In September 2022, eSafety carried out mixed methods research into young people’s attitudes towards online pornography and age assurance. A key aim of the project was to explore young people's lived experiences with online pornography. The research was conducted from 19 to 21 September 2022 by means of a survey of 1,004 young people aged 16–18 and six focus groups with a total of 32 young people aged 16–18. It is part of a larger project in response to the Australian Government's request to eSafety to develop a proposed mandatory age verification regime for online pornography (the Age Verification Roadmap).
This is the first of two reports in eSafety’s Young People and Pornography research series. It starts by examining young people’s encounters with online pornography. It then explores young people’s perspectives on and attitudes towards online pornography, including what they consider helpful for reducing its negative impacts. This report contributes to a growing body of research into the prevalence of young people’s encounters with pornography, their perspectives on it and their support needs around it.
Overall, the data indicates that online pornography is prevalent in the online lives of young people, with Australian young people encountering online pornography at high rates from a young age. We found that many young people’s first encounters with online pornography are unintentional. However, throughout adolescence, they are seeing online pornography both unintentionally and intentionally via pornography websites, other unrelated websites, social media and communication from friends.
Our findings suggest that while young people who intentionally seek out online pornography may find it pleasurable and interesting, young people generally don’t like encountering it unintentionally. Yet, due to the pervasiveness of pornography in the online worlds of young people, such encounters appear to be becoming normalised, and young people are more likely to ignore content than to report it or to seek support and help.
Young people in our study acknowledged positive aspects of online pornography that could be valuable to them, particularly in regard to learning about sex and exploring their sexuality. However, they also recognised the negative impacts that online pornography can have, especially in relation to young people’s understanding and expectations of relationships and sex. Education was perceived as the best way to reduce the negative impacts of online pornography, and young people in our study voiced that they want support to make informed decisions and to have realistic expectations of sex. These skills, they believed, would help them to navigate encounters with online pornography.