Blurring the boundaries of public health: It’s time to make safer sex porn and erotic sex education

Abstract

Unsafe sex is now the biggest risk factor for the death of young women globally and the second biggest for young men. Alongside this, pornography, which rarely shows safer sex, is one of the key channels for sex education globally. Higher quality research needs to explore the positive and negative impact of porn while the sex education world needs to engage with it to ensure that viewing porn can promote safe sex choices and consent, as well as pleasure. We need unbiased research and innovation into the impact of porn and recognition that can have a positive impact for public health.