Young adult writers’ thoughts on healthy pornography

In this paper, we present data about how young adult writers respond to the criteria for, and examples of, healthy pornography. Data derive from a textual analysis prepared by four young adult writers aged 18-25 years, who were the majority of authors of this paper. They were recruited by the first author who circulated a call for expressions of interest on what was then called Twitter. The co-authors were paid A$500 to prepare 500 words of textual analysis on criteria for healthy pornography and four websites that were suggested by an expert panel as possibly supporting healthy sexual development for young adults. We then subjected these data to a meta-textual analysis to draw out key insights. Our perspectives on healthy pornography included poetry, activist writing and academic writing. The findings make clear the diversity of ideas and thoughts about this topic among 18-25-year-olds. This demonstrates the creativity of human interpretation, and how this informs the ways in which we engage with, make sense of and make use of pornography.