Growing up in a Porn Culture: How Hypersexualized Images Undermine Healthy Development
Dr. Gail Dines
Professor Emerita of Sociology and Women’s Studies
President, Culture Reframed

In light of the contemporary research on the harms of porn, it is crucial that experts and professionals tasked with developing healthy and resilient youth both understand the multiple social, emotional, and cognitive harms of pornography, and work to develop strategies to counter the misogynist messages, ideologies, and tropes that are encoded in the images. Toward this end, this workshop will provide: (1) a content analysis and deconstruction of mainstream pornography and hypersexualized images; (2) a detailed account of the peer-reviewed literature on the harms of pornography, and (3) a nuanced discussion of the way women are harmed in the production, distribution, and consumption of pornography.

This workshop will further explore the ways that social media platforms targeted to youth intersect with the porn industry, and how these platforms drive kids to mainstream porn sites. The porn industry, always hunting for new markets, is looking to cash in on the popularity of Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. And to keep porn under wraps, it’s often hidden behind hashtags and emojis that appear innocuous to the untrained eye, but are used as secret code to tag and search for particular types of porn.

Crime, Children, and Pornography
Dr. Sharon W. Cooper, M.D. FAAP
Developmental and Forensic Pediatrics, P.A.

From a public health perspective, the extreme availability of adult pornography to minor children and adolescents remains a constant concern for families, schools, mental health providers, communities, and juvenile justice systems. However, many are unaware of the use of adult pornography as a form of criminal facilitation of the victimization of children. This presentation will go beyond the discussion of the normalization of sexual harm that adult pornography provides to children and youth as brain maturation progresses. Mental health providers, school counselors, social workers, law enforcement and juvenile justice personnel, parents and caregivers who interact with children need to understand the role that visual sexually explicit content plays in behavior and victimization. Case examples will be provided regarding the use of adult pornography to groom children for mutual sexual contact and/or child-on-child sexual assault. In addition, there is an imperative need for professionals to understand the numerous ways that adult pornography is used to facilitate adult criminal sexual assaults upon children.

Developing and Delivering Anti-Exploitation Work in Schools
Dr. Tamasine Preece
Curriculum Lead for Health and Wellbeing, South Wales

Dr. Preece will discuss her approach to supporting learners to understand exploitation through a cultural, social, and media lens. Dr. Preece argues that a curriculum that explicitly counters sexual exploitation is distinct from but should run parallel to sex and relationship education, introducing students to knowledge that will enable them to become informed global citizens, exercise critical thinking skills when it comes to a range of media, and make choices that keep themselves and others safe.

The Intersection of Porn and Masculinity
Tom Farr
Head of Legal Advocacy
Centre to End All Sexual Exploitation (CEASE)

Farr will examine the intersection of porn and masculinity, and how a culture in which male entitlement thrives both facilitates and encourages male sexual violence against women and girls within the context of the porn industry, and further, within relationships that exist outside of it.

Sex Education Through an Anti-Racist and Anti-Porn Lens
Dr. Carolyn West
Professor of Psychology and Resident Fellow of the Office of Community Partnerships
University of Washington, Tacoma

Our efforts to provide quality sex education will be ineffective if we ignore the pervasive nature of pornography, and the ways the images harness the very worst of racist tropes. Given the ubiquity of these tropes – from Black men as rapists of white women to Black women as hypersexualized “Jezebels” – that permeate mainstream porn, and the ways these tropes work to cement the material reality of racism, is it crucial for us to deconstruct the ways women and men of color are represented in porn. The images of women and men of color mainstream and legitimize the systemic racism that is encoded in the institutions that, at best, curtail the lives of people of color, and at worst, threaten their lives.

What’s more, in a multi-racial society, we can no longer provide sex education using a color-blind and culturally bland perspective. Dr. West will use her 30 years as a sex educator, media scholar, intersectional theorist, and activist to challenge the audience to think differently about sex education. Participants will leave with skills to provide sex education through an anti-racist and anti-porn lens that promotes healthy relationships.

