IGNOU-Nirmala Niketan project sees parents unwilling to comment on girls.
A study on children and pornography has thrown up some worrying trends, with kids getting easy access to adult sites. A majority of parents say that children stumble upon these sites while doing school projects and holds unlimited WiFi usage as another reason.
The study covered children in the age bracket of 8-12 and 15-17 years. It was done by students of IGNOU and Nirmala Niketan, Churchgate.
Gender equality, mobile phones, social media and older friends and curiosity are among the other reasons, said 63.33% mothers and 46.66% fathers.
Dr. Kamini Prakash Rege (asst professor), department of human development college of home science, Nirmala Niketan, said that doing the study was not a smooth affair.
"We could not go ahead with the study initially as parents were hesitant to answer whether their children watch porn. So we had to change methodology and generally ask parents whether children in the age brackets of 8-12 and 15-17 years watch porn," she said.
Even after that, parents were not forthcoming. While 81.66% parents said that both girls and boys viewed porn, when asked specifically about girls, they said girls don't watch pornography.
Study experts, however, said adolescent girls watched pornography 4-5 times a week. The study started in July 2015 and ended in March 2016.
A majority of parents indicated that the main source of pornography among children in the age category of 8-12 years is mobile phones and computers. A substantial majority (90% mothers and 80% fathers) also held magazines responsible.
Thirty per cent mothers and 20% fathers said that the frequency of viewing pornography varied from child to child.
Little more than a quarter of fathers (26.66%) and three mothers stated that children viewed Internet pornography 3-4 times a week. Four experts said that they watched it at least 1-2 times a week, mostly when parents were not around.
According to 40% experts, adolescent boys watched pornography 4-5 times a week.
Sixty parents were surveyed for each category. While 10 experts were part of the study in the 8-12 year-category, there were 20 in the other category. All parents were from middle and upper class.
Types of porn watched by 8-12-year olds
| Type of porn |
Parents |
Experts |
| Nudity |
80% |
90% |
| Sexually Violent |
73.33% |
90% |
| Child Porn |
39% |
90% |
Types of porn viewed by adolescents
| Type of Porn |
Parents |
Experts |
| Teen Porn |
70% |
85% |
| Mature Porn |
66.66% |
80% |
| Lesbian Porn |
36.66% |
60% |
Age of first exposure
| Age Group |
Parents |
Experts |
| 18-20 |
15% |
10% |
| 15-17 |
45% |
10% |
| 12-14 |
31.66% |
66% |
| 9-11 |
8.33% |
50% |
| 6-8 |
0% |
25% |
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