Learning from the Margins: Young People, Sex, Technology and Education

Dear Colleagues,

Over the last two decades, digital technologies have transformed the way adolescents and young people access information and interact with each other, becoming powerful mediators in the development of their personalities. Social platforms, messaging services, video games, etc., have become powerful spaces for learning, interaction and social experimentation. These technologies, together with access to sexually explicit material (SEM) online, are influencing the way in which new generations represent, express and experience their sexuality. Various studies have focused on assessing the negative impact on young people of frequent consumption of this type of sexually explicit content and new online pornography. These studies have found that it is associated with risky sexual behaviour, reduced emotional regulation and empathy, lower self-esteem and physical self-concept, greater acceptance of violence, and increased risk of psychological violence and sexual assault.

Sex education is once again emerging, as it did during the AIDS pandemic, as an emergency response to prevent these new risks. The current situation highlights the lack of comprehensive sex education programmes in formal settings or their limited depth, leading many young people to turn to the Internet and online pornography as their main sources of information/education about sex. This underscores the need to promote media sex education, which empowers young people to interpret the messages and content found on the Internet. In this regard, various studies emphasise porn literacy. This seeks to mitigate the undesirable effects of pornography by providing tools and skills that enable young people to think critically about the content they see, including aspects such as power, gender, sexuality and other sociocultural aspects in their analysis. However, some actors consider that this approach does not allow for an understanding of the value that people can find in pornography, and does not cultivate a critical perspective on real sex. Thus, there are currently different perspectives on the educational approach to pornography: the pornographic abstinence model; the decision-making model; and the desire and ethical eroticism model. It is, therefore, necessary to continue advancing research on the different forms of porn literacy and on the impact of comprehensive sexuality education on all these issues.

At the same time, rapid technological advances (artificial intelligence, virtual reality, sexual monetisation platforms, recommendation algorithms) are generating new forms of mediation and production of sexual content, to which users feel strongly attached. The virtually infinite menus, immediate gratification as a reward, and reciprocity generated by AI not only facilitate access, frequency, and circulation of sexual content but also actively produce new norms, imaginaries, and economies of desire.

However, academic research in this field remains fragmented. Studies on youth sexuality tend to address sexological, psychological and educational aspects, while technological analyses focus on communicative or algorithmic aspects, without fully integrating the sexual dimension. This monograph therefore proposes an interdisciplinary and critical approach that brings together sexology, pedagogy, psychology, sociology, cultural studies, communication and gender studies to understand how technology not only mediates but also shapes and redefines contemporary youth sexuality.

By bringing together theoretical, empirical and methodological research, this Special Issue aims to offer a comprehensive view of the tensions between technology, pornography and sexuality in youth, promoting a deeper understanding of its risks, opportunities and transformative potential for sexual well-being and equity.

Thematic areas include the following:

1. Adolescent and youth sexuality in the era of the technological revolution;
2. Comprehensive Sex Education;
3. Digital identity and sexualities;
4. Pornography, sexting and sexual learning (effects of early access, AI and deepfakes...; pornographic platforms as spaces for socialisation and the digital economy);
5. Porn literacy and educational programmes;
6. Influence of recommendation algorithms on the exposure to and consumption of sexual content
7. Ethical and erotic freedom and regulation of sexual technologies (sextech);
8. Technology-based sex education (Apps and sex education platforms for young people: effectiveness, accessibility and bias; Sexual misinformation and the role of social media in spreading myths; Influencers, content creators and informal sexuality education);
9. Gender, diversity and digital vulnerability (Representations of gender, orientation and bodies in digital environments; Digital sexual violence: sextortion, grooming and harassment; Queer youth and digital spaces for self-affirmation);
10. Sexuality and video games.

Contributions have to follow one of the three categories of papers (article, conceptual paper or review) of the journal and address the topic of the Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Davinia Heras-Sevilla
Prof. Dr. Víctor Abella García
Prof. Dr. Vanesa Ausín Villaverde
Guest Editors

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• sexuality
• sex education
• pornography
• technology
• porn literacy
• adolescence
• young people
• sexting