Just a few days ago, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced that his government was preparing a law against minors’ access to porn in the face of the “epidemic of minors who have access to pornographic content”, as he himself warned.
The chief executive took a very important and novel step forward, since until now this issue remained in a private sphere. In this sense, Sánchez had warned that one in four young people under 12 years of age has accessed pornographic content according to the latest data managed by his team.
As he himself justified, the consumption of this type of works significantly affects the education of adolescents, which is why he proposes a unitary agreement with several key points. First, a comprehensive law will be drafted for the protection of minors on the Internet. A multidisciplinary strategy will also be created from the field of education, digital skills, and also in the field of equality.
Finally, work will be done to ensure that the devices prevent access to pornographic content for minors, collaborating with the Spanish Data Protection Agency and the Mint and Stamp Factory.
Sánchez based his observations and decisions on the latest study Youth and pornography in the digital age: consumption, perception and effects, published by the Reina Sofía Center of Fad Juventud and financed by the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030, which affirms that one in four children between 8 and 11 years old watch porn.
The research goes further, indicating that 6.5% access these contents before turning 8 years old, in the full phase of development for their brains and without a fully developed consciousness to manage their impact.
In addition, it is also indicated that these minors access pornography with physical and verbal violence and almost 17%, content with high physical or verbal violence or humiliation, with the risk that they may want to take it to real life.
The figures skyrocket at somewhat older ages but still in adolescence, with more than 60% of young people acknowledging that they consume porn from time to time and it is especially incident among those of the male gender: 72% watch it.
But how much truth is there in Pedro Sánchez’s alarmism? Experts in the field agree with him: “This type of exposure at such a vulnerable stage, with a brain in full development, can favor the construction of a very objectifying and violent view of sexuality, both on a physical and verbal level,” explains pediatrician Inés Merino, expert in emotional education.
“At first what they have is curiosity. They want to know about sexuality, a topic that is generally taboo and very embarrassing to talk about. The Internet gives them the answers easily and quickly. They are inadequate responses, but they don’t know it,” Merino highlights.
In parallel with this, early consumption of pornography for minors can affect their sexual self-esteem, their sexual satisfaction due to the creation of unrealistic expectations, addiction and even resort to prostitution to try to satisfy these fantasies.
“Children need basic information to understand their body, their sensations, feelings, and emotions that have to do with sex, but neither at home nor at school are answers to these questions usually given, so they look for it outside,” highlights the doctor in Clinical Psychology and Sexology and author of the educational program ‘Your children watch porn’, José Luis García.
For her part, Save the Children’s child protection specialist, Cristina Sanjuan, adds that “if we turn it into a taboo, it will not be a topic that generates trust among the child’s reference adults so that in the “Tomorrow we can talk about this topic at home.”
Inés Merino’s conclusion is as forceful as it is clarifying: “We cannot prevent porn from entering their lives, what we can do is accompany them in the creation of critical thinking, such that when these images impact their brain, they know that “This is not real, that sexuality is something else completely.”
These experts with adequate training in the subject are essential and will be increasingly necessary to analyze and decide how to address this type of social problems.
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