Review of Literature to understand relations between sex-education and pornography

According to a research conducted by the National Union of Students (NUS) in the UK, “the majority of students view porn to find out about sex”. The survey, published on January, 2015 spoke to more than 2,500 school and university students in the UK and found 60% of respondents watch porn to get information about sex despite almost 75% saying that it creates unrealistic expectations. Friends, school, and sexual partners were listed as the top three sources relied upon for information. According to those surveyed, the topics covered in class were more biology based – with puberty, contraception, sexual health, and bodies and anatomy listed as the most commonly taught.

Another survey by Pamela Paul, author of “Pornified”, researched casual users of pornography, 80% of which were male. Paul found that pornography dictates most men’s thoughts about sex. Men who use pornography often have trouble achieving orgasm with their partner unless they are actively thinking about pornography. The pornography user is rendered impotent without pornography. A porn watcher cannot be intimate with his partner unless he actively thinks about (or watches) porn. That means they are not alone in the bedroom. He is really not present for his partner. He has introduced others into the process. Viewed pornography does more to shape values and beliefs about what sexual experience should be than anything other than sexual experience itself. The problem is that the curriculum presented by pornographers is not reality. Becoming “pornified” can diminish or extinguish the ability to engage in an intimate relationship.

Brendan Gough and Gareth Edwards in their academic research paper “The Beer Talking: four lads and a carry out of reproduction of masculinities” talk about “pornography” as an effective tool to establish hegemonic masculinity and promote the subordination of the “other”- feminine, effeminate males, and others, thus reproducing hegemonic masculinity. They discuss that pornography is a shared experience among men and is an “imagined” concept in their sexual practices. 

Ankita Bose