FACTORS INFLUENCING PORNOGRAPHY WATCHING AMONG NIGERIA YOUTH (EDUCATION PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)
CHAPTER ONE
- INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
There is no single universal definition for the word “Youth”. Some define it as persons whose age bracket ranges between the end of childhood and the beginning of adulthood, while others fix age limits to express it. On the other hand, there are also others who define the term ‘youth’ from biological and psychological developmental perspectives as well as by considering both physical development and maturity. Therefore, it is important to define the “youth” in order to provide the framework of this research. In doing so, Strelitz, (2005) notes that “the concept of childhood and adulthood do not [necessarily] refer to fixed points on a continuum as they are not physiological facts but social constructions.” (2005:52) on the other hand, Swedish youth researcher Fornas cited by Strelitz (2005) pointed that there is little agreement among researchers on an exact definition of the term youth.
Fornas, however, pointed to three different discourses that frame the concept as, Firstly, youth refers to a particular stage in physiological development; secondly, it is a social category framed by particular social institutions and rituals, and thirdly, youth is culturally determined by its interplay with musical, visual and verbal signs that mark this stage as being different from that of the child or adult. (Strelitz, 2005:53) However, Strelitz, (2005) noted that “much of the literature on youth points to the centrality of the media to the creation and sustenance of individual and group identities’’. It is widely acceptable that the youth express themselves to an unusual degree in texts, pictures, music and styles. These are important points because, it is in the assumption that pornographic media would potentially create youth identity. On the other hand, Jennings, 2004 cited by Assefa, (2005) stated that the most commonly used international definition of youth is between the ages of 16-24. Assefa, (2005), “adolescence is a very dynamic and unstable phase where the individual has to acquire the skills to fulfil adult roles and norms and has to search for and develop an identity. It is a period of rapid physical and intellectual development and emotional intensity.
