A nationwide survey of 11- to 17-year-olds shows that many of them have seen pornography. And are increasingly producing, sending or receiving pornographic material themselves.
Düsseldorf – According to a study, many children and young people in Germany have already had experiences with porn or sexting. Around 42 percent of the 3,000 11 to 17-year-olds surveyed nationwide said they had already seen a porn film. This represents a significant increase: last year, 35 percent said this, according to a representative survey by the NRW State Media Authority. What is worrying is that the increase is due to the sharp increase in the number of particularly young respondents – children aged 11 to 13.
“Porn is not just for children. And yet, children and young people today are coming into contact with it long before they reach adulthood – more than that, they are also increasingly producing and sending pornographic material themselves,” reported the media authority. This phenomenon of sexting is quite widespread: 25 percent of those surveyed said they had already received a text message with sexual content, nude pictures, nude videos or even emojis with clear sexual intentions.
First contact is often accidental or involuntary
It is hard for parents or teachers to imagine how easy it is for children and young people to access pornography today and, above all, to send such material online themselves, said Media Authority Director Tobias Schmid in Düsseldorf. “But the study clearly shows that this is happening. We are called upon to protect minors.”
The first contact with porn is often involuntary or accidental – and usually between the ages of 12 and 15, as the media authority pointed out. In the group of those who said they had had experience with porn, a good half also said that they had only done it “once or twice”. Only a few respondents therefore watch porn regularly, the media authority explained. The vast majority find it difficult to classify what they have seen.
Is porn consumption related to sexting?
Although it is not possible to prove a clear connection between early porn consumption and contact with self-made pornographic material, the suspicion is obvious, because around 42 percent of the minors who said they had seen a porn and at the same time “sexted” said that their sexting behavior was inspired by porn. “The respondents therefore allow what they discover in porn to influence their own behavior,” the authority concluded. However, the survey also found that almost half of the minors with porn experience – 48 percent – agreed with the statement: “I have seen things in porn that I would rather not have seen.”
Of the 25 percent of the 3,000 respondents who had already received a sexting message, the vast majority – 79 percent – had been unsolicited. In contrast, only 9 percent said they had sent a sexting message themselves – boys doing so slightly more often than girls.
In this relatively small group, about a third of the boys and girls each said that their motivation was to sext “just for fun” or to flirt or to send their boyfriend/girlfriend “a very personal picture/video.” However, it also became apparent that the recipients were often not personally known to the sender.
WhatsApp is the preferred medium for sexting
As a platform for sexting, WhatsApp has once again expanded its dominance compared to the previous year – the authority conducted the first study of this kind in 2023. It can be assumed that the group chat function on WhatsApp is leading to a general increase in communication with people who are not personally known, the state agency said. In contrast, Snapchat has lost popularity as a sexting medium, especially among older girls.
Schmid warned that more education, contact points in everyday life and reliable youth media protection in the digital world are needed. “With offers such as the Media Scouts NRW and our approach to the lack of youth protection on the largest porn platforms in the world, we are tackling the issue.” dpa
#boys #girls #porn #sexting