Pro-porn Childline film encouraging kids to google BDSM etc

[Sunkisses]

Jeez, just seen this from the Safe Schools Alliance UK on twitter. Six years ago Childline produced this pro-porn film which is basically an advert for PornHub masquerading as a child protection resource. It tells children that porn is "fun" & recommends genres like BDSM to google. It's had over 3 million views in the last 6 years, and goodness knows how much it has contributed to the rape culture we are now seeing in schools. It is illegal for under 18s to view porn, and children should be taught this and the harms of pornography, not encouraged to view it with a nod, nod, wink, wink attitude.

You can view the Safe Schools Alliance UK tweet here: twitter.com/SafeSchools_UK/status/1379528765261381634

SSAUK are calling on Childline and the NSPCC (who run Childline) to take this film down.

The Government should bring in age-verification for online porn ASAP to prevent children having easy access to online porn. All the laws have been passed, and the regulatory framework is in place. The Government bottled it at the last minute in 2019 after facing pressure from the powerful porn industry. Our children deserve better.

I agree with this. The Tom Ska video is a prime example of this. It's all very "knowing" and is pitched like it assumes enough prior knowledge to put everything into context

Agree and with him adding in the genres especially the swan thing (which I like many hadnt heard of) its guaranteeing kids will look it up so as not to appear stupid if it's ever discussed among them, or to appear knowing and bring it up in a conversation at some point.
Either way its stuff that the age group this video is purportedly aimed at should not know.
I cant believe what an abysmal failure this whole video is and some people cant see why.

softcore, hardcore, lesbian, thespian, interracial, facial, alternative, conservative, hentai, Far Cry, BDSM, NEDM, amateur, mature and swan disco.

I have never watched porn. I was a child in the 70s/80s and hated the culture around page 3, and pictures of naked women you'd see in garage workshops etc.

It was obvious even as a child the demeaning objectifying nature of such pictures. I simply extended my thinking to porn, that it was not about women or their pleasure but by and for men and utterly dismissive of women.

From this thinking I have never watched porn and will not have it in my life. I hate the idea that children need men introducing them to a load of terms, which mean little to me. I hate that this is considered an essential part of education.

How are young people going to be able to develop their own sense of sexuality with all this pushed at them?

Fuck this shit.

It even says on this educational video that ‘using your imagination is too much hard work’. That is part of the banter in order to introduce the message but all the same actually it sums up a whole binge -easy addictive culture being promoted.

I cant believe what an abysmal failure this whole video is and some people cant see why.

Some people cannot see why because they seem to approach porn from a ‘porn is fun and fine’ aspect.

I think we can take that any lack of engagement with the actual points of concern raised about using the different communication devices to be a lack of understanding.

I think those posters who support this video cannot (for whatever reason, emotive, time or lack of skills) dissect and analyze it. Yet they continue to double down on supporting it, and try deflection and distraction to cover their own lack of analysis.

I am increasingly concerned that safeguarding is in the hands of people who cannot critically evaluate content they wish to use in education of an extremely important, life changing subject. That front line educators put so much naive trust into the organisation putting their name and logo on resources that the educator doesn’t feel they have the confidence to do an analysis on it themselves.

Even worse, can’t be bothered, because that organisation could never get it wrong. And yet, I have a textbook full of the biggest brand names in history who have got it wrong every so often. Case study upon case study of fascinating human error.

Only this time, it is our kid’s lives and future being failed by people who are supposed to be experts.

@ScrollingLeaves

It even says on this educational video that ‘using your imagination is too much hard work’. That is part of the banter in order to introduce the message but all the same actually it sums up a whole binge -easy addictive culture being promoted.

Yes this part grossed me out too.

Switch off, tune in, jack off.

Good forbid you need to use your brain.

Content that is ok for 17 is not necessarily appropriate for a 12 yo.

It does feel like these wide ranging age brackets that encompass children who may not even have been through puberty yet and teenagers old enough to drive/have sex/buy their first drink, is a deliberate blurring of boundaries.

I have said it before on this thread, and strangely it too was left unaddressed.

If a vodka company made this video, substituting vodka and drinking themes instead of porn, it would be held accountable and probably face court and certainly the industry would react . Yet, it is entirely legal to for under 18s to drink alcohol in limited situations. So even the messaging around age could be similar and only need a tweak. For instance, ‘you only drink alcohol at the table with a meal with your family, don’t you?’.

