The people quoted about S'porean kids and porn said some pretty strange things

Should parents even be talking about sex to kids who are two?

Belmont Lay| September 06, 06:24 PM

An alarmist news report out in The Straits Times on Sept. 6, 2014, has the headline shouting: "Half of teens here exposed to pornography: Survey".

Conducted by Touch Cyber Wellness, the survey is touted as the first large-scale survey of 836 students -- 468 girls and 368 boys -- aged 13 to 15. It is supposed to examine children's exposure to pornography.

Some findings:

- 77 percent of teens said they were exposed to sexual content accessed through smartphones.

- 5 percent of teens had first encountered porn in lower primary levels.

Experts say the findings are worrying as such content affects young people's attitudes and behaviour towards love and sex, and may lead to sexual crimes.

However, one of the most troubling aspects of this survey that was not mentioned? How many of those teens surveyed who were exposed and not exposed to pornography were made curious by this survey to go check porn out subsequently?

Singaporeans' attitudes

The other interesting thing to note is the kind of attitudes Singaporeans hold about sex and porn.

First, there is "Airing of Secret Sexual Thoughts to Make Them Less Dirty Method".

Dr Munidasa Winslow, an addictions specialist in private practice was quoted in ST as saying:

"For sexual addictions, people are only as sick as their secrets. The more they can talk about them in safe places, the more the addictions lose their hold or power over people."

And then, there's the "You're Never Too Young To Find Out About Sex Method".

Ms Yap Chai Kian, 43, a manager with a nine-year-old daughter and a 13-year-old son, said she has been having regular conversations about sex and porn with their children since they were two. [Emphasis mine]

"I try to find opportunities to talk to them, like when crime shows on TV show people sending sexual images to one another so that it does not feel awkward."

I don't know about everyone else, but two years old sounds a bit too young.

Regardless, here is a Crimewatch 2014 episode on Sextortion, one of the crime shows on TV showing people sending sexual images to one another:

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