USA TODAY International Edition
Katie Couric still is asking the tough ‘ Question’
Journalist tackles effect of porn on teenagers
Katie Couric wanted to know why one in four women are scared during sex. Her short answer: porn. In a preview episode of her new podcast, “Next Question With Katie Couric,” the longtime journalist says that no matter what precautions parents take, children and teens have free, easy access to porn and that it is shaping a culture of violence against women. It’s ironic, considering we’re living in an age of empowered females, Couric tells USA TODAY.
Women are engaging in sexual activity that can be hurtful because that’s what boys and girls see and play out when they’re older, Couric says.
During the podcast, Couric interviews a cultural pornography expert, a sex education teacher and teens. At the end, the award- winning broadcaster says, “Porn- informed sex ed is absolutely imperative.”
“I’m learning along with the listener,” Couric says. “I think people can’t pretend it’s not being viewed by teenagers all across the country. So I think we just have to keep that in mind when you’re helping kids understand what sex is and what healthy relationships are.”
Girls ‘ socialized to please’
Couric began exploring porn’s impact on intimacy after reading about a study by the Indiana University School of Public Health in which women said they were fearful of sex. She talked about it with a gynecologist and her friends.
She decided to address the issue in the episode titled “Is Violent Porn Changing Us?” that aired Sept. 26.
In it, she interviews Gail Dines, author of “Pornland: How Porn has Hijacked Our Sexuality.” Dines says one young woman Couric interviewed believed she was giving consent to being routinely choked by her boyfriend only because she was “socialized to please men.”
“When you traumatize our boys sexually and you work into their sexual template hardcore porn, then what you do is traumatize our girls because they then play that out on the girls,” Dines says. “So we are basically laying waste to a generation of girls and boys to hardcore free pornography.”
Couric interviews Pennsylvania Quaker teacher Al Vernacchio, who says parents and educators should be talking about the graphic pornographic images they no doubt have seen.
“We need to be able to not only counteract that message but start at a much younger age, saying when you see stuff like that, that’s actually not what sex is about,” Vernacchio says. “That’s not what relationships are about. That’s not what intimacy is about. That’s performance. That’s fantasy.”
The podcast concludes with advice
on how parents can address porn culture with their children: It is thousands of small conversations and not one big talk at the dinner table.
Couric, 62, tells USA TODAY she was surprised to learn that Pornhub attracts more monthly visitors than Amazon, Netflix and Twitter combined. “I feel for parents now,” she says. Couric has two daughters, Ellie Monahan, 28, and Carrie Monahan, 23.
She says hardcore porn is absent of women’s desire to engage in sex. “I think because of that, it’s really complicating the issue of consent,” she says.
Katie Couric has more questions
“Next Question With Katie Couric” officially launched Thursday with an episode on cannabidiol, or CBD oil. In it, she talks with guest Kristen Bell about the science and research behind CBD oil and how consumers can make smart choices about purchasing it. Bell is a fan of CBD oil.
The podcast episodes will air Thursdays. There are 12 episodes. Upcoming episodes include celebrity guests such as Julie Andrews, Jennifer Garner and Andy Grammer and will tackle a range of issues such as ageism and vaping.
“I’ve got a ton of questions,” Couric says in a preview clip for the podcast. “‘ Next Question’ aims to make sense of our chaotic, complicated and everchanging world one question at at time.”