THE DANGERS OF PORNOGRAPHY AND THE IMPORTANCE OF SEX EDUCATION FOR TEENAGERS

In today's digital age, information is easily accessible to all walks of life. From children to adults, they have cell phones to meet their daily needs, such as searching for information on the internet, communicating, watching movies or videos, and even ordering goods or food through an app on their cell phones. Today's technological advances make it easy for people to obtain information from the mass media. This type of information tends to lead individuals, especially teenagers, into sexual problems and irresponsible sexual behavior. This can lead to a misunderstanding of sex education, causing teenagers to engage in deviant sexual behavior. This will clearly have a negative impact on the mental growth of teenagers, whose activities should be filled with positive activities. Pornography is one of the hot issues being discussed by the public, since the emergence of the Anti-Pornography and Pornoaction Law in early 2006.The Anti-Pornography Law defines pornography as images, sketches, illustrations, photographs, writings, sounds, noises, moving images, animations, cartoons, conversations, body movements, or other forms of messages through various forms of communication media and/or public performances that contain obscenity or sexual exploitation that violate moral norms in society (Utomo and Sa'i, 2018). The widespread presence of pornography is inseparable from the internet as a means of disseminating pornography. For users or the public, the internet is a new medium that offers diversity and freedom of access to information for users without being bound by restrictions and censorship. This fact is supported by a statement from the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Kemenkominfo), which has noted that there are still many pornographic websites that can be accessed by internet users. If 100 pornographic websites are blocked, 1,000 will appear; if 1,000 are blocked, 10,000 will appear, and so on. Pornographic websites can generate around 30,000 pornographic pages in one minute (Ahmadi, 2002: 23 in Utomo and Sa'i, 2018).

According to Sarlito, sexual education is generally clear and accurate information about human sexuality, covering the processes of fertilization, pregnancy, and childbirth, sexual behavior, sexual relations, and aspects of health, psychology, and society (Warsono, 2008: 193 in Utomo and Sa'i, 2018). According to Sudarsono, adolescents' understanding and knowledge of sexuality will become an issue in their growth and development. However, because adolescents are often too embarrassed to talk about sex with their parents, they often seek information themselves from the media or other people. Furthermore, various information, understandings, and concepts of knowledge about sex can be obtained through the mass media (television, video, radio, and film), all of which are inseparable from the lives of today's adolescents. If parents rarely supervise their adolescent children, provide little support, and apply ineffective discipline, it will lead to deviant behavior in adolescents. Technological developments have contributed to deviant behavior or delinquency among adolescents (Sudarsono, 1990: 7 in Utomo and Sa'i, 2018). The lack of sex education for adolescents will lead to deviant sexual behavior among adolescents (Prayitno, 2006: 49 in Utomo and Sa'i, 2018).

Research by Lestari et al. (2015 in Saripah, 2021) explains that the intensity of accessing pornographic websites has a significant relationship with unhealthy sexual behavior in adolescents. The ease of access to media tends to be imitated by adolescents in their daily behavior, which influences their sexual behavior (Sarwono, 2011). The impacts of extramarital sex include a decline in adolescents' enthusiasm for learning, ridicule from their friends, pregnancy outside of marriage, dropping out of school, feelings of guilt towards themselves and their families, feelings of guilt that tend to lead to depression, early marriage, having to support children at a young age, a tendency to contract sexually transmitted diseases, as well as moral and social sanctions in society that are not easy to overcome (Kustanti, 2013 in Saripah, 2021). Increased sexual urges or desires need a way or means to be channeled, and channeling sexual desires gives pleasure to the individual who does it, whether it is done with another person or oneself. From the perspective of psychology, education, and guidance and counseling, experts believe that sexual behavior is a basic need of every individual, and that individuals strive to fulfill this need throughout their lives. Based on this explanation, research is needed on the needs of adolescents in developing healthy sexual behavior. Guidance and counseling services play an important role in addressing adolescent sexual behavior issues. Therefore, there needs to be innovation in the provision of guidance and counseling services to provide adolescents with an understanding of the correct issues of sexual behavior, both at school and in the family as the initial vehicle for sex education for adolescents. This is intended so that adolescents do not seek information about sexual behavior from irresponsible people or sources whose authenticity is questionable or even incorrect (Saripah, 2021).

In conclusion, the dangers of pornography are very serious and harmful because, in addition to hindering an individual's social and cognitive development, it can also lead to unhealthy sexual behavior. Teenagers lose their direction and channel their sexual desires inappropriately or in ways that are not normal, such as premarital sex, masturbation, and so on. Therefore, proper and appropriate sexual education is needed for adolescents to serve as a guide for their daily lives. The role of parents is also important in this regard, as they need to and must monitor their children so that they do not fall into undesirable situations. Guidance and counseling services also play an important role in minimizing sexual behavior problems in adolescents.

Referensi :

Saripah, dkk. (2021). Kebutuhan Pendidikan Seksual Pada Remaja: Berdasarkan Survei Persepsi Pendidikan Seksual Untuk Remaja. Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Terapan. 5 (1)

Utama dan Sa’i. (2018). Dampak Pornografi Terhadap Perkembangan Mental Remaja Jadi Sekolah. Elementary. 6 (1)