Skip to main content

Review of BBC 3 websex

The BBC is currently running a season on sex on its BBC 3 channel and the first show was a programme called web sex. You can watch it on iPlayer here http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b019gc2h/  (If you live outside of the UK http://www.tunnelbear.com/ can get you around the country restrictions). 


The shows was trying to explore how young people are using the internet and mobile phones for their own sex lives. Now the programme starts with two interviews with a guy and a girl who claim that the interweb has had a very positive impact on their sex lives. The guy has a pretty rotten attitude towards women (in my opinion) with him using social networks to maximise the number of women he can have sex with. The 2nd interview talks to a girl who has found social networks as a way to build her personal confidence and improve her self esteem. 


The show moves on to the detail other ways social networks, mobile apps and websites are used by young people for some kind of sexual purpose. They tell the story of a girl who got addicted to meeting with strangers online for sex, a women who had private images she shared with a partner spread around and a women who was happy to do live sex shows on a webcam but wouldn't let her face be shown. 

Through out the programme I got a strong sense that the show was claiming that websex could be either positive or negative. This seems a pretty fair conclusion that technology as a resource is neutral and it is how people use it that is important. Near the end they have an interview with @EmmaKennytv who makes one of the most important points of the show that everything sexual you do online should be with a "trusted partner". Her advice focuses on the simple check that if you wouldn't be comfortable do an activity in front of someone in real life you should think twice about doing in via a webcam. 

The show also had some substantial research about websex trends by @profandyphippen  who detailed lots of very high rates of young people using the internet either to enhance their offline relationships and also for me surprising high rates of young people seeking out new partners online. I hope to get a look at a more detailed breakdown of the results in the future. 

Overall I liked this programme as a good introduction to what is happening in the emerging generation of young sexual beings. I do think it did a good job of highlighting some of the specific dangers/consequences that are relevant to websex. I hope that awareness of this issue continues to be raised for young people. Not because websex is bad, but people need to be equipped to make informed intelligent choices when they understand the risks.
Labels:

Comments

  1. Anonymous11 February 2012 at 02:54

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A RSE reading list

Sometimes people ask me what reading I recommend around RSE, so I thought I would put together a bit of a list.  Key (free) articles and reports  Young people’s RSE UK poll  Sex Education Forum (2018) RSE outcome variations due to facilitator differences  Young et al (2018) What do young people think about their school-based sex and relationship education? A qualitative synthesis of young people's views and experiences Pound et al. (2016) Review of sexual abuse in schools and college s Ofsted (2021) National and International RSE Guidance  UNESCO international guidance on RSE  UNESCO (2018) England   Department for Education full guidance on statutory relationships education, relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education  Department for Education (2019) Wales Curriculum for Wales guidance and code for Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE)  (Consultation stage) Welsh Government (2021)  Scotland  Guidance for teac...
1 comment
Read more

Review of Channel 4's Sex in Class

Review of Channel 4's Sex in Class from a relationship and sex educator's perspective. In this review I will try and bring my perspective as a relationship and sex educator to look at Channel 4's one off show Sex In Class . The show is about a Belgian sexologist Goedele Liekens  testing out her approach to relationship and sex education for 15-16 year olds at a Lancashire school. You can read some great overall reviews from Jules Hillier at Brook  and  Sam Wollaston at the Guardian   of the show. In this blog I am trying to focus specifically on my my perspective as a relationship and sex educator on Goedele's content and approach.  Goedele Liekens with her charges in Sex in Class. Photograph: Matt Squire The show starts with a pretty unsurprising statistic of " 83% of kids have seen porn by the time they are 13" (source not cited) and goes on to show how teachers at this school don't think current RSE is good enough and also gives some quot...
Post a Comment
Read more

Creating a physical RSE resource - See It Shout It

I love making new relationships and sex education resources. " See It Shout It ", is the latest resource I have made to help young people grow in confidence to verbalise sex related words. I was asked how I choose the 31 icons that made the resource and I thought the creation process might be interesting to talk about.  Normally I create activities that can be shared digitally and then printed out or used with a projector. But sometimes I am involved in creating physical products. The process is similar for both but there are a few extra steps with making a physical product to be sold. The barriers to start making your own high quality resources is lower then ever and new creators can always bring a fresh perspective to a topic.  I have worked in the sex education field for over 15 years and this topic is what I know best but I'm sure that the same basic process can be applied to many different subjects. I am going to share the process I went through creating " See I...
Post a Comment
Read more