Sexual Content

Some sexual content is legal, some is illegal.  A lot is dependent on age both of those depicted (it is illegal to have sexual images of under 18s) and those accessing the images (it is illegal for people under 18 to access sexual images).  But pornography seems to be everywhere online and it is often difficult to avoid.

The dangers associated with extended exposure to sexual content such as pornography are:

• anti-social attitudes and behaviour;
• increased aggression towards women;
• greater acceptance of rape myths. 

What should I do if I accidentally access porn?

• Always tell an adult immediately if you find or are sent something you find upsetting, or think might be illegal. If you come across anything like this, you can report it online to the Internet Watch Foundation (http://www.iwf.org.uk) or to the person who runs the site where you come across the content.
• If someone starts talking about things of a sexual nature that you are not comfortable with then do not respond to them. You can report them to the moderator or network provider of the site, or if it is serious, to the police or CEOP (http://www.ceop.gov.uk)
• Always be careful about what you download or are sent by other people. It might not be what it says it is. Always delete immediately any inappropriate files you receive, tell someone about it and report the person who sent it you to whoever runs the site.
• Set the filters on your computer and any search engines you use to ‘safe search’ mode in order to stop you accidentally seeing any content you might not want to.
• Be aware that making and sharing this kind of material yourself, even if it’s only for a same-age boy or girlfriend, can be very risky. Self made images or videos on a webcam or mobile phone can easily fall into the wrong hands. Additionally, once such images are on the Internet, there is a permanent digital record made of them, meaning it can be very difficult to remove them.
• Never send any pictures or videos that you would be unhappy for everyone to see.

Sources of sexual content

Sexual content can come from all sorts of different places online. An unfiltered image search on Google or Yahoo will bring up thousands of pornographic pictures. A web-search will do the same thing for porn sites. These pornography sites let people pay to see pictures, videos and films with a credit card.

Some of these sites may show disturbing, horrible or even illegal material like violent or child pornography. Amateur sites or ones made by other people on the internet can do the same thing but are often free.

People using peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks can also download and share unmonitored sexual content of different kinds. People can also create and show sexual content on live web-cams from sites or other people on the internet.

Chat-rooms, instant messenger services, blog-spaces and mobile phones can also be used to show and pass around this kind of sexual content.

Attitudes towards pornography

Because of the increased availability of pornography on the Internet, many young people believe the bodies and sexual attitudes of porn stars are the norm.  Channel 4’s Sex Education Show has lots of information on actual sexual experiences of people, and is a balanced source of information on people’s bodies and sexual experiences: http://sexperienceuk.channel4.com/