Teenage Netizens bump into porn and sexual advances from strangers online whether or not they're actually looking for either, according to a new study sponsored by the federal government's National Science Foundation.
"The sexuality expressed in a teen chat room was public, linked to strangers and had nothing to do with relationships," said UCLA psychologist and Children's Digital Media Center Patricia Greenfield, who co-authored the study and whose part in it included her own foray into a teen-oriented onlien chat.
"It was very explicit and focused on physical acts, and often associated with the degradation of women," Greenfield continued. "I started to receive private instant messages, including a crude sexual advance, just by hanging out at the chat room, even though I had not participated in any of the ongoing conversations. I was not looking for unsolicited personal messages, sexual or otherwise, but once I decided to enter the chat room, I could not avoid being exposed. I was pursued sexually."
NSF program officer Amy Sussman said this and other studies show teenage Internet use has evolved quickly and shows both the opportunities and the dangers of life in cyberspace. "They (also) debunk popularly held but incorrect notions about teen Internet use," she said. "The guidelines based on the research should be helpful to parents and policy-makers alike."
Not surprisingly, teens who do solicit sexual conversation speak in code whenever they might be interrupted by a parent entering the computer room, according to another study co-author, researcher Kaveri Subrahmanyam, who said a teen might type in "POS" (parent over the shoulder) to explain a period of silence or absence from the chat, or even to advise those chatting with him or her to tone down the talk a bit.
But teens aren't just dealing with porn and sexual stimulation online, either. Two other researchers at the Children's Digital Media Center at UCLA, Lalita Suzuki and Jerel Calzo, say in a separate study that some teenagers seek sex-related health advice in Internet teen chats and bulletin boards because they might feel awkward talking about the subject with their parents.
"Questions referring to sexual techniques prompted a lot of interest in the teen sexual health issues board," the two said in their findings, "and so did interpersonal aspects of sex, such as problems with boyfriends and girlfriends regarding whether or not to have sex."
The National Science Foundation was created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense," and has an estaimted $5.5 billion annual budget.
