Pornography - Overview

Being exposed to sexual content is one of Canadian parents’ top worries about their kids’ online experience[2] and also one of kids’ own top concerns.[3] It’s not hard to see why: while there are no longer any explicitly pornographic sites among kids’ favourite platforms and websites – and the services that are their favourites such as TikTok and Instagram ban sexually explicit content[4] – almost a third of Canadian kids have been exposed to porn online without looking for it.[5]

What are kids’ experiences with pornography?

Canadian kids are more likely to be unwillingly exposed to porn than to seek it out themselves – and are also more likely to take steps to avoid seeing it.

Just two in 10 young Canadians in Grades seven to 11 say they have looked for pornography online. Most first looked for it either between nine and 13 years old (52%) or at 14 or older (45%) with just 3% having done so at age eight or younger.[6]

Roughly the same number of girls (18%) as boys (24%) look for pornography online,[7] but the reasons why they look for it are different. Boys are much more likely to say they look for it as a means of sexual gratification, while girls are more likely to seek it out as a way to learn about sexuality.[8]

"It just pops up because someone on some page just puts it up and a friend will comment on it and then it will pop up into your newsfeed.” (Boy, 17)[9]

Seeing pornography online, though, is another story. Almost a third (32%) of Canadian kids in Grades seven to 11 have seen pornography online without looking for it; almost all (91%) say this first happened when they were between nine and 13 years old. Unintentional exposure most often happens on websites (60%), search engines they use (31%) and because their friends share it with them (24%). Kids also come across this content on video sites (22%) and social networks (19%). While boys and girls are equally likely to have seen porn online without looking for it, there are differences in how that happens: boys are more likely to see it because their friends share it with them (30%, compared to 18% of girls) while girls are more likely to have had it sent to them by people they don’t know online (15%, compared to 8% of boys).[10] This last finding is particularly worrying because sharing pornography has been identified as a common grooming tactic among adults seeking to sexually exploit children online[11] and early unwilling exposure to pornography has been linked to sexual victimization in girls.[12]

Young people frequently find this experience disturbing or irritating,[13] which may be why four in 10 (42%) Canadian kids in Grades seven to 11 said that they take steps to avoid seeing pornography online. These steps include using content-filtering programs (40%), avoiding sites or apps where they know they might see pornography (39%), being careful about the search terms they use (37%), changing search settings (32%) and muting or blocking certain people or phrases (22%).[14]

"Sex is in everything”

To contextualize pornography, we have to recognize that today’s youth live in a highly sexualized media culture where the lines between pornography and popular entertainment have become increasingly blurred. As one young person put it, “I see it everywhere… you see a housewife and you click on this link – just everywhere.”[15] Nor do youth have to encounter pornography to see highly sexualized content: as one young person put it, “Sex is in everything. The thirst traps on TikTok, CW shows, or even anyone talking about the TV shows like ‘The Bachelor’ or the ‘Bridgerton’ series.”[16] Though big-budget movies now have less sexual content in the past (in order to reach both teenagers and more conservative overseas markets, such as China),[17] sexualized content is omnipresent on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat[18] and many young people feel pressured to present a sexualized image of themselves online.[19] As a result, kids say that efforts should be made to teach them – and particularly young children – decision-making skills that will help them avoid inappropriate material online and deal with the sexualized content they encounter in all media.[20] This is where parents and teachers play an important role.

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[1] Quoted in Lewis, L., Somers, J. M., Guy, R., Watchirs-Smith, L., & Skinner, S. R. (2018). ‘I see it everywhere’: young Australians unintended exposure to sexual content online. Sexual health, 15(4), 335-341.

[2] Brisson-Boivin, K. (2018) “The Digital Well-Being of Canadian Families.” MediaSmarts. Ottawa.

[3] Livingstone, S., Kirwil, L., Ponte, C., & Staksrud, E. (2014). In their own words: What bothers children online?. European Journal of Communication, 29(3), 271-288.

[4] MediaSmarts. (2022). “Young Canadians in a Wireless World, Phase IV: Life Online.” MediaSmarts. Ottawa.

[5] MediaSmarts. (2022). “Young Canadians in a Wireless World, Phase IV: Encountering Harmful and Discomforting Content Online.” MediaSmarts. Ottawa.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Healy-Cullen, S., Taylor, J. E., Ross, K., & Morison, T. (2022). Youth Encounters with Internet Pornography: A Survey of Youth, Caregiver, and Educator Perspectives. Sexuality & Culture, 26(2), 491-513.

[9] Lewis, L., Somers, J. M., Guy, R., Watchirs-Smith, L., & Skinner, S. R. (2018). ‘I see it everywhere’: young Australians unintended exposure to sexual content online. Sexual health, 15(4), 335-341.

[10] MediaSmarts. (2022). “Young Canadians in a Wireless World, Phase IV: Encountering Harmful and Discomforting Content Online.” MediaSmarts. Ottawa.

[11] Massey, K., Burns, J., & Franz, A. (2021). Young people, sexuality and the age of pornography. Sexuality & culture, 25, 318-336.

[12] Harsey, S. J., Noll, L. K., Miller, M. J., & Shallcross, R. A. (2021). Women's age of first exposure to Internet pornography predicts sexual victimization. Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence, 6(5), 1.

[13] Lewis, L., Somers, J. M., Guy, R., Watchirs-Smith, L., & Skinner, S. R. (2018). ‘I see it everywhere’: young Australians unintended exposure to sexual content online. Sexual health, 15(4), 335-341.

[14] MediaSmarts. (2022). “Young Canadians in a Wireless World, Phase IV: Encountering Harmful and Discomforting Content Online.” MediaSmarts. Ottawa.

[15] Lewis, L., Somers, J. M., Guy, R., Watchirs-Smith, L., & Skinner, S. R. (2018). ‘I see it everywhere’: young Australians unintended exposure to sexual content online. Sexual health, 15(4), 335-341.

[16] Petersen, M. G. (2022). Sexual Socialization Through Modern Forms of Media: In Defense of Comprehensive Sexual Education.

[17] Newland, C. (2021) Why Hollywood is shunning sex. The Guardian. https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20211029-why-hollywood-is-shunning-sex

[18] Kelly, H. (2022) They came to TikTok for fun They got stuck with sexualized videos. The Washington Post.

[19] Jennings, R. (2021) The Sexfluencers. Vox.

[20] Dawson, K., Nic Gabhainn, S., & MacNeela, P. (2020). Toward a model of porn literacy: Core concepts, rationales, and approaches. The Journal of Sex Research, 57(1), 1-15.