A Pennsylvania university unveiled a new course to its gender, sexuality and women’s studies program which focuses on digital pornography, according to a Tuesday news release.
Temple University (TU) will offer “Social Perspectives in Digital Pornography: The Other Sex Education” during the spring semester to “discover how internet porn influences students and their relationships and to think critically about its role in their lives,” the news release reads. It specified that students would not watch pornography during the class and would neutrally examine how pornography relates to characteristics such as race and gender, consent and sexual behavior, privacy, sexual violence and body image and policy and legislation. (RELATED: ‘Queer Dance’ And ‘Porn’: Colleges Are Actually Offering These Classes, And More)
“Sex is everywhere these days, especially in the digital space, so it may not come as a surprise to learn that pornography consumption has become increasingly prevalent around the world,” the news release reads. “Specifically, 46–74% of men and 16–41% of women report being active porn users in modern countries today, and the reported age at which people are first exposed to pornographic content continues to get younger. When a form of media is as pervasive as pornography, it is imperative to ask what viewers are learning about sex through this medium.”
The course, which is currently at maximum capacity, is complementary to the “Sexuality Education” course launched fall 2022, according to the news release. “Sexuality Education” aims to “close the gap left by wildly disparate K–12 sex education state requirements” and “encourage empathy,” according to the university news release, while the newer 2023 course will focus specifically on pornography as a topic in sex education.
Temple University in Pennsylvania (Screenshot/YouTube/Temple University)
“Students will gain a comprehensive and holistic understanding of how complex the topic of internet porn is,” said Jennifer Pollitt, assistant professor and assistant director of gender, sexuality and women’s studies. “We’ll situate it within sociosexual, political, legal and historical frameworks. Talking about sex education without talking about pornography would only be telling half the story.”
Students will also study “the development, implementation and effectiveness of emerging porn literacy programs that start in middle school to help young people understand the difference between sex in porn and sex in real life.”
TU and Pollitt did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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