PREFACE
In their training, social workers acquire a broad and well-founded knowledge in the field of social and vocational education. But the profession of social work is changing. Digital media is part of people's everyday lives and so the range of tasks of social workers and youth workers is also expanding into the digital world.
In this project we want to expand the acquisition of theoretical knowledge relevant to the profession and support the transfer and implementation in practice. The main focus is on developing the personal skills of youth workers and social workers in the field of digitalization.
Internet - that means games, fun, entertainment, communication, networking and information. But it also carries risks and dangers. For this reason, social workers must also learn to accompany children and young people in the use of the Internet, to advise them, to sensitize them, to educate them and to strengthen young people holistically. The Internet as a new field of action in social work poses new challenges for social workers.
The project "Pornography - Competence in Everyday Social Work" deals with the consequences and problems of Internet pornography and sexting in everyday social work. Through the spread of the Internet, images of eroticism, sexuality and pornography are accessible to a broad public. Pornography can be consumed at any time and social taboo, grey areas of legality and fear of discovery resonate.
Studies point out that about 48 percent of Internet users between 11 and 16 years have seen porn, because children and young people are also increasingly getting into porn sites when they are not surfing the Internet in a targeted manner.
"There is much speculation about the sexual behavior and experience of young people in offline and online worlds, especially with regard to risks and dangers. Alarmist public debates are contrasted with rather de-dramatizing key data on youth sexuality. Many detailed questions on how young people of all genders deal with the diverse sexual development tasks in their respective environments, and above all which conditions and resources (online and offline) they experience as particularly helpful and beneficial for their sexual well-being, have so far been empirically open".
Although the sexuality of adolescents has hardly changed in principle in recent decades, digital media can also have a great influence on the sexual development of young people.
Young people have an open and curious attitude and on the net they usually receive quick answers to burning questions. Sometimes they are confronted with "sexual violence", "grooming" and "sexting" through easy access to pornographic materials.
Youth workers and social workers are therefore increasingly called upon to deal critically not only with Internet addiction, the problem of excessive use of online games, cyberbullying, but also with Internet pornography and sexting. The need for advice is high. Specialist skills are essential to support young people and disadvantaged population groups in particular, so that they can exploit the opportunities and possibilities of the digital media world more effectively and to enable them to deal responsibly with new technologies.
The aim of this project is to strengthen youth workers and social workers in order to be able to competently fulfill the new tasks and challenges in the field of new technologies and to assume responsibility, especially when it comes to taboo issues such as pornography.
This handbook provides materials, discussion plans and exercises and supports social workers by incorporating suggestions from this handbook into their work.
Building sustainable relationships between social workers, youth workers and the people who look after them are fundamental and very important for social work.
But how can relationships in the context of social work be consciously established or shaped, especially when it comes to taboo issues such as Internet pornography? Which attitude, which previous knowledge and which competences are needed on the part of the youth workers in the safe and critical handling of the digital technologies, which are used for information, communication and problem-solving strategies in all areas of life?
Prerequisites for this are an open-minded attitude, the curiosity to learn and try out new things, as well as the willingness of young people to learn. Appreciation, acceptance, empathy are necessary and the know-how must be discussed in depth.
The better the children and young people's basis for talking to adults and the more they know about potential risks, the better they are protected. Philosophical dialogue offers a good opportunity for this. It is also about strengthening the personality and promoting autonomous thinking. The aim is to promote critical, creative and sensitive ("caring thinking") thinking and thus enable a safe, critical and responsible use of digital technologies.
How can one's own personality be strengthened, especially among children and young people, so that adolescents are critical and not so easily influenced and find their own way in the digital society? How can active participation be encouraged? How can the promotion of pornography-related media competence be put into practice?
Philosophizing can, for example, help to relate with young people, to find access even in the case of sexist sayings and cross-border behavior. It is about taking young people seriously and also dealing with the contents of their statements; it is an approach and a thematization in a language appropriate to their age. Respectful interaction with one another is central.
Finally, philosophy also helps to prepare procedural debates in order to make clear to those involved the prerequisites and consequences of their own positions. If this succeeds and those addressed in this way find a consistent and well thought-out position, this can lead to a lasting change.
The fact that young people are given a voice and the emphasis is placed on the discussion and exchange of ideas within the framework of philosophical dialogue helps to strengthen their critical attitude and self-confidence. By strengthening their social and reflective skills, their self-protection factors and their ability are promoted.
Philosophical dialogue is part of a holistic method of health promotion that actively supports prevention messages that can be initiated as part of early prevention.
"Sexual health is inextricably linked to overall health, well-being and quality of life. It is a state of physical, emotional, mental and social well-being in relation to sexuality and not just the absence of disease, dysfunction or infirmity.
Sexual health requires a positive and respectful attitude towards sexuality and relationships and the possibility of having a pleasant and safe sexual experience, free from coercion, discrimination and violence. Sexual health can only be achieved and maintained if the sexual rights of all people are respected, protected and fulfilled.
Much remains to be done to ensure that health policies and practices recognize and reflect this.”
Youth worker see the goals of sexual health by an increasing pornography of juvenile life worlds in danger.
This handbook "Living together" contains materials to support social workers in interaction, communication and counseling and to show them various possibilities of intervention. The aim is also to give the most diverse impulses that make this possible and deepen relationships through interaction.
In order to promote pornography competence among social workers and youth workers, however, a very individual translation and concretization is required - adapted to the context and target group.
"Living together" contains exercises, discussion plans and collections of films, pictures, poems, songs, articles and comics on the respective topics: Responsibility, respect, feeling, body, transgender, queer, love, empathy, reality vs. virtuality, power, equality, friendship, language, perception,