Six years ago, I discovered something that scientists have been wanting to know for years.
六年前，我发现了某件科学家多年来一直想要知道的事。
How do you capture the attention of a roomful of extremely bored teenagers?
你如何吸引满屋子中无聊透顶的青少年们的注意力？
It turns out all you have to do is mention the word pornography.
结果发现，你只要做一件事，就是提到“色情”这个词。
Let me tell you how I first learned this.
让我告诉你最初我是怎么发现的。
In 2012, I was sitting in a crowded room full of high school students who were attending an after-school program in Boston.
2012年，我坐在一间满是高中生的拥挤房间中，他们是去参加个课后活动，地点在波士顿。
And my job, as guest speaker for the day,
身为当天的嘉宾演讲人，我的工作，
was to inspire them to think about how exciting it would be to have a career in public health.
就是要鼓励他们去思考投入公共卫生的职业生涯是多么让人兴奋。
The problem was, as I looked at their faces, I could see that their eyes were glazing over, and they were just tuning out.
问题是，当我看着他们的脸，我看得出来他们目光呆滞，他们已经充耳不闻。
It didn't even matter that I wore what I thought was my cool outfit that day.
即使那天我穿着自认为很酷的服装，也没有任何帮助。
I was just losing my audience.
我就要失去我的听众了。
So, then one of the two adults who worked for the program said,
于是，成年活动工作人员的两者之一问道：
"Aren't you doing some research about pornography? Maybe tell them about that."
“你不是有做一些关于色情的研究吗？也许可以跟他们谈那些。”
All of a sudden, that room full of high school students exploded into laughter, high fives.
突然，那间满是高中生的房间欢声雷动，大家互相击掌。
I think there were some loud hooting noises.
我认为还有一些很大的嘘叫声。
And all anyone had done was say that one word -- pornography.
一切都只是因为有人说了“色情”这个词。
That moment would prove to be an important turning point for me
事实证明，那一刻是个重要的转折点，
and my professional mission of finding solutions to end dating and sexual violence.
改变了我和我专业使命：找出终结约会暴力和性暴力的解决方案。
At that point, I'd been working for more than a decade on this seemingly intractable problem of dating violence.
那时，我已经投入十多年的时间在处理看似很棘手的约会暴力问题。
Data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention demonstrate that
美国疾病管制与预防中心的数据显示，
one in five high school-attending youth experience physical and/or sexual abuse by a dating partner each year in the US.
每年在美国，每五位高中生就有一位会遭到约会对象施以身体及/或性虐待。
That makes dating violence more prevalent than being bullied on school property,
在同样的年轻族群中，约会暴力比在校内的霸凌还更普遍，
seriously considering suicide, or even vaping, in that same population.
也多过慎重思考想要自杀或甚至抽电子香烟的人数比例。
But solutions were proving elusive.
但已证明很难找到解决方案。
And I was working with a research team that was hunting for novel answers to the question:
我和一个研究团队合作，该团队的宗旨是在为这个问题找出新颖的答案：
What's causing dating abuse, and how do we stop it?
造成约会暴力的原因为何以及我们要如何阻止它？
One of the research studies that we were working on at the time happened to include a few questions about pornography.
当时我们所进行的一个研究项目刚好涵盖了几个和色情有关的问题。
And something unexpected was emerging from our findings.
从我们的研究结果中，发现了未预期的现象。
Eleven percent of the teen girls in our sample reported that
我们的样本中，有11%的青少女报告称，
they had been forced or threatened to do sexual things that the perpetrator saw in pornography. That got me curious.
她们曾经被强迫或遭威胁去做犯罪者在色情产品中看过的性行为。那激起了我的好奇心。
Was pornography to blame for any percentage of dating violence?
约会暴力要归咎于色情产品吗？
Or was it more like a coincidence that the pornography users also happen to be more likely to be in unhealthy relationships?
还是恰巧色情产品的用户更可能是处于不健康关系的那些人？
I investigated by reading everything that I could from the peer-reviewed literature, and by conducting my own research.
