UK Charity, the Naked Truth Project, have launched new dates for a series of workshops for parents and carers to better understand pornography in a digital age, enabling them to talk to their children and young people about the subject.
Constable Simon Bailey, National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead on child protection, has highlighted the need for resources such as ‘The PG Workshops’, following his recognition of porn consumption as a leading factor in the growing cases of sexual violence and abuse amongst teens.
The PG Workshops will be live-streamed online sessions and come following the launch of the ‘Everyone’s Invited’ website, which provides an anonymous forum for children and youth to share experiences of aggressive, or abusive sexual behaviours.
Chief Constable Bailey has previously warned of the links between young people’s access to and consumption of pornography and the kind of sexually aggressive/abusive behaviour highlighted in many of the 15,000+ accounts documented on the website.
Chief Constable Simon Bailey says, “There is a real issue in children’s perception of healthy relationships, healthy sexual relationships, what is permissible and what is acceptable. Unfortunately, I think the ready and easy access to pornography is a driver to that.”
The Chief Constable acknowledges that organisations like Naked Truth Project are doing important work to combat the damaging impacts of porn and urges parents and schools to engage with the issue.
Ch. Constable Bailey continued: “Parents have a responsibility to ensure that children, both sons and daughters, recognise and understand what good values are, what respect and trust and honesty are, and how to treat people.
“The difficult conversations around inevitably viewing pornography need to be had, explaining that it is not a relationship, and schools should be reinforcing this point as well. This is why the kind of schools work and parent workshops that Naked Truth offer can be such a useful resource to this end.”
The workshops delivered hope to provide insight on the pressures young people are facing, and practical tips for parents guiding them through those pressures.
Ian Henderson, Founder and CEO of the Naked Truth Project says: “We believe there is a growing need amongst parents, carers and teachers to talk about and tackle the issue of pornography, especially in light of recent revelations about the scale of sexual violence amongst young people, yet many feel overwhelmed and under-resourced to engage in this conversation.
“We hope our workshops will be an effective way of teaching parents and carers how to talk to their young people about the dangers of pornography, as well as offer some practical tips in setting up parental controls and safety features on devices.”
The swell of the stories shared on ‘Everyone’s Invited’, have highlighted recent government research, such as the Equalities Office Report, which acknowledges the links between teenage porn consumption and toxic relationships, harassment in schools and abusive behaviour.
Other national leaders, such as Baroness Benjamin, are also calling for the education of both pupils and parents around the damaging impact of porn on healthy relationships.
Ian Henderson continues: “As an organisation, whilst we recognise that porn use won’t lead to sexual harassment or violence for all individuals, and is certainly not the only contributing factor, it’s vital that we begin to recognise the part that it does play and call it out.
“Given that porn often contains high levels of blatant verbal and physical abuse, as well as the sexualisation of coercion, harassment and outright lack of consent, we must consider the impact this is having on us, and the importance it places on educating our young people well.”
The Naked Truth Project have already delivered these workshops to over 4,000 parents and carers, as well as presenting specialised school lessons which have seen 20,000 students participate.
For more information, or to book a place on the workshops, please visit:
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