Getting our Bearings: Reviewing the Reach, Realities, and Ramifications of Pornography
Matthew B. Ezzell
Professor of Sociology
James Madison University

Drawing on his research team’s work over the last decade, Dr. Ezzell will highlight the patterns they have uncovered surrounding young men’s and women’s pornography exposure and consumption in the United States. He will discuss the significant associations and possible implications these patterns have for sexual health, sexual enjoyment, and sexual violence.

Comprehensive Sexuality Education is the Antidote to Pornography’s Ills
Al Vernacchio
Sexuality Education Coordinator, Friends’ Central School

Too many young people use pornography as their main form of sexuality education, which leads them to develop significantly unhealthy views about themselves, their partners, sexual activity, and sexuality in general. Young people who receive age-appropriate, medically accurate, comprehensive sexuality education develop the tools needed to counter porn’s unhealthy messages and replace them with those that lead to healthier lives. Join sexuality educator Vernacchio as he discusses lessons he teaches to his students to combat pornography’s harmful and inaccurate messages.

How do Young People Access Pornography?
Dr. Tamasine Preece
Curriculum Lead for Health and Wellbeing, South Wales

Dr. Preece outlines how access to pornography transcends porn sites to social media apps, gaming, film, and TV and popular culture. Dr. Preece presents how and why practitioners need to address pornography across a range of media contexts such as the normalization of sexual violence, the impact on fashion, body image and body modification, and the influence of pornography on how young people seek out and frame relationships.

Women on Porn
Dr. Fiona Vera-Gray
Centre for Research Into Violence and Abuse (CRIVA)
Durham University

The Women on Porn project has been one of the biggest research projects in the UK focused specifically on understanding women’s experiences of mainstream online pornography. Encompassing interviews with 100 women from 18-70, the study provides startling new evidence about women’s engagements with porn. This workshop will examine the social functions of pornography for younger women, focusing on porn as a mode of expression and conversation, porn as a method for exploration and validation, and, crucially, porn as a means of setting expectations and providing instruction.

Sex Does Not Exist in India!
Anju Kish
Sexuality Educator & Founder, UnTaboo

Sex is our national secret. It is ironic that in a country like India, which is the second most populated in the world, we rarely speak to our children about sex. They are initially shielded from any conversations on the topic, and as they grow older, they are simply expected to know. This transition from ‘not knowing’ to ‘suddenly knowing’ and the means used to ‘get to know’ is rarely questioned. Unfortunately, porn has taken over the role of sex educator and that is cause for concern. The rise of teenage pregnancies, sexual abuse, STI’s, sexual harassment, and toxic relationships are testament to the fact that we need to break the wall of silence and let sexuality education into our homes and schools. To do that, we first need to decode and destigmatize sexuality education. We need to make it an essential part of a child’s education and thus help raise an aware and responsible generation. That will have a ripple effect and lead to a safer society.

From Violence Against Women and Children to Empowerment: What Happened to Feminism?
Dr. Gail Dines
President, Culture Reframed

In the 1980s and 1990s, the feminist movement developed a sophisticated and nuanced theory about the harms of pornography. Starting from the premise that porn was a form of sexual violence against women in both its production and consumption, mainstream feminism understood activism against the porn industry as part of a larger strategy to stop sexual violence. Today, mainstream feminism has come to embrace pornography as sexual empowerment for women. This presentation will explore the seismic changes that have taken place in feminism, and the ways these shifts obfuscate the inherent violence in pornography. We also will examine the ways in which this paradigm shift works to undermine the sexual health and emotional well-being of young people by mainstreaming and legitimizing filmed acts of sexual assault. We will end by discussing how to reclaim a feminism— through education and activism—that refuses to collaborate with the sex industry.

Growing Up in a Porn Culture: The Culture Reframed Approach
Samantha Wechsler
Executive Director, Culture Reframed

Prior to 2000, most young people, especially boys, would first encounter pornographic images in magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse. Their access to these (mainly) soft-core images was limited, so it was not a pivotal issue in terms of sexual health and development of young people, and pornography did not serve as the primary source of sex education. Research shows that since 2000, the internet has become the main vehicle for porn, and hardcore porn is just a click away—it is free, violent, and based on the degradation and abuse of women.

