Spanish pediatricians warn of early pornography exposure in minors

The Spanish Association of Primary Care Pediatrics (AEPap) has issued an alert regarding the increasingly early exposure of children and adolescents to pornographic content online. This exposure often occurs accidentally through social media, internet searches, or content shared by peers, rather than through deliberate searching.

Data from the 2024 Spain Report indicates that 25% of adolescents first encountered pornography before the age of 12, and 6.5% encountered it at age 8 or younger. This is a shift from a 2020 Save the Children report, which placed the average age of first contact at 12.

Medical professionals expressed concern that younger children lack the tools to properly interpret such content. Dr. Marta Esther Vázquez Fernández noted that there is a significant difference between an adolescent with prior sexual education encountering an image accidentally and a young child interpreting such content as a realistic representation of sexual relations. In response, AEPap has published a resource guide for healthcare professionals, families, and educators to assist in prevention and management.