我通过阅读同侪审查的文献和自己所进行的研究，来调查、探讨这些问题。
I wanted to know what kinds of sexually explicit media youth were watching, and how often and why,
我想知道，年轻人看的是哪种露骨的色情媒体、观看的次数、原因，
and see if I could piece together if it was part of the reason that for so many of them dating relationships were apparently unhealthy.
想知道我能不能拼凑出色情是否是这么多年轻人的约会关系显然不健康的原因之一。
As I read, I tried to keep an open mind,
我在阅读时，尽量保持开放心态，
even though there were plenty of members of the public who'd already made up their mind about the issue.
即使有很多社会大众对于这个议题已经自有定见。
Why would I keep an open mind about pornography?
我为什么要对色情保持开放心态？
Well, I'm a trained social scientist, so it's my job to be objective.
我是位训练有素的社会科学家，所以我的工作就是要保持客观。
But I'm also what people call sex-positive.
但我也有所谓积极正面的性态度。
That means that I fully support people's right to enjoy whatever kind of sex life and sexuality they find fulfilling,
意思就是，我完全支持人们有权享受他们自己觉得很满足的那种性生活和性行为，
no matter what it involves, as long as it includes the enthusiastic consent of all parties involved.
不论是怎样的，只要得到参与各方的热情同意即可。
That said, I personally wasn't inclined towards watching pornography.
即使如此，我个人并不倾向去看色情片。
I'd seen some, didn't really do anything for me.
我看过一些，对我没起什么作用。
And as a mom of two soon-to-be teenage children, I had my own concerns about what seeing pornography could do to them.
身为两个即将踏入青少年小孩的母亲，我有我个人的担忧，担心看色情产品会对他们造成什么影响。
I noticed that while there were a lot of people who were denouncing pornography,
我注意到，虽然有很多人会谴责色情产品，
there were also people who were staunch defenders of it for a variety of reasons.
但也有出于各种理由而非常坚定捍卫着它的守护者。
So in my scholarly exploration, I genuinely tried to understand:
在我的学术探索中，我真的想要了解：
Was pornography bad for you or was it good for you? Was it misogynist or was it empowering?
色情对你是有好处还是坏处？它是在仇视女性，还是能赋权给女性？
And there was not one singular answer that emerged clearly.
没有单一个答案清楚浮现。
There was one longitudinal study that had me really worried,
有一项纵贯性研究真的让我很担心，
that showed that teenagers who saw pornography were subsequently more likely to perpetrate sexual violence.
该研究显示，看了色情片的青少年之后更有可能犯下性暴力的罪行。
But the design of the study didn't allow for definitive causal conclusions.
但该研究的设计并没有办法导出明确因果关系的结论。
And there were other studies that did not find that adolescent pornography use was associated with certain negative outcomes.
还有其他研究，并没有发现青春期接触色情产品会和某种负面的结果有关。
Even though there were other studies that did find that.
即便如此，还是有其他研究发现它和负面结果有关。
But as I spoke to other experts, I felt tremendous pressure to pick a side about pornography.
但我和其他专家谈过，要我针对色情选边站，我感到很大的压力。
Join one team or the other.
加入这队或另一队。
I was even told that it was weak-minded of me not to be able to pick out the one correct answer about pornography.
甚至有人告诉我，我心智薄弱才会无法针对色情选出一个正确答案。
And it was complicated, because there is an industry that is capitalizing off of audience's fascination with seeing women,
这很复杂，因为有一个产业是靠着观众对女性的迷恋与幻想来赚大钱，
in particular, not just having sex, but being chocked, gagged, slapped, spit upon, ejaculated upon,
特别的是，不仅仅只是性行为，还有被掐住、被塞住嘴巴、被赏巴掌、被吐口水、被射精，
called degrading names over and over during sex, and not always clearly with their consent.
在性行为过程中不断地用卑劣的用语辱骂女性，且不见得都有明确得到她们的同意。
Most people would agree that we have a serious problem with misogyny, sexual violence and rape in this country,
大部分人会认同，我们在这个国家中有仇视女性、性暴力和强暴的严重问题，
and pornography probably isn't helping with any of that.