Culture Reframed’s Parents Programs are designed to help build resilience and resistance in young people to pornography and hypersexualized media. The second half of this webinar will cover the conceptualization of the programs, the theory of change that underlies the overall strategy and vision, how (and why) they were developed to ensure scientific credibility, and the way in which the programs are part of—and promote—a public health approach to the problem of hypersexualized media and pornography.

Breakout Sessions
Saturday, October 2

Session 1: Working with Young People to Build Healthy Relationships
Philipa Harvey and Kiri Tunks
Educators

How can we enable young people to build healthy relationships and a sense of positive self-worth? What should schools be doing to ensure young people are well-informed and confident in these relationships – and how can we overcome the obstacles they face?
Philipa Harvey and Kiri Tunks are two practicing teachers who will bring experience of how these questions are addressed in schools and colleges; what prevents schools from delivering the kind of relationship and sex education our young people need; and what we need to do to put that right.

Session 2: Sweden – At the Forefront of Gender Equality and Sexual Education?
Olga Persson
Unizon

Sweden is known as a country at the forefront of the work for women’s rights, gender equality, and the right to sexual education in schools. However, Sweden is also a country with high rates of porn consumption; of only 5% convictions of accused rapists; of increasing numbers of girls who are victims of sugar dating, pornography production, and prostitution; and where 1 out of 3 young women are victims of sexual violence.

Sexual education has been mandatory in Swedish schools since the 1950s, and was present even decades before that. It has mainly focused on reproduction and biology, and the prevention of STD’s and information based on reproductive rights such as abortion. Much of the work in schools has been done by civil society, as the subject has not been mandatory in teacher trainings. Sweden’s liberal views on sex and sexuality have left their mark on sexual education and it is not until the past few years that violence prevention and harms of pornography has been raised as an issue in Sweden – and then mostly by the women’s movement.

Olga Persson will give an overview of the situation in Sweden, and her experiences of being at the forefront of the work for a gender-equal society free from violence.

Session 3: First Things First – A Case for Talking with Boys and Young Men About Entitlement before Talking About Consent
Michael Conroy
Men at Work

Meaningful, clear, and consistent work with young people on consent is essential. We must ask ourselves, however, whether we are trying to have these conversations with boys and young men before – and even without – exploring notions of entitlement. Culturally transmitted notions of male entitlement to women’s bodies – exemplified viscerally within porn – help shape values and worldviews which can make ignoring consent possible and even probable. How much more effective might our conversations about consent be by digging deeper and looking upstream?

Session 4: Practical Approaches to Addressing Pornography in the Classroom
Dr. Tamasine Preece
Curriculum Lead for Health and Wellbeing, South Wales

How do we support learners to identify the impact on their lives, relationships, and community in porn-saturated childhoods? Dr. Preece outlines the theory and practical application of an anti-exploitation curriculum to support the development of critical thinking and media analysis to keep learners and their relationships safe.

Session 5: Talking to Young People About Porn: How to Ask the Difficult Questions to get the Discussion Started
April Brooks
Lead Nurse, Devon Sexual Health, NHS, UK

You’ve done the training about porn, you know the theory and you recognise the impact porn is having on the young people you work with. But have you had the experience that a young person has wanted to tell you something, perhaps something sensitive, something slightly embarrassing, something that you know needs to be explored further; but you just don’t know how to ask the right questions to start the conversation?

Colleagues from health, social care, education and youth work environments often tell us during sexual health training that they want to be able to talk about porn, but they ask us: how do I actually raise the subject with the young person seated in front of me?

This workshop aims to share how sexual health staff ask the important questions in the right context and get the information needed to take the conversation forward, including:

• What are the themes that young people present with that might raise a conversation about porn?
• How do you ask the difficult questions without shutting the conversation down?
• And once you’ve had the discussion and identified a problem, what do you do next?

Session 6: How The Female Dating Strategy Is Changing the Narrative of Sexual Empowerment
Reaux, Lilith, and Savannah
Hosts and Producers, The Female Dating Strategy podcast

Reaux, Lilith, and Savannah will address the effect that pornography and “sex-pozzy” feminism has had on shaping young women’s dating and sexual experiences, what The Female Dating Strategy is doing to change the discussion on porn use and sexual empowerment, and the ensuing media backlash.

