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SURVEY: Youth well versed in Internet porn

Published on Oct 10, 2002 The Nation

71% of young thai people have tried it

Almost three-quarters of Thai youths have visited pornographic websites, and 45 per cent of them have become the sites' regulars, according to an Internet survey conducted by an international non-governmental organisation for children.

The survey also highlighted dangers of real-life meetings with online impostors, online conversations about sex, and leaving children alone with the computer.

The survey indicated that the Internet as a medium of communication provided the youngsters with an unprecedented degree of freedom to speak their minds.

During August and September, ECPAT International, an association of several organisations, conducted an online survey entitled "Are Our Children at Risk Online?" Aimed at ascertaining the dangers of the Internet in relation to child sexual exploitation, the survey, among the first of its kind in Asia, encompassed 557 usable data sets from children, youths, parents and teachers in Thailand.

It contained questions on the use of the Internet, exposure to online pornography, awareness of dangers, and shocking experiences with websites and online confidants.

Isabelle Michelet, director of consulting firm Prasena, which designed the questionnaires, revealed that more than 71 per cent of the youths (aged 12 to 25) surveyed had visited a pornographic website at least once, while 45 per cent of them have been repeat visitors.

Surprisingly, 30 per cent of children (aged seven to 11) and 52 per cent of youths said they have no problems with trading naked pictures of movie stars via computers.

A total of 73 per cent of the porn site regulars were undeterred by the "inconvenient" consequences of visiting those sites, including facing dozens of porn-related commercial pop-up windows and having their homepage settings changed. However, 43 per cent of children and 63 per cent of youths admitted that they have faced some shocking websites containing distressing or "ugly" pictures, or bad language.

The survey found that 92 per cent of children and youths have been invited to talk about sex. Once faced with such situations, most of them opted to change the subject or switch off while 17 per cent continued the conversation, arguing the risk was minimal.

Most children and youths were aware of the possibility that their virtual friends or confidants could be impostors. They really did not care about that, however.

More astonishing, half of both children and youths have discovered that at least one of their "friends" on the Net was an impostor.

With the results of this survey in mind, parents should not leave their children unadvised online or unaccompanied when meeting up with online friends in real life, Michelet said.

According to the survey, filtering software does not help because half the youngsters said that they could easily bypass it. Regarding the causes of these behaviour patterns, Guy Thompstone, an ECPAT official, stressed the crisis of identity among children and youths and that the Internet offers a new, autonomous, even rebellious reality.

"The Internet is a powerful new technology located within a culturally specific context," he said.

He concluded that, in this light, the Internet is a place in which they could exert more control over their lives and relationships.

Phermsak Lilakul

THE NATION