The effects of the internet on the youth's sexual behaviour

                                                                                                      

On the effects of the Internet on the Youth’s Sexual Behaviour

The internet has its roots back in the 1960s and has come a long way in the past half century. The fact is that it is still evolving and has influence on more and more fields of life. The young in particular today can access the internet anywhere and anytime they want to through their gadgets. This essay is intended to show the effects of the internet on one of these aspects: young people’s sexual behaviour. The internet plays an important role in shaping the sexuality of the young, both in harmful and good way.

To begin with, mostly teen girls can easily fall into a trap. They are bombarded with advertisements and posts on websites which give them tips of “how to be sexy” or “how to look if you want to catch boys’ attention”. They look at topmodels who are slim and have ‘perfect’ skin and of course, want to be like them. Social media platforms provide appropriate space for girls to express their sexualised selves: posting photos in which they are posing their body in order to get appreciation. The idea is that they collect as many likes as possible and this gears up their self-esteem and gives them confidence. As time passes, certain poses will not be enough to gain hundreds of likes, so girls will post more and more extreme photos of themselves, which may make them ridiculous on the one hand, and the target of sexual harassments on the other. Looking at the examples of supermodels, teen girls get a false idea about being sexy, which is why they think that they need to show off their bodies to be liked.

I would like to point out another effect of the internet that is related mostly to boys’ sexual behaviour. Children today who search the net without being under parental control are highly exposed to uncensored sexual contents, including advertisements, music videos, movies and online games, which sexualizes them earlier than ever. Encouraged by movies or music videos containing sexuality, children as young as 8 or 9 get interested in sex and a high percentage of them also intend to do what they see on the screen. According to researcher Dr. Jennings Bryant’s study that was conducted in the United States in 1985, more than 66 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls want to try some of the sexual behaviours they came across in the media. In many cases they actually do it, so a lot of them have sexual experiences before going to high school. In addition, those children who get involved in sexual actions at such an early age are more likely to have multiple sexual partners in the future and struggle with a mental health disorder in the long run.

However, there are more effects of the internet on children’s sexual behaviour than these. Those boys who saw sexually explicit contents on the internet are three times more likely to enter into oral sex and intercourse than non-exposed boys. In the case of girls, the likeliness of engagement in oral sex is two times more and they are one and a half times more likely to have intercourse than those who were not exposed to such contents. Also, children get involved in sexual activities without consideration and responsibility, before they are emotionally and intellectually ready. This suggests that those who are exposed to sexually explicit media at an early age are likely to be engaged in high-risk sex.

On the other hand, the internet can have positive effects on teens’ view of sex. A study carried out by Neelma Kunwar, Chandra Shekhar Azad University, India (2010) showed that a meaningful percentage of teenagers’ attitude to sex was shaped by programmes based on sex education advertised through the media. These programmes point out that irresponsibly getting involved in sexual actions may result in venereal diseases. In addition, boys and girls encouraged by them, became interested in sexual education and searched for such contents on the internet, which could influence their view of sexuality and urge them to have safe and responsible sex.

As I have pointed out, there are a lot of segments of sexuality that the internet influences in the life of young people. The effects are very serious, be it good or harmful, because they can be life-lasting. Obviously, teenage-girls who offer themselves up to sexual ‘games’ by posing on the internet or boys, who encouraged by media, get involved in sexual intercourse at an early age, damage their own esteem, which determines their future actions. Yet, the internet and media can be used in a responsible way so that it may have positive effects on us all – this is what children should be taught to do.

References

Bryant J. (1985, March) . Frequency of exposure, age of initial exposure and reactions to initial exposure to pornography.

C. Ross, Carolyn. (2012, August 13) . Over-exposed and under-prepared: the effects of early exposure to sexual content. Psychology Today.

 Retrieved form http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/real-healing/201208/

T. N. N. (2010, September 20) . Media influences positively on sexual behaviour of teens: study. The Times of India.

 Retrieved from http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kanpur/

Zatopek, A. (2014, September 23) . Pimping for likes: teen girls posing for self esteem. CBN News. Retrieved from http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2014/September/