Article by www.myadsl.co.za

While two-thirds of high-school pupils in South Africa’s major cities have watched at least one porn movie, the figures for porn are much higher with mediums like the internet and cellphones.

This is according to a report released by the government on Tuesday. Close to half of the pupils questioned reported watching such films regularly.

The report is based on the findings of a survey conducted among more than 1 000 pupils in the 13 to 17-plus age group in randomly selected schools in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg.

It is titled “Internet usage and the exposure of pornography to learners in South African schools”.

Among other major findings is that 64% of teenagers surveyed had been exposed to pornographic images on the internet, while 81% admitted to seeing such images on friends’ cellphones.

“Most pupils (67%) reported having seen a pornographic film… mostly on DVD. More boys (84%) than girls (54%) have watched at least one pornographic film, while a total of 45% reported watching pornographic films regularly.”

Released by deputy home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba at a parliamentary news briefing, the report is one of three commissioned by a ministerial team on child pornography.

Another, on the use of child pornography in South Africa, finds that police and prosecuting teams need specialised technological training to curb such crime with success.

It also calls for computers and cellphones to be fitted with filtering software to prevent the dissemination of such material.

A third report - titled “Technology puts children under threat” -examines the incidence and impact of “non-contact sexual abuse” of children through the internet and cellular phones.

Made them uncomfortable

This was based on research conducted among children between the ages of 10 and 15 in the three metropolitan areas.

“The research study found that 22% of the children who took part in the study have been exposed to distressing content on the internet, mostly of a sexual nature and nudity, which made them feel uncomfortable.”

Another major finding was that 14% of chat room users - a popular pastime among children in this age group - have had sexual advances made to them on-line.

Gigaba said South Africa needed more “radical voices” to speak out on pornographic television-broadcast material and the dissemination of pornographic images via the internet and cellphones.

“There aren’t enough voices out there… saying don’t expose our children to porn… We need to draw a line as far as protection of children is concerned,” he said.

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