Young Girls' Experiences of Exposure to Pornography: A Qualitative Study

This qualitative study aims to explore the experiences, meanings, and uses of pornography among female adolescents and young women receiving care in child and adolescent psychiatry services. Participants aged 12 to 25 years will be recruited from inpatient and outpatient settings. Exclusion criteria will include an acute psychotic episode or an acute mood episode that could compromise participation in an interview.

Using semi-structured interviews, the study will examine the circumstances and age of first exposure to pornography; participants' emotional responses and evolving perceptions; subsequent patterns of viewing, use, avoidance, or sharing; and the roles pornography may play in their lives. Particular attention will be paid to its possible functions in relation to curiosity, sexual learning, arousal, identity exploration, peer relationships, emotional regulation, coercion, or distress.

The interviews will also explore how participants perceive the place of pornography in their relational and sexual trajectories, including its potential influence on expectations, consent, body image, sexual practices, intimate relationships, and current sexual life. Rather than assuming that pornography has uniformly harmful or beneficial effects, the study will seek to understand its diverse, ambivalent, and context-dependent meanings.

Finally, participants will be invited to formulate recommendations concerning public policy, pornography regulation, prevention, and sexuality education. By centring the perspectives of young female psychiatric service users, this study aims to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of pornography within contemporary adolescent development and clinical care.