Key Messages

Young people need to consider legal and ethical behaviour around engaging with sexual content online.

Learning Intention

Students will:

  • Identify responsible behaviour if a student encounters pornography or is considering sharing / creating sexual images.
  • Discuss legal and ethical considerations.

Time

20 minutes

Required Resources

  • Class set scenario cards.
Download Required Resources

Teaching Notes

Laws around viewing or creating pornography are confusing to understand, differ between states and have some grey areas for young people. People under 18 are not legally allowed to purchase pornography. It is illegal to show another person under 18 pornography. However, there are exceptions in Victoria for those under 18 years who create sexual pictures of themselves and share with another person within 24months of their own age. See Victoria Legal Aid for more information.

Students should be encouraged to think about viewing pornography
as a sexual behaviour and apply an ethical framework to that
behaviour.

Note: not all students will have encountered pornography. Male
students are more likely to engage with sexual content online.
It is recommended to delete any sexual picture containing a person
under 18.

A report could be made to police / eSafety commissioner if laws
have been broken such as harassment, image-based abuse or image
contains a crime.

Be sure that students protect their own personal privacy and don’t
overshare in class. Be clear about ways to report or get help at
school.

Procedure

  1. Students are divided into small groups. Scenario cards are distributed. 1 set per group.
  2. Discuss as small group and then report back.
  3. If limited time, each group could receive only 1 scenario to discuss, or scenarios could be displayed for whole class discussion.

Questioning

  • Is anything in the scenario illegal?
  • Does the scenario describe behaviour you think is common?
  • What do you think the gender of the person in the scenario was? Why do you think that?
  • Would everyone react the same way to the scenario?
  • Is there any behaviour that is unethical?
  • Did the group make any assumptions about the gender of the person in the scenario? Why?
  • What do you think the person should do next?
  • What people or resources could you access if you had any further questions or concerns?

Curriculum Information