As I read article after article and see multiple social media posts around the Cornell 7, I was surprised at how many people are still surprised by this behavior.
I once heard a story about a girl in middle school who questioned the dress code at her public school. She asked why the width of the tank top strap had to be 2 finger-breadths and why shorts and skirts had to be below their fingertips. The answer she got was “we don’t want you tempting the boys into bad behavior.” The return question she asked was, “Why don’t we just teach them self-control and to respect their peers regardless of what they are wearing?”
Sexual aggression doesn’t start when a person gets to college. Those seeds have been planted and grown through elementary, middle, and high school and fertilized by the porn industry. So let's start earlier. Students who learned refusal skills before age 18 were less likely to be sexually assaulted in college [1]. I believe that when we teach kids about their whole bodies, genitals included, in an honest, shame-free way, we'll see less sexual violence. And the science is on my side.
What actually works
Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) is so much more than a banana and a condom. Thirty years of research show that good, K–12 CSE helps prevent child sexual abuse, cuts dating and partner violence, and reduces homophobic bullying [2]. It also teaches the big stuff: consent, empathy, communication, and owning your own body [2].
What doesn't (and can backfire)
Abstinence-only education doesn't delay sex or make teens safer. Study after study, including federal evaluations, comes up empty [3,4]. Worse, these programs often include inaccurate information and old-school gender stereotypes [4].
And here's the part that makes me want to scream. Some abstinence-based textbooks frame assault as what happens when you don't stay abstinent, and they put the job of preventing it on girls [5]. Teach that to a 13-year-old, then act shocked at what happens at 19? Really?
Meanwhile, porn is teaching the class
Just because schools and adults are not talking about it with children and adolescents does not mean that kids don’t have questions. They are getting answers online. In a national US survey, 24.5% of 18–24-year-olds named porn as their most helpful source for learning how to have sex. That beat partners, friends, and doctors [6].
The 2026 AAP technical report calls porn and social media a "default sex educator" [7]. Most teens (58%) first see porn by accident, often between ages 10 and 13, and then the algorithms keep it coming [7]. LGBTQ+ teens, left out of heteronormative curricula, are especially likely to go looking [7].
The problem is the script porn teaches: women as objects, aggression as normal, and no talking, no consent, no intimacy [8]. Children and adolescents with no experience copy what they see and assume that's how sex works [8]. That script is the leading explanation for the links researchers find between porn use, acceptance of sexual coercion, and sexual aggression [9,10]. Violent porn in particular is tied to more belief in rape myths, less sexual empathy, and comfort with sex without clear consent [9–11].
In fairness, most of these studies are snapshots, so they can't prove cause and effect [12]. Effects vary and seem concentrated in a smaller group of users [9–11]. Some young people even say porn boosted their confidence [8,13].
The answer isn't more silence; it's porn literacy. Experts urge sex ed to teach kids to think critically about what they watch, with realistic expectations, consent, and healthy relationships built in [8,12]. The AAP also recommends pediatricians ask teens about porn and counsel them and their parents [7].
Stopping harm before it starts
Most prevention puts the burden on potential victims: watch your drink, use the buddy system. CSE flips the script. It shapes attitudes, gender norms, and understanding of consent early, before anyone becomes a perpetrator [14].
The rest of the world is catching on. UNESCO and the European Parliament call CSE a tool against sexual violence, and Italy is piloting it in schools [15]. And CSE works best paired with lessons on consent, empowerment, and stepping in as a bystander [16].
Do we need more research? Yes. Should we wait? No.
Full honesty: no one has yet followed kids from kindergarten into adulthood to see whether CSE lowers the odds they'll commit sexual violence [14]. That study needs to happen.
But we already know abstinence-only fails and can feed the attitudes behind assault [4,5]. We already know CSE builds consent, empathy, and bodily autonomy [2]. That's plenty to act on.
What we see on campus was learned somewhere. If we want fewer headlines like the Cornell 7, the conversation starts in elementary school. Let's start talking.
References
Santelli JS, Grilo SA, Choo TH, et al. Does sex education before college protect students from sexual assault in college? PLoS One. 2018.
Goldfarb ES, Lieberman LD. Three decades of research: the case for comprehensive sex education. J Adolesc Health. 2021.
Breuner CC, Mattson G; Committee on Adolescence; Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health. Sexuality education for children and adolescents. Pediatrics. 2016.
Ott MA, Santelli JS. Abstinence and abstinence-only education. Curr Opin Obstet Gynecol. 2007.
Clonan-Roy K, Goncy EA, Naser SC, et al. Preserving abstinence and preventing rape: how sex education textbooks contribute to rape culture. Arch Sex Behav. 2021.
Rothman EF, Beckmeyer JJ, Herbenick D, et al. The prevalence of using pornography for information about how to have sex: findings from a nationally representative survey of U.S. adolescents and young adults. Arch Sex Behav. 2021.
Munzer T, Milkovich LM, Madigan S, et al. Digital ecosystems, children, and adolescents: technical report. Pediatrics. 2026.
Dewitte M, Reisman Y. Clinical use and implications of sexual devices and sexually explicit media. Nat Rev Urol. 2021.
Krahé B, Tomaszewska P, Schuster I. Links of perceived pornography realism with sexual aggression via sexual scripts, sexual behavior, and acceptance of sexual coercion: a study with German university students. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021.
Sanz-Barbero B, Cerdán-Torregrosa A, Otero-García L, Pérez-Martínez V, Vives-Cases C. Association between exposure to pornography involving physical violence and risky sexual behaviors in young adults. BMC Public Health. 2025.
Dawson K, Tafro A, Štulhofer A. Adolescent sexual aggressiveness and pornography use: a longitudinal assessment. Aggress Behav. 2019.
Pathmendra P, Raggatt M, Lim MS, Marino JL, Skinner SR. Exposure to pornography and adolescent sexual behavior: systematic review. J Med Internet Res. 2023.
Raine G, Khouja C, Scott R, Wright K, Sowden AJ. Pornography use and sexting amongst children and young people: a systematic overview of reviews. Syst Rev. 2020.
Schneider M, Hirsch JS. Comprehensive sexuality education as a primary prevention strategy for sexual violence perpetration. Trauma Violence Abuse. 2020.
Chinelli A, Ubbiali M, Paparatto G, et al. Introducing comprehensive sexuality education in Italian schools: from the co-construction to the evaluation of a pilot intervention. BMC Public Health. 2024.
Hanifa F, Arisanti N, Solehati T, Latif RA, Dhamayanti M. Comprehensive sexuality education and adjacent prevention strategies for adolescent sexual violence: a scoping review of consent, empowerment and bystander action. Front Public Health. 2026.
