Pornography has become a parenting issue we can’t afford to ignore…

Tuesday 5th March, 7pm

Christ’s College Assembly Hall, Rolleston Ave - please note change of venue.

Rangi Ruru, St Margaret's College and Christ's College have joined forces to bring one of Australasia's most respected experts on violence prevention with regards to pornography's influence, Maree Crabbe, to Christchurch.

Over the past decade or so, pornography has become mainstream. For young people growing up in this era of ever-new and accessible technology it is almost impossible to avoid exposure to pornography. Consumption – particularly for young men – has become normalised.

But porn is no longer the centrefold it used to be. Porn’s move from a brown paper bag onto smart phones and personal laptop computers has been accompanied by a shift towards more aggressive content.

While many young people express some awareness that porn is fantasy, they also commonly convey the ways their sexual understandings and experiences are being influenced by what they – or their partners or peers – observe in porn. Porn’s influence has serious implications for young people’s capacity to develop a sexuality that is respectful, safe, freely consenting and mutually pleasurable.

This session, led by Maree Crabbe, director of the violence prevention project Reality & Risk: Pornography, Young People and Sexuality, will explore:

• What do parents need to understand about pornography and its influence on young people’s sexual understandings and expectations?
• How can parents support their children’s healthy social and sexual development in an age of pornography?

Maree’s work on pornography, together with her colleague, David Corlett, includes conducting over 140 interviews with young people, academics, professionals who work with young people, and performers, producers, directors, executives and agents from the pornography industry in Hungary and the US. Maree is Co-Producer and Co-Director of the documentary films Love and Sex in an Age of Pornography, broadcast in 12 countries, and The Porn Factor, broadcast in Australia. She is also author of In The Picture – a whole school resource to assist secondary schools to address the influence of explicit sexual imagery.

Maree has worked with young people – and on issues affecting young people – for 25 years. She has developed and delivered programs focusing on sexual violence prevention, sexual diversity, pornography and the prevention of sexually transmissible infections.

Maree has been interviewed on television and radio, and her articles on young people, sexuality and pornography have been published in online and print media.’

Tickets are FREE for the school community please secure your place by clicking here>>