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Recently, we learned Pornhub wants to be the hottest destination for sex ed. Pornhub is a pornographic video sharing website and the largest pornography site on the Internet. Now, they want to be the largest provider of sex education. They have launched a free subsite called the Pornhub Sexual Health and Wellness Center and have engaged Dr. Laurie Betito as the Executive Director, with an aim to bring sexual information, wellness and happiness to their 70 million users and the world at large, even our kids. Their tagline is “Real Talk About Sex from Those Who Know It Best”.

Immediately, I question that statement. I believe, and I’m sure many others do too, that porn is not real sex. It is a poorly acted description of the physical act, yes, but the intimacy, the emotion, the bonding that should happen with real sex and real intimacy cannot be replicated by actors on any porn screen. Porn, when you think about it, is prostitution plus a camera. I heard a quote once which summed it up nicely for me: “the problem with porn is not that it shows too much, it is that it shows too little”. In fairness to Pornhub, they are not marketing this free site specifically to kids/teens, but the reality is that that is what is going to happen. Even if you look at the disjointed articles and graphics, it appears to me that much of the content is basic and is geared toward the curious and the young.

In her Quartz.com article on February 5th, Leah Fessler raises similar questions:

“The ironies of Pornhub’s endeavor, of course, are clear. If any industry has negatively impacted young peoples’ understanding of healthy sexual behavior, it’s mainstream porn. And if any company epitomizes mainstream porn, it’s Pornhub. While many of Pornhub Sexual Wellness Center’s contributors, like sexuality thought leader Emily Negoski, are top tier, the site collectively feels like a wash of disconnected, elementary, and at times, even inaccurate information which, without proper context, serves limited educative power.”

Further, again on February 5th, Patheos.com author, Matthew Facciani wrote:

“Sexual education still has a long way to go in America. Discussing sex is still viewed as taboo in our culture even though proper education about consent and safe sex would positively impact many people. While we continue to fight for evidence-based sexual education in schools, alternative methods have emerged. One such method is from actually from one of the largest porn websites in the world, Pornhub. According to USA Today the new Pornhub website will “cover topics ranging from reproductive health, STDs and STIs to sexuality and relationship building.”

Corey Price, Vice-president of Pornhub, released the following statement:

“We understand the importance of educating the general public on a wide range of topics pertaining to sexual health and awareness, and saw an opportunity to deliver knowledge and understanding through renowned doctors and experts,” Too often pornography is used as a really bad sexual education for teens. Pornhub hosts 70 million daily users so if even a fraction of them could learn something from this new site, that would be great!”

And finally, from February 6th, 2017 in an article on Pajaba.com, Bekka Supp opines:

“I know for a lot of us, sex ed was taught by a middle-aged divorcee, who had no interest in being there, while pushing a very staunch pro-abstinence agenda. And there were some slides. Oh god, the SLIDES. Or it was taught by our parents, who were very squeamish about the conversation and wanted to get it over with as soon as possible, and their one lesson was “sex: don’t have it.”

Regardless of how we all learned about the proverbial birds and the bees, Pornhub has launched a new educational portal (phrasing.) After entertaining users with its millions of adult sex videos, it has now taken it upon itself to teach you how to make love responsibly. Pornhub has just launched a FREE education website offering advice on how to enjoy a healthy and happy sex life.”

So while Pornhub and their Sexual Health and Wellness portal is not overtly “targeting or marketing” this program as a sex ed resource for children and teens, everyone can make a very easy supposition that, in fact, this will be the primary market for this information. The blogosphere and internet sites in general, are full of statistics of porn being the new sexual education for youth and of stats regarding the staggering numbers of internet porn use by youth and young adults. Now however, this porn production and distribution giant wants to educate about human sexuality!

They talk about sharing information on love, sex and intimacy in a healthy and holistic way…this from an organization that regularly promotes videos with abuse, domination, physical degradation, and even violence. Not to mention, the widening of sexual norms ( some would say disordered sexual appetites), that this organization promotes. Let me share with you a few of their recent article titles, and leave it at that. I wouldn’t want to retype the actual article info even in a truncated form…

– “5 most common bisexual myths”
– “What happens at play parties”
– “Trans 101”

Certainly, not what I want my child experiencing as part of their education into sexuality! One of the things Pornhub realizes, however, and in this they are right, our sex ed in schools is not enough and parents are often too uncomfortable to deal effectively with the topic of sexuality with their kids. That is where Pornhub wants to jump in and provide that “service” so they can grow their membership by another 70 million users!

So what do we do?

First, as parents, please get educated! Pornography today is not what you might imagine when you think back to your understanding of pornography from your younger years. Gone are the days of still pictures of a nude woman or man in a field, today this is full HD video with violence, abuse, same sex interaction, and all manner of other topics would have been relegated to some disturbing fetish just 20 years ago.

Secondly, do not be embarrassed to discuss sex with your child in an age appropriate fashion. Kids have no filter or preconceived notions. We as adults struggle with this topic due to our own notions or broken sexual narrative; they won’t. Be brave and you might find out that the conversation is nowhere near as tough as you might think.

Protect your technology (and your kids); there are many great products out there which provide filtering for our phones, tablets, laptops, etc. Make sure your family is protected. The average age of exposure to porn is now 8 years old in the US; is your baby ready for that? Are you? Don’t procrastinate, find a product and install it now; it will save you and your child much pain and sorrow in the future. We recommend Covenant Eyes, www.covenanteyes.com and if you use the promo code Integrity30, your first 30 days are free.

Finally, and I will stress it again, TALK TO YOUR KIDS! As parents we have the primary responsibility to educate our children, don’t leave it up to the schools or pornography to do your job for you. I ‘m confident you won’t like the results.

Jim O’Day is the Executive Director of Integrity Restored, a ministry of Stewardship: A Mission of Faith, a 501c3 organization. Our mission at Integrity Restored is to help restore the integrity of individuals, spouses, and families that have been affected by pornography and pornography addiction. Integrity Restored provides education, training, encouragement, and resources to break free from pornography, heal relationships, and to assist parents in preventing and responding to pornography exposure which is so devastating in the lives of our children. We are also a resource that trains and helps clergy in assisting families at the parish level, so that the domestic church truly becomes what it is, the human space in which we encounter Christ www.integrityrestored.com