It’s time we talked - Pornography, young people and sexuality

The Carey Community Forum invite you to a discussion on:

Pornography, young people and sexuality - presented by Maree Crabbe

Pornography has become a parenting issue we can’t afford to ignore. For young people growing up in this era of ever new and accessible technology it is almost impossible to avoid exposure to pornography. Consumption – particularly for young men – has become normalised.

But porn is no longer the centrefold it used to be. Porn’s move from a brown paper bag onto smart phones and personal laptop computers has been accompanied by a shift towards more aggressive content.

While many young people express some awareness that porn is fantasy, they also commonly convey the ways their sexual understandings and experiences are being influenced by what they – or their partners or peers – observe in porn. Porn’s influence has serious implications for young people’s capacity to develop a sexuality that is respectful, safe, freely consenting and mutually pleasurable.

This presentation will explore:

• What parents need to understand about pornography and its influence on young people’s sexual understandings and expectations
• How parents can support their children’s healthy social and sexual development in an age of pornography.

Presenters Bio:
This session will be led by Maree Crabbe, Director of the violence prevention initiative It’s time we talked. Maree is Co-Producer and Co-Director of the documentary films Love and Sex in an Age of Pornography, broadcast on SBS in Australia and in 36 other countries, and The Porn Factor, broadcast on SBS. She is also author of In The Picture – a whole school resource to assist secondary schools to address the influence of explicit sexual imagery. Maree’s articles on young people, sexuality and pornography have been published in academic and news media