而色情产品可能一点忙也没帮到。
And a critically important problem to me was that for more than a century,
对我来说，有个非常重要的问题，超过一世纪之久，
the anti-pornography position had been used as a pretext for discriminating against gays and lesbians
反色情的立场都一直被用来当作歧视男同志和女同志，
or people who have kinks or have fetishes.
或有怪癖或恋物倾向的人的借口。
So I could see why, on the one hand, we might be very worried about the messages that pornography is sending,
一方面，我能理解为什么我们会非常担心色情产品传递的信息，
and on the other hand, why we might be really worried about going overboard indicting it.
另一方面，也能理解为什么我们会担心过分控诉它。
For the next two years, I looked into every scary, horrifying claim
在接下来两年，我去研究了我所能找到的各种可怕、吓人的主张，
that I could find about the average age at which people first see pornography,
都是关于大家第一次接触到色情产品的平均年龄，
or what it does to their brains or their sexuality. Here's what I have to report back.
或者它对他们的大脑或性行为造成什么影响。我所得到的信息如下。
The free, online, mainstream pornography,
免费、在线的主流色情产品，
that's the kind that teenagers are most likely to see, is a completely terrible form of sex education.
那是青少年最可能会看见的类型，它是一种最糟糕的性教育形式。
But that's not what it was intended for.
但它原本的目就不是要教导性教育。
And it probably is not instantly poisoning their minds or turning them into compulsive users,
它可能也不会马上毒害他们的大脑，或者将他们变成强迫型使用者，
the way that some ideologues would have you believe.
有些倡导家会试图用上述这些说词来说服各位。

It's a rare person who doesn't see some pornography in their youth.
只有很少数的人在年轻时没有看过色情作品。
By the time they're 18 years old,
到了十八岁时，
93 percent of first year college males and 62 percent of females have seen pornography at least once.
大学新生当中，93%男性和62%女性都至少看过一次色情作品。
And though people like to say that the internet has made pornography ubiquitous,
虽然大家会说网络让色情无所不在，
or basically guarantees that any young child who's handed a smartphone
或基本上保证任何一个孩子只要有智能手机
is definitely going to see pornography, data don't really support that.
就一定会看到色情片，资料并不支持这种说法。
A nationally representative study found that in the year 2000
一项有全国代表性的研究发现，在2000年，
16 percent of 10-to-13-year-old youth reported that they'd seen pornography in the past year.
十到十三岁的孩子中，有16%说他们在去年有看过色情作品。
And by 2010, that figure had increased. But only to 30 percent. So it wasn't everybody.
到了2010年，那个数字增加了。但只增加到30%。所以不是每个人都会。
Our problems with adolescents and sexual violence perpetration is not only because of pornography.
青少年和性暴力犯罪的问题并不只是因为色情。
In fact, a recent study found that adolescents are more likely to see sexualized images in other kinds of media besides pornography.
事实上，一项近期的研究发现，青少年更有可能在色情产品以外的其他类型媒体上看到色情图像。
Think about all those sexualized video games, or TV shows, or music videos.
想想看那些含有性暗示的电玩游戏，或者电视节目，或者音乐影片（MV）。
And it could be exposure to a steady stream of violent media
它可能源源不断地在强势媒体中曝光，
that instead of or in addition to the sexualized images is causing our problems.
而不是/不仅是色情图像，造成我们的问题。
By focusing on the potential harms of pornography alone, we may be distracting ourselves from bigger issues.
单单把焦点放在色情产品会带来的潜在伤害，可能让我们无法看到更大的议题。
Or missing root causes of dating and sexual violence, which are the true public health crises.
或者漏掉了约会暴力及性暴力的根本原因，这才是真正的公共卫生危机。
That said, even my own research demonstrates that adolescents are turning to pornography for education and information about sex.
