"I don't think that parents are doing a good job at explaining things at home
because I think there is an assumption that the schools will take care of it,
and yet there is little-to-no training for teachers who teach sex education.
The U of A has one of the only courses in the country who pre-services teachers
[for sexual education]," Thompson said.
She went on to explain that the study analyzed the responses from 429 Grade 8
students with a median age of 13.5. The survey considered accurate within one
percentage point, 19 times out of 20.
When asked about the responsibility of the pornography industry itself,
Thompson expressed doubt that the it could be held accountable.
However, she did say that media providers such as Internet, satellite and
digital cable services should be helping parents to limit their children's
access to porn via technologies such as Net Nanny, Bess or other blocking
programs. Still, according to the study, only 13 per cent of students indicated
that their homes used such systems.
According to Thompson, even the best blocking technology is meaningless without
conscientious parental involvement.
"I think that parents need to be talking to their kids about what they are
doing online and what they're watching," Thompson said.
"If they want to have any control over it, then they need to learn about the
technologies and monitor what their kids are doing," Thompson said.
Thompson also warned that even if parents feel uncomfortable with teaching
their children about sex, if they don't, "the Internet will."
Thompson said that there was still a fear from teachers about a backlash from
parents and administrators if the issue of online pornography was brought up
during class time. There is a common misconception, she said, that if you teach
children about sex, they will be more inclined to have it.
"When I was attempting to get permission from superintendents to do this study,
some wouldn't let me into their districts because they thought if I asked kids
about viewing porn then it would make kids view porn," Thompson continued.
Zhen Zulin, local creator of online porn sites such as onlineanime.org, agreed
with the results of Thompsonˇ¦s study, but believes that parents' minds need to
be changed before schools will change their programs.
"There is indeed an assumption that the education system is taking care of it.
We should not further alleviate parents from parenting. Letting the schools
take care of the matter is morally and ethically irresponsible. The
responsibility for proper sex education is shared between parent and school,"
Zulin said.
