Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister Delegate in charge of Digital, announced that pornographic sites would be blocked to minors and subject to an age certification device. At what age are children exposed? What are the consequences for their own sexuality?
“In 2023, it’s the end of access to pornographic sites for our children” declared this February 5 to the newspaper The Parisian the Minister delegate in charge of Digital, Jean-Noël Barrot, who announced the establishment in France of a age certification device, so as to block access to these sites to minors. This new tool is expected to be implemented in September 2023.”All sites “must comply with it under penalty of seeing the distribution prohibited on the national territory“said the minister. The details of this “digital certificate” still need to be clarified, but telecom operators could in particular help to better determine the age of users. “This technical solution that we are working on can be used to enforce the age limits that exist in our law, but which are not sufficiently respected online”. Indeed, at present, access to porn sites is easily done: by simply checking a box stating that you are of legal age, or by entering a date of birth. For several years, the government has been considering this issue, especially since exposure to pornography is becoming younger and younger and most children are equipped with digital tools.
Exposure to pornography: at what age?
As children are increasingly connected and have their own smartphones, it is sometimes difficult for parents to control the content they consult on the net. By the age of 12, almost one in three children has already been exposed to pornography. The first exposure to pornography sometimes happens even before the age of 12, and it is very often involuntary: one in two young people claim to have come across it by chance, and more than half believe they saw their first pornographic images too young. However, few parents are aware of this: only 7% of them believe that their children watch pornography at least once a week.
What consequences does porn have on young people?
In a press release dated February 8, 2021, the government specifies thatpremature exposure to pornographic content has consequences on the psychological development of children : shock or trauma, especially when it comes to involuntary exposure. Also, almost a quarter of young people say that pornography had a negative impact on their sexuality giving them complexes and 44% of young people who have sex declare reproduce practices that they have seen in pornographic videos.
“Sexual Trauma”
“It is no longer uncommon to consult parents who are worried that their child was shocked after coming across porn“, precise Professor Israel Nisand. he continues. And add “children, especially when they are young, do not have the critical apparatus to take a step back from these images which are the fruit of reality“.” Seeing pornographic images this young constitutes sexual trauma“, regrets Professor Israel Nisand. The psychiatrist Serge Hefez even speaks of “psychic rape” for the most fragile among them: “when they still don’t know anything about sexuality, they look at images without filters“.
Their sexuality impacted by porn
If some young people come to the consultation horrified by what they have just seen, others have become addicted to it because these images come to tickle complex questions about their body, their intimacy, their desire… And they come back to it, for a lot, with more disgust than excitement and pleasure. Finally, the effervescence of smartphones, different apps and new connected practices (sexting, live sex show, sextape, revenge porn, after sex selfies…), has given rise to “a new generation of users : alongside the passive use of pornography, all minors can now be “actors”“, evokes Marie-Hélène Colson, sexologist in Marseille. Indeed, young people can easily identify with actors and actresses. And so, the sexual and romantic practices of these young people are impacted.
Domination relationships
“Certain content is based on relations of domination”, which represents an obstacle to equality between women and men: the majority of pornographic content today tends to promote male domination and scenes of violence against towards women. Images that influence the youngest.
Young people with complexes
By dint of consuming porn, the young person enters a “performance anxiety : young men feel anxious about the size of their penis, the amount of sperm or the number of orgasms they can give their partners. These figures are of course considered “too low” compared to what they can see in porn videos“, explains Dr. Marie-Hélène Colson. “And by comparing themselves to what is however not comparable, they even go so far as to model erectile dysfunction and anxieties invented from scratch“. Young girls, for their part, find their penis “ugly”, and are increasingly requesting genitoplasty (clitoroplasty, vaginoplasty, labiaplasty…), vulvar operations, full hair removal…
Sexuality devoid of feelings
Everything they can see in pornographic films. “As it leaves no room for imagination and eroticism, porn embodies the shaping of a decentered sexuality of romantic relationships and affection“: the sexuality of teenagers will thus be built without feelings, without seduction or love games. But it will also be based on “trivialization new practices, which then become the prerequisites of sexuality (sodomy, fellatio, facial ejaculation… formerly considered as marginal practices)“, she recalls. Dr. Ghada Hatem, gynecologist and founder of the Maison des Femmes, is worried for her part about the growing number of “rapes of minors on minors”, consultations for vaginal tears or for pregnancies. early and unwanted.”As pornography imposes models and stereotypes, girls tend to let it go because the boy legitimizes his actions by saying that he has seen things done on the Internet, and girls are afraid of being rejected if they do not submit. not“, she laments.
Jeprotegemonenfant.gouv.fr: a site to fight against the exposure of young people to pornography
THE site jeprotegemonenfant.gouv.fr informs, advises and supports parents on the implementation of the parental control. “I am convinced that parental control is one of the tools that will allow parents to better protect their children“, Adrien Taquet told us in 2021 when the site was launched. This site, designed for parents, explains how to set up adapted parental control tools according to their needs, their equipment, the use and the age of the children. It also offers sex education content to free speech between parents and children. Overall, parents have a role to play in making their children aware “of all types of violence they may face”, specifies Adrien Taquet.