Boys who watch porn 'think sexual harassment is acceptable'

1-26-2010 United Kingdom:

Boys who look at porn grow up to be men who think sexual harassment is acceptable, a new study has found.

Research into pornography in a dozen countries found that boys who are exposed to pornography found it more difficult to form successful relationships when older, while they were more likely to have casual sexual intercourse.

Previous research has found that six in 10 boys in Britain under 16 have watched pornography, either accidentally or deliberately. The average amount of time they watch porn on the internet is 90 minutes a week.

Michael Flood, who carried out the study at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, said: "There is compelling evidence from around the world that pornography has negative effects on individuals and communities.

"Porn is a very poor sex educator because it shows sex in unrealistic ways and fails to address intimacy, love, connection or romance. Often it is quite callous and hostile in its depictions of women.

"It doesn't mean that every young person is going out to rape somebody, but it does increase the likelihood that will happen."

John Carr, secretary of the Children's Charities' Coalition on Internet Safety (CHIS), told The Sunday Times: "We had a case in west London where a boy in the first year of primary school was bringing pictures to school and was acting them out in the playground during the break. When they did a home visit the dad was downloading it and it was all over the house.

"It is not an argument for banning it but it is an argument to find better ways to make it harder for kids to get hold of it."

Petra Boynton, a psychologist, added: “Children are not necessarily looking at porn for gratification. They are doing so because they are bored and not supervised. Often when children look at more extreme porn it is done for bravado so they can laugh and say how disgusting it is.”

Last months scientists at the University of Montreal set out to research the effects of pornography only to abandon their study because they were unable to find any 20-year-old men who had not been exposed to it. They did however find that young boys first watched pornography when they were just 10. ..Source..