Forbidden fruit: the politics of researching young people’s use of online sexually explicit materials in South African schools

Abstract

This paper explores some of the difficulties of doing research concerning young people’s use of online sexually explicit materials in three high schools in South Africa. Against the backdrop of young people’s sexual agency, we elaborate on the ways in which getting permission to conduct the research unsettled gatekeepers, as research on young people’s use of such materials remains taboo. Anxieties related to conducting school-based sexuality research, particularly with pornographic elements, stem from understandings that sex is a forbidden topic. During the course of seeking participants for our study, we found that the majority of boys in one school refused to participate. We argue that this was because online network sites were regulated and censored by the school, specifically those related to sexually explicit material, with punitive consequences for their use. Sexuality researchers operate in conditions of increased surveillance and we give attention to the difficulties of the researcher in school-based research. The need to conduct research into young people’s use of sexually explicit online materials is acute but needs to be supported by policy frameworks that foreground the specific conditions and challenges that researchers may face in a country such as South Africa.

Keywords:

• Young people
• sexually explicit materials (SEM)
• pornography
• sexuality research
• schools
• South Africa

Notes

1. There would be legal ramifications if a child selected this option, as watching Sexually-Explicit Material with a minor is illegal and constitutes child abuse (Children’s Act 38 of 2005; Criminal Law Sexual Offences and Related Matters Act 2015).