BACKED by statistics and her experience as an emergency department specialist, Dr Shamsuriani Md Jamal has seen how often children as young as eight are watching porn, and how that is shaping their outlook in life, especially in dealing with the opposite sex.

This habit is also proving to be costly in another aspect – with many of these children being victims of sexual abuse or trying out sex scenes they have watched on others.

She has seen so many cases of rape and molestation involving the underage who admit that they were influenced by pornographic films.

For her, the dangers from this are extremely worrying.

Shamsuriani, who is attached to Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Hospital (HUKM), heads the Malaysians against Pornography (MAP), an organisation working to advocate the public about the dangers of pornography.

A 2017 survey conducted by Heriot Watt Malaysia University and Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) showed that 19% out of 551 secondary school pupils surveyed have watched pornography by the age of 10, she said.

The survey also shows that 7% of respondents said they watched porn before even turning eight, and 63% said they used smartphones to access porn websites.

“That survey is shocking. A kid as young as 10 has already watched porn, what do you think that those kids will talk about among themselves?

“They become addicts when they get older and that is when the problem starts,” she told The Malaysian Insight.

Pornography isn’t real, it is a fantasy and manipulative, she said.

“They want you to believe that the actions are real and they want you to believe that it is how you do it.”

Apart from downgrading women, porn also leaves an impression on underage children that this is how a man treats a woman, and how a woman should be treated, she said.

“I have met so many underage boys and girls who come to see me and said ‘I didn’t know what I did was wrong, I didn’t know that could happen, we were just doing it from what we saw’ and other reasons. 

“Some girls said they were raped by close friends and some said they were molested and sexually assaulted and for me, those stories were really disturbing.”

These incidents caused her to think of an approach on how to educate the public about the dangers of pornography, and thus the start of MAP.

But the medical expert said the topic remains a taboo among Malaysians and many parents are not ready to discuss the matter with their children.

“Today, one can access porn sites in just one click using the internet.

“Unlike before when pornographic materials came in forms of magazines or books, then into VCD and DVD, today it is all free on the internet. People even share it on social media platforms.

“Children are now equipped with smartphones and they, too, have social media accounts,” Shamsuriani said.

“There is no specific movement advocating this issue, so we created MAP with the intention to create awareness.

“This is not just a problem faced by parents but it is the nation’s problem. But still some parents are not ready to talk about this issue with their children.

“Some I have met even said ‘it is okay, it is nothing serious’. How can one feel it is okay when there are so many cases of social illness in our country?”

Shamsuriani added that she is not against the internet and admitted that it has many positive sides but stressed that the internet is often misused.

“I am not against the internet. How can you go against the internet when there are good things that you can get from it? It is not about the internet, it is about how you use it in your daily life.

“In my lectures at schools, I always stress that parents have to be with their children whenever they surf the internet. They can’t be left alone without supervision. The most important part is that we need to monitor what sites our kids go to.”

Asked about the need to have sex education in schools, the doctor said it should have been taught a long time ago.

“Children have to have proper knowledge about it. Kids are curious. They want to know and, therefore, we need to be there and explain to them about our body, about the area of our body, what they should do if another person tries to touch them.

“These are the thing that our children should learn. Sex education is not about having sex but it is about educating the kids to let them know about right and wrong.”

In the past year alone, she has seen nine sex-related cases when the girls told her they are pregnant and didn’t know about it.

“They are not 12 or 15. They are 17 years old, big enough to realise the changes happening in their body.

“They said they didn’t know that intercourse could get you pregnant. This should not be happening to our children. Boys or girls, they need to know the consequences and it has to start with education.” – April 14, 2019.