Kids are viewing online pornography earlier than ever before, creating vulnerabilities to sexual abuse and mental health issues.
In 2008, 14.4% of boys and 8.7% of girls had seen pornography by age 12 or younger. These numbers have skyrocketed more than four-fold. Today, 65.5% of boys and 30% of girls have seen online pornography by the age of twelve. Such exposure can have a range of troubling impacts including its influence on child-on-child sexual abuse, addiction and distorted views of sex and relationships. Navigating the task of keeping children safe and letting them know where to go if they are troubled – either by inappropriate touch or inappropriate online content – has become an essential component of life with the Internet.
To respond, the new children’s book Hamish and the Shadow Secret for 8-12-year-olds has launched in National Child Protection Week; and with it, the Porn Resilient Kids website – equipping families for tricky conversations. Under the direction of pornography educator and sexuality wellbeing advocate Liz Walker, Porn Resilient Kids publishes children’s books and directs parents and carers to exceptional resources to increase conversations about pornography in your home.
We invite parents and carers to utilise Hamish and the Shadow Secret and the Not for Kids! children’s books to get equipped for tricky conversations, as well as find links on our resources page to build resilience in kids to pornography.