Shades of concern: Young teens ‘reading mummy porn’

By Noel Murphy
GEELONG parents have been warned to guard against young teenage girls reading sexy book sensation Fifty Shades of Grey.
Reports of Geelong girls as young as 14 immersing themselves in the soft-porn best-seller have shocked Barwon Adolescent Taskforce’s Leigh Bartlett.
She said the book compounded the “real complexities about healthy relationships’’.
“I certainly would not be letting my daughter read it,’’ Ms Bartlett said.
Geelong parents have been warned in recent months about unprecedented access to internet pornography, while schools have been petitioned to teach porn education and youth authorities have bemoaned kids as young as 11 viewing explicit sex online.
“The irony is that in 2012 we’re now having a conversation about what are appropriate books,’’ Ms Bartlett said.
“I think it’s a really important area. There are big concerns about young people’s understanding of what a healthy relationship is.’’
Ms Bartlett said Fifty Shades of Grey might be fine for adults but presented “quite confusing complex relationships’’ to young teens.
“Relationships between two consenting adults can be very different to those of a 14 or 15-year-old,’’ she said.
Ms Bartlett also expressed concern about how easily young teens might be able get their hands on the book.
“It’s really all about parents knowing what their kids are doing, like going to parties, on the internet, what they’re reading. If it was a video game they’ll all be jumping up and down.’’
A Department of Education and Early Childhood Devel-opment study last year found that about two in five Geelong teens between 15 and 17 had had sex, almost double the 22 per cent Victorian average.