Pornography and gender-based violence: two neglected topics in sexuality education. A systematic review

ABSTRACT

Pornography consumption at a young age may pose a threat for sexual health, due to the presence of aggression and the degradation of women. Sexuality education is viewed as a way to mitigate the effects of inadequate information and counteract certain tendencies that may be learned from pornography. This study involved a systematic review of sexuality education programmes whose effectiveness has been assessed to identify those programmes that included the topics of pornography and gender-based violence as part of their contents. A total of 30 studies met the inclusion criteria. Nearly all the reviewed programmes had been implemented in school settings in the USA. Some studies showed significant improvements in knowledge, attitudes and behaviour related to pornography. Additionally, significant improvements were reported in the prevention of sexual violence and in self-protection awareness, along with decreases in the acceptability of gender-based violence. Some of the programmes were also found to lead to increases in gender equity, critical media understanding, sexual consent, healthy relationships, and women’s risk perception and confidence, along with decreases in the intention to commit sexual violence. However, few sexuality education programmes were found to engage with the prevention of gender-based violence and the impact of pornography on children, adolescents and young people.

KEYWORDS:

• Pornography
• gender-based violence
• sexuality education programmes
• sexual health

Acknowledgments

We thank Estel Torruella for her support in the coding of this systematic review and William Andrew Bromberg for his language review.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2024.2316154