How Do Teens Get Their Hands on Porn?

Studies show that easy access to sexually explicit content via the Internet and smartphones is contributing to the rising number of teenagers who have sex.

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A study by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said 88 percent of teens who had sex had also viewed sexually explicit content, as opposed to only 44 percent of students who had not had sex.

According to another study last year by the Korea Women's Development Institute, 71.2 percent of secondary school students who watched sexually explicit content said they viewed it on the Internet. Other media included adult TV programs, movies, videos and DVDs (47.3 percent), adult comics, novels or magazines (18.3 percent), adult online games (17.4 percent) and applications for smartphones (12.8 percent).

Many of the students had sex at their own homes during the absence of their parents or in entertainment facilities like DVD rooms or PC rooms that can be rented by the hour.

Ohshin Sung-hee, a director at the Korea Youth Sexuality Culture Center, said, "Teenagers these days watch a steady stream of TV programs that paint an unrealistically perfect picture of relationships with the opposite sex, so they end up feeling it is natural to date each other and strive to find partners. And they feel that physical contact naturally comes with these relationships".