- Safety fears raised as number of calls increases 34 per cent over a year
- Some teenagers are said to be worried about becoming addicted to porn
- ChildLine founder Esther Rantzen says children were becoming ‘warped’
- Girls say they are being coerced or even forced into mimicking adult videos
- Campaigners call on Government to bring in automatic block on online porn
‘ChildLine founder Esther Rantzen said hardcore adult videos were ‘warping’ children’s understanding of what normal sex is, persuading them to copy behaviour which is ‘disturbing, even dangerous’. Girls have called the helpline to report that they are being pressured, coerced or even forced into mimicking adult videos. In an article for the Mail, the former That’s Life presenter warned that the easy availability of internet porn meant that risky sexual behaviour was becoming ‘normalised’. ChildLine said it was being flooded with calls from young girls suffering in sexually abusive relationships. Pornographic videos are freely available on the internet without proof of age.
Both ChildLine and the NSPCC are campaigning for more action to educate children and parents on the dangers of internet porn. They have also joined the Mail in calling on the Government to introduce an automatic block on online porn to protect children. Miss Rantzen said she would like to see a comprehensive ‘opt-in’ system, where over-18s would have to specifically say they wanted to be able to access adult images following a rigorous age verification procedure. The Department for Education is consulting on whether to strengthen controls. Parents and charities have two more weeks to air their views.
The helpline said that during the year 2011/12 it carried out 641 counselling sessions following calls from children who had been ‘exposed to sexually indecent images such as pornographic material and videos’. This works out at more than 50 a month – up 34 per cent on the 478 total the year before. The number of boys contacting ChildLine about the issue has increased most notably – up 70 per cent to 268 in 2011/12.
Jon Brown, the NSPCC’s lead spokesman on sexual abuse prevention, said: ‘With over 4million pornographic websites on the internet, an increasing number of children are learning about sex and personal relationships through the warped lens of adult porn. ‘Pornography sends out unrealistic messages and expectations and is a poor and damaging sex educator for young people. ‘Though there are filters to block this material, they rely on users having the understanding and ability to activate them. Putting the onus on adults to make a decision to view pornography online, rather having it freely available to everyone, would go a long way to shield children.’
A teenage girl said: ‘My friend has upset me. She called me sick because she came round to my house and I showed her some sex videos on the internet. I did not like watching them at first but my dad likes them so I started watching them when he had them on.’
In her article, Miss Rantzen said tougher action was needed from the web industry and from Government to ensure children were protected. She said: ‘The Government are currently on the cusp of having to take a brave decision on how to protect young people from these videos. ‘And whilst filters and blocks aren’t the only solution, they are a big step in the right direction and an opt-in system can only be a positive thing.’
See also:
I loathe censorship. But we must block the creeping plague of internet porn causing such harm to our children
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2192771/ESTHER-RANTZEN-We-block-creeping-plague-internet-porn-causing-harm-children.html
