Sex therapist warns ‘aggressive, violent’ porn warping Kiwi kids’ views on sex

A sex therapist has warned about the changing online landscape when it comes to pornography and how it’s affecting Kiwi youth exposed to it.

Jo Robertson is the lead researcher for the Light Project, a charitable trust set up to help communities navigate the new porn environment.

She told TVNZ1’s Q+A programme that pornography has become less story focussed over the years, and now features “short bursts of video, which are often aggressive, violent and almost always demeaning to women”.

Her comments come as Acting Principal Youth Court Judge Tony FitzGerald says sexual offending by young people is being influenced by the easy access to extreme online pornography.

“My impression is that sexual offending by teenage boys in particular often seems to follow from them having viewed extreme pornography in an unrestricted environment,” Judge FitzGerald said in a statement.

“It appears as though they come to view that material as representing normal sexual behaviour, and then act out their fantasies on the victims of their offending who are often vulnerable children and young people close to them.

“The problem seems to be growing, though it may not be captured in the way statistics are recorded,” he concluded.
READ MORE: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/sex-therapist-warns-aggressive-violent-porn-warping-kiwi-kids-views-v1

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