Highlights from the Child Welfare Group's Preliminary Study into the Accessibility by Minors of Pornography in Cambodia

• 51% of all minors surveyed indicated they have viewed pornography.
• Minors in Phnom Penh are more than twice as likely as their peers in [other provinces] to have both seen and bought pornography.
• Of the more than 230 vendors surveyed, 69.5% in Phnom Penh had pornography available, in 49% of locations pornography was openly on display.
• One-third of Phnom Penh locations selling pornography were near a school.
• The second most common place for minors to view pornography is within the home.

Excerpts from discussion groups with minors prior to the survey

When asked how it made them feel to watch pornographic films, girls from the preliminary survey say they initially get excited/aroused, but afterwards they said that what takes place in the film is bad for the girl. All said they believed most men and some women want to imitate what they see in the films.

Boys participating in the group discussions openly admitted that pornography entices them to carry out the sexual actions they have observed, and that many of these actions tended towards violence in nature.

The boys from one interview group said that they enjoyed watching the violence, and that most men do. When asked how it makes them feel, one boy replied, "We want to do what we see." They are quick to say that they do not hurt women, but will use strong language and raise their voices to prostitutes after watching these films. They also said that they were sure that watching violent pornography made men violent towards women encouraging rape.

When asked about whether the boys think it's right to treat women the way they see in films, they all said that they believed women enjoy being hit during sex and it heightens the women's sexual pleasure. They did not respond when asked if they think this is merely what the films want them to believe.

Although this information must be taken as anecdotal, the fact that they talk openly about wanting to do what they see, and seem to have very few concerns about this type of negative sexual behavior, may be an indication of a desensitizing effect pornography and violent images have on attitudes and perceptions. It is also an illustration of the fact that minors use pornography as a means to obtain information about sex, an important fact when considering that this may be the only source for information for many young people.

There is no minimum age for entering the coffee shops [where the pornographic films are shown]. Although the boys said they were between 13 and 17 years old the first time they saw the films themselves, they said it was not unusual for children as young as five or six years old to be seen there.

The boys explained that they go to watch these films at the coffee shops every evening, as they have nothing else to do, and if they can afford it they will visit a prostitute afterwards. They added that is not possible to watch these films without having sex or masturbating afterwards, and that it isn't uncommon for men who cannot afford a prostitute to pick up a girl off the street and rape her.

Boys participating in the group discussions said that while they have all seen bestiality, more than 50% of the films have violence linked to sex - being violent described as rape, hitting and treating women badly. They were also asked if all violence is male against female, and the majority agreed that violence is related to men hurting women.