Breaking the taboo on youth and porn 

For many children and young people in Aotearoa today, porn is as close as the nearest phone.  Yet youth and porn had been a taboo subject for a long time. 

In 2018, the Classification Office set out to break this taboo by leading a government working group on pornography and commencing a three-part research programme in partnership with us and the Collaborative Trust.  With a highly sensitive topic and vulnerable audience, three projects were carefully designed and executed: a nationwide study of 2,000 14-17 year olds, content analysis of the 200 most popular videos on a popular porn site and a qualitative study with 52 14 to 17 year olds. 

Praised for putting youth voices front and centre, the research insights kick started a much needed conversation in New Zealand shifting the debate from a moralistic stance to a focus on young people’s wellbeing.  With support from the Classification Office, government agencies and sexuality educators heeded the call to action implementing a raft of initiatives. 

The most high profile output from the research was the the internationally acclaimed Keep it Real Online viral porn advert featuring two actors playing fake porn stars who turn up to an unsuspecting teenage boy’s house.

The Ministry of Education used the research insights to update the New Zealand curriculum guidelines for sexuality education with a pornography teaching and learning section for schools, and released a new interactive professional learning and development tool for teachers (Ka huri I te korero – Changing the conversations around pornography) that supports teachers to talk about pornography with young people when delivering relationships and sexuality education. 

With support from government agencies, sexuality educators at the Light Project used the trio of research in developing a national stakeholder response to youth and porn.  This includes national workforce development training and a suite of tools and pathways of care for the youth health sector.  With funding from the Ministry of Social Development and the Spark foundation, the Light Project also launched a website (www.intheknow.co.nz) to give teens advice and guidance on dealing with porn.  The struggles youth shared in the research shaped content and messaging. 

This research won gold at the 2022 global ESOMAR research effectiveness awards, the top award for the industry. The winners were announced at the awards ceremony in Toronto on 20 September 2022.