About this talk
THIS TALK CONTAINS MATURE CONTENT
Amongst bored high school students, the word “pornography” can capture a room’s attention in seconds. Emily F. Rothman, Pornography Literacy Scientist, had this discovery while she was speaking to a group of students about teen dating violence, which happens to affect 1 in 5 teenagers each year. While studying dating violence, “pornography” became a recurring topic. She dove further and discovered correlations between pornography, lack of comprehensive sex education, and sexual violence.
Now Emily speaks to students about Pornography Literacy – teaching them to think critically about the sexual images that they consume from the media in order to build dialogue about safe, healthy sex. Watch Emily’s TEDMED 2018 Talk to see how Pornography Literacy can re-shape the future of sexual violence in the US.
About Emily F. Rothman
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Emily F. Rothman is a professor at Boston University and a leading expert on how sexually explicit media affects young people’s relationships. She is a professor and the Chair of the Department of Occupational Therapy as well as a professor in the School of Public Health. Her research explores how teenagers view pornography and how it might impact their dating relationships and sexual behaviors. To help address this, she helped create a “pornography literacy curriculum” for teens in partnership with the Boston Public Health Commission. This curriculum aims to help young people think critically about the content they see online. In addition to her work on media, Emily has also led many research projects funded by the NIH and other organizations. These studies focus on the causes and effects of dating violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking. More recently, her work has expanded to include a focus on neurodiversity and developing interventions to promote healthy relationships for autistic individuals. She is also the author of the book Pornography and Public Health.
