60% of 11- to 13-year-olds had come across porn accidentally, according to new British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) research with 2,344 parents and young people about the new age-verification checks for porn sites.
Two-thirds of 14- to 15-year-olds had seen porn, 60% of 11- to 13-year-olds had come across it accidentally, and children under 10 were “grossed out” and “confused” by what they saw. Girls were often motivated to watch porn to learn “what to do” and “meet the perceived expectations of boys”. They claimed that “rough” or “forceful” sex has been normalised and copied in real life.
“This research,” says David Austin, CEO of the BBFC, “supports the growing body of evidence that [porn] is affecting the way young people understand healthy relationships, sex, body image and consent.”
Watching porn makes “people less respectful of the opposite sex”, agreed 41% of young people. They recognised that it distorts their attitudes to consent. Some reported getting lost in “rabbit holes” of increasingly graphic content.
There is a generational disconnect: 75% of parents assumed that their children had not accessed porn. The reality: 53% of their children had…