Breakout Sessions
Sunday, October 3

Session 1: Online Addictions, Exploitation, and the Devastating Reality of Sexual Assault Among Children
Heidi Olson, MSN, RN, CPN, SANE-P
Children’s Mercy Kansas City

Louise Barraclough (RGN DFSRH)
Devon Sexual Health Services/Integrated Safeguarding Team – NHS Northern Devon Healthcare Trust

It’s no secret that child sexual assault is rampant across the world. However, most people do not realize that a large percentage of those committing sexual assaults against children are children themselves. As a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner in a hospital that sees a high volume of sexual assault victims, Heidi Olson has noted that many of the perpetrators acting out are 11–15-year-old males. This alarming trend comes as a surprise, as many people assume perpetrators are adult men who groom children through a range of techniques. This presentation addresses the overwhelming number of children who are being assaulted, factors influencing children who act out in sexually harmful ways, the impact of abuse and exploitation, and ways that kids can get help for problematic sexual behaviors.

Louise Barraclough has recently conducted an original piece of research in collaboration with police and social care exploring ‘the potential relationship between children’s use of and/or exposure to easily available online pornography and Harmful Sexual Behavior between children’. Barraclough will present the results, talk about the themes and patterns that she sees in their service, and what she believes the priorities should be in responding to individual children and addressing this significant and growing societal and cultural harm for all children—victims and actors alike.

Session 2: Sex Education with a Porn-Critical Lens for Tweens in Turkey
Nilufer Devecigil
Therapist, Psychology Istanbul

In 2020, in response to concern about the impact of pornography, Psychology Istanbul partnered with Culture Reframed to adapt its curriculum on teaching sex education with a porn-critical lens for tweens in Turkey. Psychology Istanbul pilot-taught Culture Reframed’s Program for Parents of Tweens to a group of 300 people consisting of therapists, social workers, schoolteachers, educators, clinicians, and parents in order for them to test the program curriculum with small groups of parents and tweens in Turkey. Although pornography viewing is common among tweens and teens in Turkey, the culture ignores the existence of the problem and is silent about it. In Turkey, there is no research done on the frequent viewing among tweens and teens as well as its potential harm on them. Psychology Istanbul believes that the uncritical viewing of pornography may contribute to unhealthy attitudes about sexual consent and dating violence. This presentation will provide details about the design and the development of the training that was offered to therapists, as well as the implementation of this process.

Session 3: Reimagining Sex Ed: Educating Students to Challenge the Pervasive Impact of Porn
Chelsea Maxwell Ed.M.
Dr. Sharon Maxwell Ph.D.
Maxwell Education

Comprehensive sex ed starts with the premise that sex is a magnificent part of the human experience and that every person has a right to discover what sex, intimacy, and pleasure mean to them—unencumbered by media and social manipulation. The pervasive impact of porn culture denies our children the right to that discovery. As educators, we must address the cultural impact of porn to meet our students where they live. Through honest discussions and accurate information, we can empower students to challenge this culture and reclaim their right to discover their own sexual selves. Using real-life scenarios, this workshop invites participants to analyze eight ways that porn culture impacts our lives and how to address this impact with students.

Session 4: We Can’t Prevent Sexual Harassment and Assault if We’re Not Willing to Talk About and Confront Porn Culture
Dr. Jackson Katz
Founder/President, MVP Strategies

This session, delivered by a longtime, pioneering educator and anti-sexist activist who has developed pedagogical strategies that engage men, young men, and boys of every ethnic and racial background, will focus on the need to integrate education about porn into sex education and gender violence prevention education.

Session 5: Programs to Practice: Working Together to Reframe our Culture
Dr. Mandy Sanchez
Program Coordinator, Culture Reframed

This session, facilitated by Culture Reframed’s Program Coordinator, will provide a brief overview of Culture Reframed Parents Programs, aimed at building young people’s resilience and resistance to hypersexualized media and pornography. Culture Reframed programs promote healthy development through culturally competent, research-driven, and age-based educational videos, conversation scripts, and resources for parents and those working with youth. This interactive session will explore how sex educators can incorporate our programs and enrichments into their own work, exploring ways to better inform programs and practices that build knowledge, skills, and confidence to promote and support young people’s healthy sexuality and resilience to porn culture.