Sweden

Sweden the reward foundation

Sweden does not have verification laws. This spring the Swedish government issued a report on how porn harms children It was published by The Swedish Ombudsman for Children, but it was inconclusive and will probably not lead to much.

Unizon and other Swedish NGOs keep working against the sex industry to keep kids safe from pornography. However, there is quite a bit of resistance from influential organizations and politicians who argue that porn is a personal matter, that kids understand what they see and are not harmed by pornography, and that filters and such will not work. However, Sweden is now having a much broader discussion than it did a few years ago, which is positive.

In the absence of any influential political decisions, Swedish campaigners are hoping for more commitment and engagement from the digital companies and internet providers.

20%

of 18-year-olds have applied what they’ve seen in porn in sexual relations.

New Sex Education Curriculum

However, there are also some positive developments to report. Sweden is getting a new curriculum for sex education this autumn. Last year, they had a very brave midwife speak up in the media about the harms of pornography. She said that she meets young women who say that they are being injured by “rough” sex, inspired by porn. That sparked a public debate that partly led to the changes in the sex education curriculum.

Unizon was working hard for the inclusion of mentions of the harms of pornography in the curriculum. They wanted to include a critical analysis of pornography. Unfortunately, the result was not quite as wished for, but at least resulted in “…to include media literacy and with a critical eye on, for example, pornography”.

In September 2021 Sweden received new results from a scientific report stating that 1 in 5, 18-year-olds have applied what they’ve seen in porn in sexual relations. It found that 22.4% of the boys watch porn almost daily. It also found that 15% of the boys stated that they watch more porn than they would like.