Imagine this with smoking too?

So ASugarr. What is the difference? Would you support the same style of communication being used? Would you find it balanced?

Should a Vodka company start doing this as ‘education about the negative impacts of underage drinking’?

After all, drinking ‘is fun! And in moderation is fine!’ It is, isn’t it?

Gendered Intelligence do this a lot.

Really weird age ranges

8-15
12-23

Or similar

It's a red flag.

It's a red flag.

It really is

I can't actually believe that particular user is a teacher. They don't seem very informed about the curriculum and are way too casual with safeguarding. Ok, there's a chance they might teach a subject that doesn't require critical thinking skills, but I think it's more likely they are a secondary ta or youth worker. In my experience there are very good people in these roles, but there are also those that think they are the kids mate and sit there adding eff all to the learning in lessons. I could definitely see them telling kids porn is fun. As I said before you don't get many of those types in primary as it's much harder to hide you're not pulling your weight.
So whilst it's scary these people have influence over children they don't really have authority.

It's a red flag.

In plain sight. And ignored because ‘they must be experts’.

Like history has never happened.

There is an open letter to childline if anyone would like to sign

www.ipetitions.com/petition/open-letter-to-childline-stop-normalising-the-use

Also please write to Peter Wanless and copy in SSAUK

[email protected]
[email protected]

@GoingThruTheMotions

I can't actually believe that particular user is a teacher. They don't seem very informed about the curriculum and are way too casual with safeguarding. Ok, there's a chance they might teach a subject that doesn't require critical thinking skills, but I think it's more likely they are a secondary ta or youth worker. In my experience there are very good people in these roles, but there are also those that think they are the kids mate and sit there adding eff all to the learning in lessons. I could definitely see them telling kids porn is fun. As I said before you don't get many of those types in primary as it's much harder to hide you're not pulling your weight. So whilst it's scary these people have influence over children they don't really have authority.

Involvement in a youth group is my guess, but we’ll never know because clearly it’s too outing to say “i’m not a teacher.” (Rolls eyes, knocks self out)

As I am not familiar with these things, do youth support groups not have to have a person in such a role having a relevant degree and safeguarding qualifications?

Because why? Attendance is voluntary?

You would still need safeguarding training.

There just seems to be lots of organisations that go in and do sessions with kids (not necessarily in schools) that have a different ethos to teachers/mentors/TAs but maybe that’s just my take on things.

I’m saying I think someone is talking up their roles and responsibilities.

In my experience youth work and tas need less qualifications than teachers, so the job is taken more seriously in some cases. The quality of candidates is variable as they are not well paid roles (which I think is wrong as it means that the best people don't often apply)

I also find that in general primary school is more hot on safeguarding, probably because it's understood that they are children. There's less bs about allowing bad choices to happen because they are people. It's understood that they are people that the adults have responsibility for and that children lack the decision making skills of adults.

All schools and youth clubs will have a safeguarding lead, but the system is only as good as the team in it. Training and individual responsibility are important. The safeguarding lead is unlikely to have a direct report and it's the staff on the ground who are likely to encounter disclosures etc. In Primary the training is frequent as are reminders. We also have our own professional backs to watch out for. For example, if a colleague of mine showed that video in year six and said sex is fun, I'd report it asap. If I didn't and one of the kids told a parent or another teacher what happened, I'd find myself being asked why I'd made such a blunder. I think the difference in secondary is that kids don't generally tell parents as much so more slides, obviously this is just a generalisation based on my experience.

The other thing I have noticed is that people working in behaviour units and youth work with the more disengaged children are very lax. I worked briefly in one place where the staff were very clearly scared of the children and didn't use behaviour management or sanctions, got called by their first name. I left because someone senior to be failed to report a crime and told me to be quiet about it. I reported it anonymously to the police in the end. Everything was swept under the carpet, no one planned lessons and it was chaos. I can definitely see them pulling this video off as a sex education video on a hungover Tuesday morning. They'd be porn users themselves so it'd likely just descend into a chat with cons minimised and kids egging them on to more detail. The thing is, these kids had no one, expelled from mainstream and parents didn't care, so who was going to report anything unsuitable? Decent staff left because of the unprofessional culture and it just became a jungle. I felt a bit guilty leaving as there were kids there that needed my protection, but it was impossible to do from my position and I would have needed a lot more experience to climb the ladder. It was also a very stressful place to work and some male youths intimidated me because I was one of the few who tried to restore order and get learning done and I had to be fair to myself. It really opened my eyes to why safeguarding mistakes happen though.

