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Schoolchildren should be given lessons in the danger of pornography amid fears pupils as young as eight are becoming increasingly desensitised to extreme images, teachersââ¬â¢ leaders warned today.
Sex education lessons should include modules on porn to enable children to ââ¬Årecognise the abnormal nature of these sexual expectationsââ¬Â, it was claimed.
The Association of Teachers and Lecturers told how primary school pupils were regularly watching inappropriate films and accessing pornographic websites.
In many cases, this has led to the adoption of an increasingly ââ¬Åexplicit vocabularyââ¬Â among the youngest pupils, it emerged.
Addressing the unionââ¬â¢s annual conference in Liverpool, teachers also told how rising numbers of sixth-formers had rushed to buy Fifty Shades of Grey, the erotic novel by E. L. James, despite the fact that it gives pupils the ââ¬Åwrong expectationsââ¬Â about sex and abusive relationships.
The 160,000-strong union backed a motion calling for training for ATL members to deliver ââ¬Åage-appropriateââ¬Â lessons on the dangers of porn as part of sex education classes.
Helen Porter, a teacher at St Gabrielââ¬â¢s School, Newbury, Berkshire, told the conference that frequent exposure to porn ââ¬Åresults in desensitisationââ¬Â to extreme images.
ââ¬ÅThe voyeurââ¬â¢s view of sex is so commonplace that it has now become normal, even for children,ââ¬Â she said. ââ¬ÅResearch by the LSE indicates that 90 per cent of children aged eight to 16 have viewed pornography on the internet, many of them unintentionally.
ââ¬ÅFor many young people, pornography now precedes sex and many will have seen hundreds of strangers having sex before they have any sexual contact with another person.ââ¬Â
In a speech, she told how girls as young as 12 were ââ¬Åwaxing and shaving to remove any trace of pubic hairââ¬Â and feeling the need to be ââ¬Åvajazzledââ¬Â ââ¬â when private parts are decorated with glitter and jewels.
ââ¬ÅBoys donââ¬â¢t get away scot-free either,ââ¬Â she said. ââ¬ÅI have recently discovered that men may be pejazzled or even scrotazzled.ââ¬Â
The ATL warned how exposure to extreme content at a young age can give children false expectations of sex as they grow up, leaving them vulnerable to abuse and leading to the breakdown of future relationships.
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Do you think teachers [font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]delivering ââ¬Åage-appropriateââ¬Â lessons on the dangers of porn as part of sex education classes will do any good? Why or why not.