• On April 27, the National Police identified 110 minors who had published videos and images of them with sexual content to gain followers or likes
  • If our children tell us that their classmates watch porn, it is important not to fall into hysteria and absolute prohibition
  • Education in this area must be natural, but with limits, treating sexuality as an affective aspect.
  • This is how sex is taught on Norwegian public television

According to the research 'New pornography and changes in the interpersonal relationships of adolescents and young people, the age of initiation of access to porn in Spain has advanced to eight years and is widespread at 14. In this paradoxical scenario in which parents they do not let their offspring walk alone on the street but allow them to navigate freely through that immense sea called the internet, more and more children access pages with inappropriate content that can decisively mark them in their way of conceiving sexual relations.

Rosa María Portero Ruiz, health psychologist (collegiate M-33792) of Center Psicología Clínica (Madrid), will help us gauge the dangers of this premature consumption of pornography.

How is it possible that the age of onset of porn consumption has advanced so much? How does an eight-year-old child perceive or interpret this type of content? This reality, which we face in the consultation can be shocking on the one hand, and 'expected' on the other, given the ease of Internet access that they have the minors. The perception and interpretation that a child of approximately eight years can make can be done, mainly, from the curiosity for the unknown . In this line, we can ask ourselves how a minor of those ages arrives to watch a video of pornographic content. In many cases, they do it by chance, through advertising from other applications or web pages.What sequels can they produce? The consequences that can occur at certain early ages are, among others: 1. Desires to interact on the Internet , either through participation in sexual content forums, as well as through photographs or videos. With respect to this, on April 27, the National Police identified 110 minors who had published videos and self-produced images of sexual content to gain followers or likes. Watching porn does not mean that minors are going to carry out this type of behavior, but being in contact with certain content can make them more likely to want to interact on the network. You have to know with special interest the "grooming", adults who impersonate minors to deceive them on a sexual level. 2. Erroneous construction of sexuality and everything that surrounds it. The fact that the first "contact" or information about sex is through the viewing of a pornographic video, can lead to the conception of sex as a mechanical and absent act of affection. 3. Reduction of libido in the medium and long term, since, if the age of consumption is early, the threshold of excitability can be lowered since the stimuli will cease to be novel and, therefore, exciting. 4. Desensitization, understood as a decrease in sensitivity, since in many occasions the content of pornographic videos becomes aggressive and vexatious towards people. 5. Generation of false expectations that do not correspond to reality in terms of sexual practice. 6. Exposure to models of sexuality for which even the minor may not be prepared and, therefore, may impact him. How can he mark the way in which they conceive of sex when they reach adolescence? The main problem of pornography consumption at such early ages is that this is the first channel of information about sexuality. In this sense, the consequences that can result in adolescence are: 1. Risk sexual practices (for example, absence of a condom); 2. Conception of differences in roles between men and women, since, frequently (although not in all types of porn), pornographic videos show the figure of the man in a position of superiority; 3. Normalization of sexual violence. Porn does not always show sex with aggressive behaviors, but, since it is possible that the child does not know this, he can normalize behaviors such as whipping or hair pulling, assuming that these are usually present in sexual activity; 4. Wrong or unrealistic expectations about sex (prolonged execution of sexual intercourse and genital size, for example), which can lead to an increase in insecurities, fears or complexes (often porn idealizes bodies " perfect "); 5. Anxiety and fear given the exposure to the unknown, and can even generate traumatic sequelae regarding the way of seeing the world and building the self. A 'healthy self' is built from the harmonic and integrated experience of events, so that if the adolescent is not prepared to be a spectator of certain contents, the experience will not be healthy. How should we act as parents if our children They say their classmates watch porn? What do we tell them? First, if our children tell us that their classmates watch porn, it is important not to fall into hysteria and the absolute prohibition of all electronic devices through which they have access to the Internet, for fear that They can consume pornographic content. This would only generate resistance and rejection on the part of the children towards the parents, since an alarming behavior and of radical censorship at the beginning can cause that many fears that the minor has been able to generate when seeing the contents, are consolidated and lived as more traumatic It is convenient to provide communication channels with them , ask them about the consumption of their peers, if they have also seen it, what kind of content it is, how they have had access and, above all, what they think of pornography. This will give us information about the child's attitude towards pornographic material and, from there, we can establish a healthy way of communication to explain everything we consider appropriate in order to educate in sexual health. In this sense, we can convey that the first sexual experience must be freely chosen and that it should be carried out from an affective level. How do we explain what it is? Depending on the age of the child and always adapting the content of what we say, it is important to be honest and honest with the children . We can explain that pornography is the representation of scenes of sexual activity, but that these do not always correspond to reality and that, in fact, they do not usually do so. It is important to encourage their critical and responsible sense so that they are prepared to consume, if they wish, this content. Both boys and girls must be taught the values ​​of responsibility, equality and critical spirit. They need to understand that pornography is, as has been said, the representation of explicit scenes of sexual activities, but that not all of them respect the values ​​of equality and respect for the other person. What would be the minimum age they should be to Access this type of content? The most important thing is to take into account the maturity of the person who is going to access this type of content. It is recommended that the minimum age for access be 18 years. However, there is no rigorous control over this. Although some websites include measures such as age verification, you can easily lie. In this regard, solid verification of the age of users is required in the United Kingdom to ensure that they are adults. Should we avoid being seen? Absolutely. It is necessary to set limits and take measures so that our children receive an appropriate sexual education at each age. Porn is not appropriate for a minor, and, if you are of legal age, you have to take into account the maturity you have to access this type of content. Should we show it to them? No, it is not convenient for us to teach it, but to educate in sexuality in an age-appropriate and responsible manner, emphasizing the importance of one's dignity, that is, the value , responsibility, seriousness and respect for oneself and others, not letting them humiliate or degrade us. At the moment, and always depending on the age of our child, we can mention that there are certain (not all) pornographic contents that are not appropriate or treat sexuality in a healthy way for oneself. Education in this area must be natural, but with limits , treating sexuality as an affective aspect.

Signs that your son has been hooked on porn

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In the event that our child shows signs of abuse and / or addiction to this type of content, it is advisable to contact a professional to address the problem . Among these signs , not always present in their totality, we find that our child:

- Set aside other activities to spend more time using the internet, and in this case pornography.

- Spend more time alone and stop meeting friends.

- Hides or lies about certain behaviors, mainly in relation to the use of electronic devices.

- Makes extraordinary use of money without explicit justification.

- Clear the internet search history constantly.

- Quickly minimize or close internet tabs if someone approaches the screen.

We should let them know our concern, ask them about the consumption (frequency, duration), of the reasons that move them to do so (it is not the same to look for pornographic content moved by curiosity or search for sensations, which moved by the search for information sexual), and explore how it is affecting them.

After receiving help and managing the problem situation with limits and educating in sexual health, we can access parental control tools for certain types of content, such as: FamilyTime, Parental Click, Securekids, Qustodio, Norton Family, Microsoft Family Control, Apple Parental Control, ESET Parental Control for Android and Screentime.

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