What an incredible morning we had launching our resources for the Porn Is Not the Norm project yesterday. Thanks to everyone who joined us! A huge thank you to the awe-inspiring Jodi Rodgers for your moving speech, along with all your guidance and contributions over the last few years. We’re rapt that you’re finding the resources so useful in your work with young people! What a privilege and joy it has been to work with all my fabulous colleagues including Wenn Lawson, Jodi Rodgers, Sarah Wilson, Jack Mulholland, Scarlett Musu, David Corlett, and Nicola Weston in creating resources that can make a real difference in the lives of autistic young people and their communities. A special thank you to those involved in establishing this project: Jackie Bateman, Interchange Outer East, Leigh Bartlett, and Sarah McGregor. On behalf of everyone who contributed to the creation and delivery of these resources - we hope you will find them helpful in supporting the autistic young people in your lives.

Jodi Rodgers is probably best known to you as the Relationships Counsellor on Love On The Spectrum. Jodi is passionate that all people have access to relationships and sexuality education that is inclusive of their individual communication and learning styles. We are absolutely delighted to have had her as an expert advisor on the Porn Is Not The Norm project.

The autistic young people we have interviewed said they think it is important that parents and carers talk about sex and pornography with young people.This is an issue that is tough to talk about and we may prefer to ignore it. But it’s time we put aside our discomfort and discussed the issue as a matter of urgency. The alternative is to let young people’s sexuality be shaped by the pornography industry.

Autistic young people are often very drawn to technology, even more so than their non-autistic peers. While technology can bring enormous advantages for autistic young people, spending more time online and being immersed in what they see there, can increase the likelihood that they will see pornography.

Sex can be fantastic, but it can also be awful, and everything in between. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for people to have negative sexual experiences. One of the best ways to prevent negative (pressured, coercive or abusive) sexual experiences is through access to good information, education and support.

We need to talk with young people – including autistic young people – about some key things to support their sexual safety.

Autistic young people have told us that parents, carers and workers need to be addressing the impacts of pornography on the young people in their care. Here’s what a few of the young people and experts we interviewed had to say.

The Starting the Conversation resource package, developed by pornography expert Maree Crabbe and autism expert Associate Professor Wenn Lawson, is designed to use with autistic young people to support them to develop safe, respectful relationships in an age of pornography.

It has been developed for use by the adults in autistic young people’s lives, including parents, carers, teachers and other professionals from across a range of sectors.

If we want to help autistic young people to build relationships and sexualities that are respectful, safe, mutually pleasurable and fully consenting, then it’s time we talked about porn.

As parents, carers, families, schools, communities and as a society, we need to help young people navigate pornography’s influence. We can’t let young people’s sexuality be shaped by the pornography industry. We can do better than that.

A ‘new normal’ in pornography is here, and it’s providing a disturbing model of sexuality for young people today. Pornography’s influence undermines healthy, respectful experiences of sexuality for young people in general, but these risks may be amplified for autistic young people.

Autistic young people may need a different kind of support to navigate pornography’s influence. Visit our resources hub for dedicated resources to help you navigate these issues with the young people in your care.

For many young people, it’s harder to avoid pornography than it is to see it. Autistic young people are no exception.

Young people may seek pornography out, but they are also being exposed to it accidentally. It might appear uninvited on the screen through an unrelated search, pop-ups, on their social media, in games, in their messages or emails, or any other online context. Or someone else might show it to them in person. It’s not so much a question of if they will see it, as when.

Just like any other young person, autistic young people need access to information and education about relationships and sexuality, and support from the people around them.Sexuality information and education needs to be clear, inclusive and developmentally-appropriate. It needs to be tailored to their needs so that it makes sense to them.

Autistic young people have told us that parents, carers and workers need to be addressing the impacts of pornography with the young people in their care. Parents, carers, schools and workers all have important roles to play - which is why Porn Is Not the Norm have developed this online training. It has been developed for professionals who work with autistic young people, however it is also suitable for parents and carers.

Autistic young people have a right to experience relationships and sexuality. The wonderful Jodi Rodgers said it best: Sexuality is part of who we are as humans.

Historically, there has been a common assumption that some autistic young people will not be interested in relationships or sex. But this assumption leaves them at risk.

Autistic young people are at higher risk of victimisation, and of being misunderstood or engaging in harm, so having people to talk with who will help understand puberty, relationships and sexuality is a key protective factor for autistic young people.

Being a sexual being is part of life. Autistic young people have a right to access sexuality education that makes sense for them and supports them to develop relationships and sexuality that are healthy, respectful, consenting and mutual.

Being monotropic has a range of implications for how autistic young people use and experience technology, and experiences of their bodies, relationships and sexuality. And all of this has implications for how pornography can impact us.

Taking words literally means that it can be difficult for autistic people to understand things like metaphor, exaggeration and sarcasm. It can also set us up for believing scripted and acted scenes, as if they are real. This can then affect what we expect from others and what we think others want from us.

Autistic young people usually have a very ‘black and white’ or literal way of understanding the people and world around them. This means that we tend to be trusting, and to believe what we hear and see. This can make it difficult for us to interpret what the people around us – in person or on screens – are thinking, feeling, doing or trying to communicate.

Autistic young people’s brains are usually wired to notice one thing – or a small, related group of things – at any one time. Rapidly shifting our attention from one thing to another or focusing on more than one thing at once is very difficult. In autism this is called being ‘monotropic’.

For young people growing up online, exposure to pornography has become normalised. Pornography has become a default sexuality educator, with serious implications for young people’s capacity to develop a sexuality that is safe, respectful, mutual and consenting. For autistic young people, pornography’s influence can be even more challenging.

If we want to help young people to build relationships and sexualities that are respectful, safe, mutually pleasurable and fully consenting, then we must tackle porn’s influence.