We need to “prepare our children for the world as it is, not as we would like it to be”, said Maria Miller MP, explaining her support for giving sex and relationships education (SRE) statutory status.
It neatly sums up the anxiety that many parents and teachers feel about the prevalence and accessibility of online pornography: that its messages are being uncritically absorbed by young people, distorting their view of relationships and bodies; and that young people may be entering relationships with unrealistic and harmful expectations of what sex is and should be.
Responding to these anxieties, Jenni Murray, veteran BBC Woman’s Hour presenter, recently suggested screening pornography in the classroom and teaching students to dissect and critically evaluate it as you would a literary text.
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