Youth Organisations

Kia ora and thank you for joining the conversation about porn and young people!

The porn landscape for young people has changed dramatically over the last five years. It’s changed in terms of how much porn is available, it’s ease of access, how frequently young people watch it and the type of porn that is considered normal.

Porn has become a primary sex educator for young people _(7,19), influencing youth sexual culture in new ways – which is why it’s important that youth organisations are equipped to be part of the porn conversation with young people.

Youth services play an important role in helping young people navigate porn by providing a place for safe and non judgemental conversations; assessing any impacts of porn on young peoples sexual and mental wellbeing and by equipping young people with porn literacy skills.

“Porn has become the new normal for our young people – they are seeking information, and porn has filled the gap, normalising the sexual practices they see in porn.”
— Participant, NZ Youth Stakeholder Survey ₍₂₅₎

Porn literacy enables young people to critically examine and identify the messages in porn and understand how porn messaging relates to their own personal beliefs and values and to real life sexuality in terms of consent, respect, safety and health.

By helping young people develop porn literacy skills, we’re equipping them with the knowledge and tools to make informed and healthy decisions around porn, minimising potential long-term harm.

We’ve put together some resources…

to help with this based on feedback we received from New Zealand youth stakeholders in our survey: Porn and Young People – what do we know? The survey indicated that most stakeholders (95%) felt porn was an issue for young people, but many felt ill-equipped to engage on the issue in their workplace ₍₂₅₎. They identified key resources they felt could be useful, and we’ve made a start on these below and if you would like to direct youth to this site, click here for a graphic to use on your social media platforms.

Porn: The Facts for Adults

An overview of the new porn landscape and current research on the potential impacts on young people (created for adults).

Getting Real:
Great Sex vs
Porn Sex

A youth resource to help start conversations and build porn literacy in young people by discussing great sex compared to porn sex in terms of pleasure, consent, emotional connection and safety.

Resources

A helpful summary of recommended websites, books, research articles, YouTube videos and guidelines.

Porn talks with youth

The basics for starting that awkward conversation about porn with young people and encouraging them to develop their own porn literacy skills through critically unpacking and examining the messages in porn (created for adults).

Can porn affect us?

A great go-to youth resource than can help with conversations when young people ask if and how porn can affect them.

Need help?

An I need help resource for young people who may be struggling with their own porn use, as well as a We need help resource for professionals, whānau and friends who may be worried about a young person.

Porn: The Facts for Youth

A youth fact sheet with the lowdown on the new porn landscape and the most recent research on porn’s messaging and impacts.

Porn and schools: culture, community & connection

A recommended holistic, school-wide approach to addressing porn with students, based on equipping the whole school community to navigate porn with knowledge and awareness.

intheknow.co.nz

Got questions or concerns about porn, nudes or online sexual experiences? Check out our new youth site.

Please note: we acknowledge that these resources may not meet all the specific needs of some cultural or religious groups and/or sexual or gender diverse communities in New Zealand. Please feel free to tailor these resources to meet the unique needs of the communities you work with or email us on hello@thelightproject.co.nz if there are other specific resources you think could be helpful.