Early sex exposure causing issues among children

THE widespread and easy availability of online sexual content is partly to be blamed for the increased sexual curiosity among children and teenagers in Malaysia, says psychologist and criminologist Assoc Prof Dr Geshina Ayu Mat Saat.

In today’s online world, it is very easy for children to be exposed to pornographic material while online, which contributes to such curiosity in adolescents, adds Assoc Prof Dr Geshina Ayu.

“Internet access has made it possible for exposure and access to pornographic material to be both unintentional and intentional, personalised and interactive, and access is highly mobile depending on Internet coverage in a given location.

“Parents should be aware of this and as such monitor children’s Internet usage, as well as install filters and access blocks ,” she says.

Recently, it was reported that new research by the Children’s Commissioner for England found that one in 10 children have watched pornography online by the time they are nine years old.

With the global accessibility of the world wide web, it is feared that the case could be the same in Malaysia.

Here, this issue is further exacerbated when sex-seeking activities are viewed as a taboo, says Assoc Prof Geshina, who is attached to Universiti Sains Malaysia.

“Porn contributes to sexual curiosity in children, especially when sex-seeking activities are viewed as taboo. In many instances, taboos include discussions of the taboo topics,” she says.

Negative consequences

Readily available pornographic material raises concerns of possible negative influence on children, including the sexualisation of people and objects, and negative attitudes and behaviours regarding gender equality, says Assoc Prof Geshina.

Others include wrong expectations of sex and romantic relationships, risk of experiencing or perpetrating sexual violence, and sexual maturity incongruent with the child’s age and physical development.

Her teams’ research among incarcerated sexual offenders also indicates that all their research participants had admitted to a history of early pornography exposure and pornography-seeking behaviours, she adds.

According to the Sexual Health and Intimate Wellness Survey 2022 conducted by Durex Malaysia, 60% of teens learnt about sex from online articles or watching movies and videos. Being exposed to sexual content in pop culture on the Internet and social media is not surprising for a generation that spends most of its time online.

As Assoc Prof Geshina highlights, recent research found three main reasons for pornography consumption among youth.

“They are emotional avoidance, sexual curiosity, and excitement seeking and sexual pleasure,” she says.

Other reasons include stress reduction, fantasy, boredom avoidance, lack of sexual satisfaction, and self-exploration.

Pandemic problem

Other studies say that pornography use is linked with objectification processes, sexual permissiveness, and risky sexual behaviour among children and adolescents.

A study conducted by development psychologist Tan Soon Aun of Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman found that besides easy access to online sexual content, the Covid-19 pandemic may have also changed the way Internet users view and express their sexuality, especially through online.

In his study, he noted that evidence showed that an average of 130 million people were reported to have visited Pornhub, a famous global pornography site, daily compared with a daily average of 115 million before the pandemic.

Based on a report presented by Pornhub meanwhile, Malaysia is ranked fourth globally with a percentage of 84% of users.

Tan’s study also found that problematic online sexual content also negatively impacts identity development and self-worth.

“It also affected the users’ self-esteem, reduced their efficacy at work, and created a sense of dissociation from the real world,” his study states.

Explicit disruption

Concurring, HELP University Faculty of Behavioural Sciences, Education and Languages dean Dr Gerard Louis says these negative consequences are partly the reason why age restrictions for movies and certain online material exist.

“These ratings inform parents whether or not the movie or show is child-friendly.

“Studies done in the past suggest that the exposure to these materials impacts a child’s mind greatly,” he says.

He adds that because children are naturally curious beings, they seek to quench the curiosity that grows with age and exposure.

“This is why when a child is exposed to something sexual such as porn or any sexual shows or scenes, they will start to wonder what the act is about.

“This leads to some children wanting to explore more to satisfy their growing need to understand,” he notes.

However, he says sexual curiosity is, at the end of the day, a part and parcel of growing up.

“Children have been known to touch their genitals without knowing that the act is masturbation and some even compare themselves with peers when nude.

“This is most common in Western societies as they are quite comfortable with nudity and sex,” he says.

He also notes that porn provides for that curiosity which eventually becomes a problem when the child becomes unable to control said curiosity.

“For example, it could lead to sexual violence.

“Take the TV show Game of Thrones, which had a huge following. When one of the female leads is being ‘raped’ by her husband, a child watching that scene will not understand why it is wrong unless he or she speaks to his or her parents about it and gets a judgement-free explanation.

“A normal part of sexual development should end with a child understanding that human bodies are just bodies at the end of the day which are used for reproduction to sustain the existence of human life on earth.

“Porn and explicit material in the media disrupts this understanding as it objectifies the person on screen,” he says.