What Teens Actually Think of Age Verification for Porn

Would you buy a “porn pass” from a newsagent? Or hand over your credit card details to verify your identity? These are two of the suggested methods mooted by British politicians in 2019 to force adult websites to verify the age of their users – in a bid to block anybody under 18 from accessing pornography. 

They were, however, abandoned after challenges from privacy experts and advocates, as well as technical issues with the ban. (Requesting your monthly licence to watch X-rated material from your local off-licence sounds both impractical and humiliating, IMO!)

In February of this year, age verification reared its head again with an update to the Online Safety Bill, announced on Safer Internet Day by Digital Minister Chris Philp. Under the new policy, sites that fail to ensure their users are 18 and over will be fined up to 10 percent of their annual profits by Ofcom, or blocked entirely in the UK.

The announcement has seen a range of reactions from politicians, activists and other old people. But what about the group who will be most affected by the proposed legislation – people under 18? I, a 19-year-old, asked some teenagers about how they feel about it (I’ve used first names only to protect their identities). How do they feel about porn? Do they think age checks will work? And do they believe it’ll keep them or their peers away from pornography? 

Hugh, 18 

The first time I watched porn, I was about 13 or 14. Most of the people around me were watching it already. After reading about how destructive and harmful porn can be, I started to realise I didn’t feel good after watching it, which ultimately prompted me to do “no porn 2022” [where I  give up porn for a year].

I fundamentally believe porn isn’t good for young people, but I understand the curiosity (horniness) that comes with puberty that leads teenagers to it. The impacts of porn are very evident on social media – one thing that comes to mind is that leaked picture of Nelly’s penis. Everyone expected it to be huge because of porn and Twitter and stuff when really it was quite average, and he got backlash for it. There are these expectations emerging that feel unproductive. 

Ideally, you could educate people to the point that they were so aware that porn isn’t real that it wouldn’t have the vast negative impact that it does. But I think in reality there isn’t a way to watch pornography without internalising at least some misguided beliefs. A safety bill just won’t work – I have friends that can’t go a day without watching porn. Those people would find a way around it. With all the barriers on gambling websites, young football fans still find a way to place bets. The solution isn’t the elimination of porn in young peoples’ lives, but education about the realities of both porn and sex.

Eliza, 17 

I don’t think porn should be accessible to young people, because sex is a taboo topic that parents and teachers don’t want to talk to them about. They turn to porn to satisfy their curiosity and find sites full of misogyny and paedophilia. You go on PornHub and find videos with the word “teen” in all capitals. When you think about it, it’s terrible for everyone. Teenagers grow up with this unrealistic image of sex; girls are encouraged to “put it on” and boys think it’s totally normal to throw their partners around. 

The first time I watched porn, I was eight! It was a Fake Taxi video [a porn series where a cabbie picks women up for sex] and I can honestly say it scarred me. I don’t think porn should exist at all, but I know it’s not realistic to expect it to be wiped from the internet. It’s virtually impossible for me to get around YouTube’s age verification system to watch a Dance Moms video that they’ve restricted to over 18s, so I hope porn sites can implement something similar.

Tilly, 17 

I don’t think porn is good for young people. Society is generally aware of who owns and creates the media we consume, the marketing that influences us and how it impacts us… but I feel like we haven’t had that realisation about porn yet. 

The vast amount of porn accessible to young people is from a male perspective and has no educational value. It’s not true to life and fails to represent what sex looks like for most people – it promotes male dominance and teaches women to be submissive. If you asked a group of 17 to 18-year-olds today how many of them considered choking during sex to be normal and a similar group in their 70s, I think there would be a serious disparity. 

Young people are becoming pornified. I don’t think I know a single person who isn’t impacted. 

Even as a person who considers herself liberated, I feel the pressures of porn. Porn is the mystery man in all my sexual relationships, feeding me and my partners unrealistic standards and unnecessary insecurities. 

The Online Safety Bill is a short-term solution to a long-term deep-rooted problem. Parents need to have more enriching and fulfilling conversations about sex with their children. Young people need a way to explore their sexuality that doesn’t feel salacious or shrouded in shame.

Charlie, 18

I do think it’s possible for porn to be good for young people if it creates an open dialogue  exploring healthy sexuality, but that’s only when removed from the misogyny and violence it’s existed as a part of for so long. In my view, the best way to mitigate its negative impacts would be to educate young people (through the formal education system) about the pros and cons of porn, and how it could be both a tool for good and deeply harmful. 

I hope this new bill will work, because I do wish that something like this existed when I was ten, 11 and first encountering porn. But I feel like the porn industry is so oversaturated and there are so many nooks and crannies of the internet where porn can be found that this bill won’t impact – Reddit and Twitter come to mind.  

Jess, 18

I think porn is kind of awful for young people, especially when you don’t have much sexual experience yourself and your first ideas of sex are based on it. I think it also makes people – especially young women – more willing to just do whatever in the bedroom, even if you’re uncomfortable. It makes it harder for you to feel comfortable exploring actual pleasure and sexual relationships. 

I think the worst impact porn has on young people is the hyperstimulation and constant access. I reckon the bill is a good idea, despite it being probably quite easy to just ignore – I’m no tech genius, but wouldn’t a VPN just allow you to access PornHub in a country with different laws?

I just think sex education should be way more accessible and acceptable. Sex shouldn’t be seen as dirty or taboo – something that porn and the stigma around it also perpetuates – but something fun and worth exploring healthily and openly. Porn as a whole would be far less damaging if we were encouraged to talk more openly about sex with friends and sexual partners and if violence was less prevalent in porn. 

The idea of the bill is great – however, I don’t think it will work as long as sites like Twitter still have so much porn available. The bill is just the wrong solution – why not focus more on sex education and destigmatizing the conversation about sex in the first place? Porn sucks. Sex is real life and you gotta learn about it in real life. Why should your first experiences of it be completely fake?