也就是说，就连我自己的研究也显示出青少年开始把色情作品当作性教育和知识的来源。
And that's because they can't find reliable and factual information elsewhere.
那是因为他们无法在其他地方找到可靠、真实的信息。
Less than 50 percent of the states in the United States require that sex education be taught in schools, including how to prevent coerced sex.
美国只有不到一半的州要求学校要教性教育，包括如何预防强迫性行为。
And less than half of those states require that the information presented be medically accurate.
在那些州当中，又只有不到一半的州会要求呈现出来的信息具医学的准确性。
So in that Boston after-school program, those kids really wanted to talk about sex,
所以，在波士顿的那个课后活动方案中，那些孩子真的想要谈谈性，
and they really wanted to talk about pornography.
他们真的想要谈谈色情。
And they wanted to talk about those things a whole lot more than they wanted to talk about dating or sexual violence.
比起约会暴力或性暴力，他们更想要谈谈那些议题。
So we realized, we could cover all of the same topics that we might normally talk about under the guise of healthy relationships education,
所以，我们发现，我们可以用上健康关系教育的名义，来谈论所有那些相同的主题，
like, what's a definition of sexual consent?
比如，性同意的定义是什么？
Or, how do you know if you're hurting somebody during sex?
或你要如何知道在性行为过程中你已经伤到对方了？
Or what are healthy boundaries to have when you're flirting?
又或者在调情时的健康界线到哪里？
All of these same things we could discuss by using pornography as the jumping-off point for our conversation.
我们要讨论上述所有这些主题时，都可以用色情当作起始点，开启我们的对话。
It's sort of like when adults give kids a desert like brownies,
这有点像是成人会给孩子像是布朗尼的点心，
but they secretly baked a zucchini or something healthy inside of it.
但他们会偷偷把栉瓜或有益健康的东西放在里面。
We could talk to the kids about the healthy stuff, the stuff that's good for you,
我们能和孩子们谈健康、有帮助的内容，
but hide it inside a conversation that was about something that they thought they wanted to be talking about.
但把这些都包装在一个他们会想要去谈论的对话当中。
We also discovered something that we didn't necessarily set out to find,
我们也有一个无预期的发现，
which is that there's a fantastic way to have a conversation with teenagers about pornography.
那就是有一种很棒的方法，可以和青少年来探讨色情。
And that is, keep the conversation true to science.
那方法就是，确保谈话都有科学根据。
Admit what we know and what we don't know about the impact of pornography.
承认对于色情所带来的影响我们已知和不知道的部分。
Talk about where there are mixed results or where there are weaknesses in the studies that have been conducted.
谈谈可能会有混杂的结果，或已进行的研究中存在的缺失之处。
Invite the adolescents to become critical consumers of the research literature on pornography, as well as the pornography itself.
邀请青少年成为色情研究文献以及色情产品本身的重要消费者。
That really fits with adolescent development.
那真的符合青春期的发展。
Adolescents like to question things and they like to be invited to think for themselves.
青少年喜欢质疑事物，他们也喜欢受邀为他们自己思考。
And we realized by starting to experiment, teaching some classes in consent, respect and pornography,
我们通过实验了解到，在教导学生们同意、尊重和色情时，
that trying to scare adolescents into a particular point of view or jam a one-sided argument down their throat about pornography
试图用恫吓的方式灌输青少年某种观点，或强迫他们接受单一面向的色情论点，
not only probably does not work, but really doesn't model the kind of respectful, consensual behavior that we want them to learn.
不仅大概行不通，同时也没有以身作责，示范我们希望他们能学到带着尊重且双方皆同意的态度行为。
So our approach, what we call pornography literacy,
我们的方法称为色情产品知识，
is about presenting the truth about pornography to the best of our knowledge, given that there is an ever-changing evidence base.
