, a director, a ‘story’…) and reality (the sexual act and pleasure are real enough).
3. How does this ambiguity translate into teenagers’ attitudes to sex?
Michela Marzano: Boys and girls can’t really position themselves and find thus themselves somewhat confused.
Recognising that they are attracted by these images, the majority of boys still admit that most of the acts and attitudes contained in these films are not respectful towards women. But they also believe that these acts can be accomplished with ‘easy’ women, who are provocative and only expect to be treated in such a degrading way. In their minds, there is a real divide between the sexual and the emotional with ‘easy’ girls on one side, with whom they can do anything and ‘ideal’ or idealised girls on the other, whom they respect to the point of not having sexual relations with them.
Amongst girls, the ambiguity is interpreted rather differently. They recognise, with disgust, that the actresses are often dominated and considered simply as sexual objects at the men’s disposal. But they are also convinced that pornography idealises sexuality through the staging of sexual acts, which are always beautiful and satisfying. Thus, they don’t know then do not know where to place themselves between domination and sexual fulfilment.
4. Faced with this confusion, how important is discussion with adults?
Michela Marzano: Those teenagers who manage to put a real distance between porn and sexual reality are often those who have the most people around them (parents, but also older friends etc.). In this way, discussion with adults is very important for keeping the very reductive and much codified pornographic representation of sexuality in perspective. Talking to adults allows sexuality to be confirmed as something other than a series of acts and performances to accomplish, that involves feelings, relations, meetings and games with the other person, as varied as it is possible to be as we are all individuals and different.
Contrary to the discourse of pornography and sexual freedom, X-rated images constitute a restraint, imposing an imaginary normative and reductive effect on sexuality. This codification of sexual practices hinders the construction of adolescents’ sexual identities as adults.
Porn and teen sexuality - (next) ►
Copyright © 2010 Doctissimo
Posted 13.10.2011
Get more on this subject…