So many insightful points. newyearnewname123 pointed out that back in the day women spent years protesting about the casual use of naked women as 'page 3 girls'. Yet now we are expected to stay silent while useful idiots promote porn to children, portraying regressive, aggressive and dangerous portrayals of women and men. We have self identified experts in safeguarding, both on this thread and elsewhere, openly demonstrating their lack of training, knowledge and experience. GoingThruTheMotions shows what happens to the most vulnerable children when safeguarding is not understood or prioritised. Organisations produce appalling materials for schools that completely undermine key safeguarding principles - yet people too scared to point this out.
Just as with Savile, Rotherham, Baby P and countless others there will subsequently be enquiries / case reviews as the victims of this emerge.
Has 'Everyone's Invited' alerted government and organisations to the reality of girl's experiences with rape and sexual assaults? Or will (as we see on this thread) adults who should prioritise the welfare of girls and boys continue to prioritise the interests of the lobby groups and the porn empire while ignoring the reality for girls?

GoingThruTheMotions

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

They'd be porn users themselves so it'd likely just descend into a chat with cons minimised

I wonder about this when I see a sex educator repeatedly stated porn is fun and fine for under 18s. Is the person in that position minimising the exploitative nature of too large a portion of the porn that is being consumed. The mental health aspects for both boys and girls also seem to be minimized.

We still did not get linked to any evidence, to any study, that detailed positive benefits for any person under 18 watching porn. Except a reference to better acceptance of sexual orientation which most surely could be done via other means other than porn.

I would still like to see any studies if they exist.

I also find the 'that is your opinion, but porn is fun imo' very telling.

Fact is educators are not allowed certain opinions. You can't have racist, homophobic or other professionally dubious opinions. School staff have got the sack for being members of certain groups and liking things on social media. You're technically not even allowed to get drunk outside of school in public, as if a parent or child sees you it's bad role modelling. Teachers have been disciplined for attending hen do's. So people that think they can breezily discuss 'fun' porn and other such nonsense with children are in for a rude awakening.

Schools also search your online presence before interviews nowadays, so I would be very, very careful about flippant attitudes to safeguarding on sm, as it could come bite you on the bum one day. Yes, we're all anonymous on here, but we should still hold ourselves to professional and moral standards.

Porn isn't fun for the women making it; for the girls watching it and the women who end up in relationships with porn influenced men. That's what the video should have been about. Not some creepy guy's interpretation of sexy sex sexy things. Ugh.

To add balance that is most definitely NOT my experience of PRUs in fact I’ve seen more things ignored in primary as the kids are often seen as “less vulnerable” and many staff are quick to give parents the benefit of the doubt.

But I don’t think this is the thread for that so sorry for detail.

The other thing I have noticed is that people working in behaviour units and youth work with the more disengaged children are very lax.

That's a whole scary world itself. I have volunteered in an alternative provision. It was hard to know where to start, they had a leaflet up about warning signs re safeguarding reports - the kids showed every one of them. I didn't report though because they were already in the system of social workers/ banardos support etc.

Interesting perspective, I'd be reporting any primaries like that to Ofsted myself.

Like I said, it's only my experience but has been generally consistent across the primaries I have worked at.

In Guiding we have regular safeguarding training and if you don't do it you will be kicked out.

The problem is now safeguarding is coming apart at the seams because of updating policies without really thinking them through. For example in scouting it used to be that you had to have same sexed leaders in charge of children who were then grouped by sex. I haven't kept up in guiding and scouts policies because I have not been involved for a number of years, but some of the new policies I have seen have some fairly obvious gaps in my mind.

Come to think of it scouting is another example I can think of where you have a real difference between the level of responsibility from different types of leaders. I had very responsible leaders and ones that got a bit drunk too.

Thankfully no one ever discussed porn with me. That was a line you didn't cross with children then.

But the point remains that safeguarding only works when everyone from the top to the bottom follows it.

Sorry for the derailing musings.

"Involvement in a youth group is my guess, but we’ll never know because clearly it’s too outing to say “i’m not a teacher.” (Rolls eyes, knocks self out)"

Aimee Challoner was involved in a youth group.