它的重点在于，在我们所知的范围内，鉴于证据不断改变的基础下，尽可能呈现出色情产品的背后真相。
When people hear that we teach a nine-session, 18-hour class in pornography literacy to teenagers,
当别人听到我们安排十八小时共九堂课来教导青少年分析色情产品的知识时，
I think that they either think that we're sitting kids down and trying to show them how to watch pornography, which is not what we do,
我想，他们要不是认为我们是要孩子坐下来，试图教他们如何看色情片，其实我们不会这么做，
or that we're part of an anti-pornography activist group that's trying to convince them that
要不然就认为我们是反色情活动团体的人，在试图说服青少年，
if they ever saw pornography, it would be the number one worst thing for their health ever. And that's not it, either.
如果他们看色情片，那它就是影响健康的头号敌人。我们也不会这样做。
Our secret ingredient is that we're nonjudgmental.
我们的秘密成份是：我们不会评断。
We don't think that youth should be watching pornography.
我们不认为年轻人应该看色情片。
But, above all, we want them to become critical thinkers if and when they do see it.
但我们希望他们如果真的看到了色情片，首先要能够做出批评性的思考。
And we've learned, from the number of requests for our curriculum and our training, from across the US and beyond,
我们发现，根据全美各地和其他地方对课程和训练的需求量来看，
that there are a lot of parents and a lot of teachers
我们发现其实有很多父母和老师
who really do want to be having these more nuanced and realistic conversations with teenagers about pornography.
都真的想要针对色情，跟青少年做更细微、更真实的对话。
We've had requests from Utah to Vermont, to Alabama, to Hawaii.
我们接到的请求，从犹他州到佛蒙特州、到阿拉巴马州、到夏威夷。
So in that after-school program, what I saw, is that from the minute we mentioned the word pornography,
所以，在那课后活动项目中，我看到的是，从我们提到“色情”一词开始，
those kids were ready to jump in to a back-and-forth about what they did and didn't want to see in pornography,
那些孩子已经开始你来我往，谈论他们想要和不想要在色情片中看到什么，
and what they did and didn't want to do during sex.
以及在性爱的过程中他们想要和不想要做什么。
And what was degrading to women or unfair to men or racist, all of it.
也谈到怎样是贬低女性，或对男性不公平，或有种族主义，所有这些都有谈到。
And they made some really sophisticated points.
他们还有一些很精湛的论点。
Exactly the kinds of things that we would want them to be talking about as violence prevention activists.
这些正是身为预防暴力活动家的我们希望他们能够去谈论的主题。
And as teachers, we might leave the class one day and think,
身为老师，可能有一天我们离开教室时，会想：
"It is really sad that there's that one boy in our class who thinks that all women have orgasms from anal sex."
“真悲哀，我们班上有一个男孩认为所有的女性都是从肛交产生高潮的。”
And we might leave class the next week and think, "I'm really glad that there's that one kid in our class who's gay,
可能下周我们离开教室时，会想：“我很高兴我们班上有一个同性恋孩子说，
who said that seeing his sexuality represented in pornography saved his life."
在色情中看到他的性向被描绘出来，救了他一命。”
Or, "There's that one girl in our class who said that she's feeling a lot better about her body,
或：“我们班上有一个女孩，她说对自己身体的观感觉得变好许多，
because she saw someone shaped like her as the object of desire in some tame pornography."
因为她在比较温和的色情片中看到和她身材一样的人被当成渴望的对象。”
So this is where I find myself as a violence prevention activist.
这是我发觉自己扮演预防暴力的活动家的时候。
I find myself talking about and researching pornography.
我发现自己会去谈论、研究色情。
And though it would be easier if things in life were all one way or the other,
虽然，如果人生中凡事都非黑即白就会容易许多，
what I've found in my conversations with teenagers about pornography is that
我在和青少年探讨色情的对话中发现，
they remain engaged in these conversations because we allow them to grapple with the complexities.
他们持续参与这些对话，因为我们让他们尽力解决这些复杂的问题。
And because we're honest about the science.
还因为我们忠于科学的事证。
These adolescents may not be adults yet, but they are living in an adult world.
这些青少年还不是成人，但他们生活在成人的世界里。
And they're ready for adult conversations. Thank you.
他们已准备好做成人的对话了。谢谢。