Could Better Sex Ed Help End Sexual Violence in Ireland?

Now more than ever, a comprehensive sex education is critical for young boys and girls in Ireland. In the digital era, there is widespread accessibility to online content, exposing young people not only to controversial content creators such as Andrew Tate and Bonnie Blue, but to pornography and explicit content as well. 

It has been three months since the Natural Women’s Council uploaded a video to YouTube captioned ‘SPHE Teacher’s Whistleblower Interview – What Happens in the Classroom Stays in the Classroom.’

The video features Mary Creedon, a former SPHE teacher who resigned from her job as she was “horrified” that she was expected to teach sexually explicit material to children from the ages of 12-15 after attending a course in Dublin City University designed for SPHE coordinators who outline how SPHE is taught in their schools.

Creedon alleged that during this course they were educated on a study by researcher, Kate Dawson, that she says outlines that “it’s okay to watch porn”, along with a cartoon video showing images of female masturbation and sexual intercourse between heterosexual and homosexual people. Another exercise involved teachers having to critique statements that have reference to sexually explicit activity.

At the time of writing, the video has over 440k views, and has put both the Department of Education and DCU under fire, leading to threats of violence on those who established and teach the course.  

Since, DCU have issued a statement explaining that the university materials that were used on the programme were provided to the adult teachers only in “the context of their broader SPHE/RSE education.”

Researcher Dawson, tells us: “Research in the area of pornography education, including my own, has been wholly misrepresented in the past few years in public discussions about the new SPHE curriculum in Ireland.”

What’s more is that it has been falsely stated that Kate and her colleagues have encouraged the use of ethical porn in the classroom as well as “advanced sexual terminology.”

Dawson and her colleagues are a team of researchers “whose job is to explore and find public consensus (where possible) about these topics.” Based on their research from multiple studies over years, their findings support the need for “discussion of pornography as part of sex education programmes.”

Dawson says: “Our findings show that the core messages should be centred around the fact that sex in pornography may be very different to the type of sex that you or your partner may be comfortable with, and that ultimately, sexual practices should always involve the communication of consent and aligns with one’s personal sexual values.” 

Dawson states that all discussions should be “age and stage appropriate” – and this is where the confusion manifested around the content shared in the SPHE curriculum. “Statements made by our young adult participants (aged 18-24) were misrepresented online as educational recommendations for teenagers,” she says. 

The idea that Dawson and her team suggested the use of ethical pornography as a means to educate young people around sex is entirely false.

Rather, they discussed how this recommendation, made by young adults, that ethical porn could be a better alternative for sexual learning than conventional pornography, “would only be reserved for adults who choose to engage with ethical porn, and is entirely unsuitable for adolescent sex education,” she explains.

This is an important point made in their research that those who are “opposed to sex education reform are happy to omit,” she adds.

Dawson’s study that surveyed students on pornography use and involved them in planning critical learning interventions showed that “almost 60% of boys in Ireland see porn for the first time by age 13.”

Rather than ignoring this harsh reality, “research suggests that we should equip young people with the knowledge and critical thinking skills to challenge sexual messages they could receive from online sources,” Dawson explains.

“The aim is not to normalise pornography as a source of legitimate sexual information for adolescents – it is not, but instead to normalise the discussion of pornography so that we can ultimately challenge unhelpful, and even harmful messages people may receive from watching pornography.” 

While Creedon’s claims in the viral YouTube video are misinterpretations, we must question if SPHE teachers are the right fit to educate young people on these often taboo topics. One teacher described how many teachers aren’t comfortable teaching this new curriculum to students as young as 12 and that students aren’t exactly comfortable learning about sex and masturbation, “from somebody that may also be teaching them English later that afternoon.”

A study carried out in 2011 found that female teaching graduates had a higher interest in teaching SPHE than male teaching graduates. Only 30.6% of females and 19.5% of males were open to teaching SPHE in schools. As well as this, twice as many female preservice teachers said that personal interest in the subject influenced their decision to teach SPHE, however, male teachers were less altruistic with their incentive to teach being extra pay.

Another study carried out in 2005 found that many young men in Ireland turn to pornography to learn how to have sex. Performance anxiety was an overbearing factor in this research; the young males expressed their need for more information on the “physical dimensions” of sex. 

A lot has changed in Ireland since these two studies were published, but sex education in schools remains controversial and sexual violence has become normalised for young women with the prevalence of violent pornography consumption.

According to the Sexual Exploitation Research and Policy Institute of Ireland (SERP), which was commissioned by Women’s Aid, violent sexual content in pornography is shaping young men’s sexual behaviour.

This issue of young men learning about sex through pornography has only gotten worse since 2005. This research notes that violent themes in sexual intercourse that were once on the “margins” of porn sites twenty years ago are now front and centre.

If this was an issue flagged in 2005, why only now has the SPHE curriculum been updated – and does it reflect the needs of teachers and young people? 

SERP’s research reiterates the importance of building on the work that the new SPHE curricula entails, including adequate training for teachers and campaigns that educate parents and the public on the harms of pornography. 

Director of SERP Ruth Breslin, explains in relation to pornography that, “9 in 10 themes contain some kind of aggression, in 94% of those cases the aggression is directed towards the woman in the scene, and in the vast majority of these cases (over 90%) the woman is expected to respond neutrally or with pleasure.”

Breslin says: “A lot of pornography today is not depicting sex, what it is actually depicting is sexual violence.” These aggressions include spanking, spitting, name calling, hair pulling, strangulation and forceful anal sex. Ruth says that parents don’t realise that these acts of sexual aggression are visible on the home page in “two clicks.” 

Of course, young people are naturally curious about sex, but Ruth says that “there is a direct link” between young people going to porn sites to learn about sex and then bringing what they see into their own intimate relationships.

Boys are believing  that girls want to be “slapped or spat on” and in contrast girls are going to porn to see what “boys are expecting of them,” she adds. 

The updated SPHE curriculum marks a step forward, but it faces challenges in teacher preparedness and willingness, and public resistance to open discussions about sexual education.

Without the support from the Department of Education, parents, and teachers regarding a non-traditional sex education, young people will remain vulnerable to harmful influences. 

Words by Abby Sammon