Exploring Italian adolescents’ perspectives on online pornography and perceived harms

The evolving technological and social landscape offers adolescents new avenues for engaging with digital content, particularly in the realm of intimate activities. Public discourse often oversimplifies the intricate relationship between adolescents and online pornography. The prevailing narrative tends to portray pornography as detrimental to health and well-being, relying on a limited exposure and effects model that fails to grasp its nuanced significance in young lives. Online pornography, easily accessible to young individuals, is criticised for potentially replacing informative sex education with representations of violent and risky relationships. Employing media and cultural studies tools, this research positions porn consumption within the broader context of new mediated intimacies. The study aims to unravel how young Italians (15- to 18-year-olds) perceive and interpret harms in relation to online pornography. Findings reveal that despite a critical perspective, many participants maintain stereotypical views on gender and age dynamics, reflecting broader societal discourses about effects and addiction.