A new project has delved into the minds of teenage boys to discover just what they think about pornography — and the results will soon be turned into a stage play.
Hundreds of Australian boys aged 12-18 completed anonymous interviews and surveys that covered everything from how much pornography they viewed, to what they think of it, and what questions it sparked.
“It’s always just there in your face,” one boy said.
“I’ve seen it. By the time in Year 8 I’d say everyone has,” another boy said.
The results of the survey showed while most boys had seen pornography, many were able to understand the difference between those depictions and real life.
“It’s like cartoons with y’know pianos falling on people, or action movies with car crashes and explosions,” one boy said.
“I mean, I don’t look like that [and] I don’t expect every girl to look like that either.”
What the boys said
- I don’t think porn addiction is an actual thing. For me, I watched it a lot to begin with and then it kind of eased off.
- I’ve seen it. By the time in Year 8 I’d say everyone has.
- It’s not like, real. It’s like cartoons with y’know pianos falling on people, or action movies with car crashes and explosions. I mean, I don’t look like that, I don’t expect every girl to look like that either.
- It’s always just there in your face.
- Okay, so this is my question: Do parents watch porn?
- I often watch pornography late at night when I can watch it alone.
- I often watch porn that shows young gay men having sex with older men.
- Women in straight porn are often reduced to sexist stereotypes of housewives, girlfriends, mothers and often demonstrated to be quite objectified and submissive to males.
- She isn’t thrown around but the man moves her around like a doll and she wordlessly complies. She seems to enjoy it a lot… or does a better job than most of pretending.
The project was organised by St Martins Youth Arts Centre artistic director Clare Watson, who will direct a new play entitled Gonzo that is based on the responses.
The former school teacher said it was a difficult project to tackle because of an “extreme” level of shame and taboo around the topic.
“There are so many gatekeepers to the conversation, it was really challenging,” she told ABC News Breakfast.
“Teachers didn’t want me to come to class to talk to students about it; letters sent home with kids, they didn’t want to show their parents.”
But she said most boys reported seeing pornographic material for the first time in the schoolyard, with their friends sharing videos or images found online.
