This week more than 40 child and women’s safety experts signed an open letter to the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calling for a pilot program for age verification on porn to help protect children from being exposed to pornographic content too early.
Research undertaken by the eSaftey Commission has found 75% of 16 to 18-year-olds have viewed online pornography, and a third of those first saw it before they were 13.
They provided the government a road map to age verification, recommending they roll out the pilot program. However just a few weeks ago, the government pushed back, stating that they want to see what the porn industry will implement first.
Youth advocate and educator Daniel Principe says that’s not good enough. He works for a group called Collective Shout giving workshops in schools about navigating healthy relationships. Principe is passionate about implementing the push to implement age restrictions on porn so that kids are not exposed to imagery that messes up their idea of sex and healthy relationships.
In this episode of The Briefing Podcast, Tom Tilley sits down with Principe to find out what’s going on.
Over seventy percent of exposure to pornography for young people is unsought after. It’s not them being curious or trying to make sense of say a conversation they have had.
It very much seems to be in the online spaces of young boys where they are having to navigate this unsought after pornographic content.
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