An analysis of Māori data from the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) report titled “Research findings of a survey on how and why Young New Zealanders view online pornography” published in December 2018.
The complete report is available from https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5425697/NZYouthandPorn.pdf
A young person is a person aged between 14 and 17.
The report used the following definition of pornography: “explicit images, video, or movies of a person or people having real sex or doing sexual things and you can see their genitals (e.g. penis, vagina).”
Key facts retrieved from the report:
- In terms of exposure to pornography and frequency of use, the behaviours among Māori, Pasifika, and NZ European youth are quite similar.
- 73% of young Māori have seen pornography compared to 72% Pasifika, and 69% New Zealand European.
- Accidental first exposure is more common among Māori and Pasifika youth. This difference may reflect lower confidence and knowledge about keeping safe online generally. Netsafe’s 2018 research with young people found that Pasifika and Māori youth reported lower levels of awareness about online safety than NZ European youth.
- Māori young people are less likely to have seen romance or affection (63%, vs 80% of non-Māori), however they are just as likely to see this behaviour often. There were no other significant differences in relation to ethnicity.
- NZ European and Māori youth are more likely to have had a conversation with their parent or caregiver about pornography.
- Support for some kind of online restriction (such as filters or age verification) is highest among Māori and Pasifika youth.
Summary
Based on NetSafe reports this year regarding online safety and Māori, two key recommendations appear obvious to me:
- There is a dire need for specific Māori online safety resources as Māori are more likely to be victims and to seek assistance from whānau.
- As young Māori favor an online filter some consideration should be made about this.
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