Bestiality, snuff porn warping our boys' minds - experts

  • 09/03/2017

Experts say pornography is being watched by Kiwi boys as young as ten, warping their views towards women and sex at a dangerously young age.

It comes as two Wellington boys school were caught up in sex scandals in as many days.

Three's The Project interviewed the experts, and found the results discomforting.

"They look at women as objects," says sex addiction therapist Bridget Wilson.

"They don't know how to relate to women as people."

It's never been easier to access pornography, and content is increasingly hardcore.

"There's bestiality, there are snuff movies - people being killed. Women being horribly abused," Ms Wilson says.

 Porn addiction is increasingly common among young men, often leading to shocking consequences.

"We're seeing young men in particular getting quite dependent on porn at a very young age, so the average age they're being introduced to porn is around 10 years old," Ms Wilson says.

"Once it becomes the norm when they're viewing it and they're going to expect it to be the norm in real life."

Updated sex-ed could be the answer - however Prime Minister Bill English says he doesn't see it as a "fast growing or overwhelming problem".

It's an attitude Professor Katie Fitzpatrick, from The University of Auckland, disagrees with.

"I would say that's a head in the sand response," she says.

"Pornography's everywhere, it's easy to access now for young people. It's on their phones, in their pockets, so I think the Prime Minister is in denial about it."

Prof Fitzpatrick was involved in creating updated sexual education guidelines for schools on how to deal with modern pornography - however she doesn't know if the schools took it on board.

"We don't know at the moment how many schools have taken this up, because the Ministry don't actually enforce the guidelines in any way," she says.

"There's been no extra resourcing, there's been no teacher professional development, and no compulsion for schools to take it up."

The Ministry of Education was asked by The Project for comment. They said they were comfortable the current approach was the right one.

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