Billie Eilish has just turned 20. Last week, talking to the radio host Howard Stern on SiriusXM, she discussed the impact that viewing pornography online, at a young age, had had on her. She explained that she was about 11 when she first saw pornography, and that it had given her nightmares, and affected her understanding and expectations of what sex should be. “I think it really destroyed my brain and I feel incredibly devastated that I was exposed to so much porn,” she said.
The statistics about the age at which children first see pornography online, and the speed at which watching porn becomes normalised, particularly for teenage boys, make for grim reading. In 2019, the British Board of Film Classification commissioned a survey that suggested 51% of 11 to 13-year-olds had seen pornography online. In the majority of cases, this was accidental, and for younger children, in particular, it was traumatic. The study also revealed a disparity between what parents and children understood about the culture of sexual content: only 25% of the parents surveyed thought their child had seen pornography online, while 63% of those parents’ children said that they had seen it.
The facts are plain, whether they are palatable or not: pornography is easy to access, and is very likely to be seen by those far below any age restrictions, which are hard, if not impossible, to enforce. Also last week, the children’s commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, urged parents to “talk early, and talk often” to children about pornography and sexual harassment. She acknowledged that the conversation can be hard, but advised that parents and carers should “create the culture before the crisis. Children want to talk to their parents and carers about this. We know this because they’ve told us,” she said.
There was a small ripple of backlash to what Eilish had to say, from pro-porn advocates who argued that she was treating all pornography as the same “bad” sort. I’m not sure that she should have had to assess the ethics of types of sexual content at that age, but what matters is that we listen to what she has to say, at 19, about her experiences of easily accessible and socially acceptable viewing of pornography.
To hear someone who has recently lived that and is contemplating its impact on her is a crucial piece of the puzzle, particularly for older generations whose experiences will have been so vastly different. It is a tricky conversation, but one that must be had.
Gregg Wallace, adjusting the menu to meet shifting tastes
It is the time of year for the bombastic television finales to roll out, and after Succession turned a steady season into a magnificent one with a pat of Tom Wambsgans’ shoulder, and Strictly ended what might be its loveliest run in recent memory, MasterChef: The Professionals also crowned its winner with an emotional and tense last episode.
I am a huge fan of the Professionals spinoff, which borrows Gregg Wallace from the original as host. The winner, Dan Lee, delighted everyone with his drool-inducing menu. I would like to try pretty much everything he made.
As a vegetarian, I will have to make do with drooling; as with most cooking programmes, MasterChef: The Professionals is heavy on meat and fish. Both the Vegetarian and Vegan societies last week criticised the show for its reliance on meat: their analysis showed that by the end of the semi-finals, only 10 out of 100 savoury dishes were vegetarian.
Unfortunately, this was just before a finals-week episode in which the Michelin-standard food prepared by the contestants was vegetable-based and zero waste. It looked amazing. While most people still eat meat, I understand that for now the adjustment will probably have to be made by those who choose not to, though I have found a very happy middle ground.
Nigella Lawson’s most recent cookbook, Cook, Eat, Repeat, offers a veggie or vegan suggestion for almost every recipe that involves meat. It’s casual and easy, and keeps everyone happy.
Isabelle Huppert: in the presence of greatness
The only time I meet famous people is when I’m interviewing them, which means that I very rarely get starstruck. In those situations it would be unprofessional, I think, to let my excitable fan-girl out in full. But there have been a couple of exceptions, the most notable of which was Isabelle Huppert.
I tried to talk about films, I got tongue-tied, and I did a very poor interview because I was uncharacteristically giddy about being in a room with Isabelle Huppert, trying to talk about films. It was years ago, but I can barely think about it now without cringeing.
Then again, she is one of the greats, so perhaps it was forgivable. It was announced last week that Huppert will be given an honorary Golden Bear award at the Berlin international film festival. The lifetime achievement award will commemorate what has been “a career without equal”, according to the festival’s directors. Since it’s looking as though we may be spending a bit more time indoors, might I suggest an Huppert marathon to while away the hours? It might be the only thing that makes the real world look cheerful by comparison.
• Rebecca Nicholson is an Observer columnist
