A 5-week course will teach teenagers, from around two dozen schools, about the effects and underlying assumptions of porn, reports The Times. This new schedule was taken up by authorities in Boston fearing that the new generation is learning about sex from online pornography. Some Boston schools are now teaching teenagers how to critically evaluate the adult videos.
The course is completely voluntary. Named ‘The Truth About Pornography: A Pornography-Literacy Curriculum for High School Students Designed to Reduce Sexual and Dating Violence,’ the course is funded by the city’s public health agency, and is not connected with the school system. The course was partly compiled by Emily Rothman. She is an associate professor at Boston University’s School of Public Health, and has studied the use of porn by adolescents and dating violence among teenagers.
Rothman, in an interview to The New York Times, stated that the curriculum was created out of recognition that most teenagers have been viewing online pornography. She has fears that children could be learning about sex for the first time from pornography on their smartphones.
As for the course, the children will be taught how to analyse what they are seeing in porn videos and a brief insight if how the adult entertainment industry works. The course includes topics which highlights the difference in earnings between the men and women porn stars carrying out the various sexual acts, and the length of an average porn actor’s career, which is around 6 to 18 months for women and longer for men.
‘The verbal and physical aggression that is played out in many popular pornographic videos also comes up for debate, with the pupils encouraged to question whether watching pornography leads to more aggression or violence against women,’ adds the report.
“The class is about critically analysing sexually explicit media, not how to have sex,” said Rothman. “We want to stay in our narrow lane and not be seen as promoting anything parents are uncomfortable with.”
Disclaimer: The pupils are not shown porn videos as part of the course and the programme is unaffiliated with Boston’s school system — The Times.
