‘We Teach Kids About It So They Don't Get Addicted’: Gender, Porn and Sex Education in New Zealand

This research sought to explore young people's and teachers' understandings of porn. Drawing on a qualitative content analysis of small focus group interview data with 106 young people aged 12–16 years old and semi‐structured interviews with six teachers in Aotearoa, New Zealand, I examine their perceptions of porn and the place of porn in sex education. All of the young people were aware of porn and the majority viewed it through a gendered lens—young men reported being more likely to consume and enjoy porn, their use of porn was normalised, whereas it was reported as being less socially acceptable for young women. Teachers and young people alike believed that young men can quite easily become addicted to porn, whereas women are much less likely to become addicted. Through focusing on addiction as a deterrent from watching porn, sexuality education often ignored other gendered issues such as violence and misogyny.