"online pornography is not equivalent to a 'top-shelf' magazine."
According to a new report by the Children’s Commissioner, one in ten children have watched online porn by the time they are nine years old.
Dame Rachel De Souza said children are becoming more and more exposed to web porn’s harmful content.
The report stated that the average age at which children first see pornography is 13.
By age nine, 10% had seen porn, 27% had seen it by age 11 and half of children who had seen pornography had seen it by age 13.
In a survey of those between the ages of 16 and 21, 79% of young adults admitted to deliberately seeking out pornography that featured violence, compulsion and degrading behaviour.
Girls were “substantially” more likely than boys to have been subjected to aggressive, coercive or demeaning activities, with 47% of respondents reporting having faced a violent sex act.
As per her report, Dame Rachel said the increase of digital pornographic materials is normalising violent sex and fuelling misogyny among boys and young men.
She said: “Let me be absolutely clear: online pornography is not equivalent to a ‘top-shelf’ magazine.
“The adult content which parents may have accessed in their youth could be considered ‘quaint’ in comparison to today’s world of online pornography.”
Her warning came in the wake of mounting data linking pornography to violence against women and girls.
When the specifics of the Online Safety Bill are worked out, the Commissioner wants to see pornographic content listed as a “priority danger” to minors.
In the report, Dame Rachel stressed her concerns and said:
“I am deeply concerned by these findings – particularly the normalisation of sexual violence in online pornography.
“We urgently need to do more to protect children from the harms of online pornography.
“It should not be the case that young children are stumbling across violent and misogynistic pornography on social media sites.
“I truly believe we will look back in 20 years and be horrified by the content to which children were being exposed.”
“It is crucial that we do not miss the opportunity the Online Safety Bill presents us with to make the internet safe for all children, today and in the future.”
Dame Rachel said that violent or graphic content affected children’s perceptions of sex and relationships and asked parents, educators, politicians and legislators to take the research seriously.
Richard Collard, NSPCC associate head of child safety online policy, said:
“We cannot underestimate the sheer number of children of all ages that are being exposed to online pornography on a daily basis.”
Speaking about the Online Safety Bill, he demanded “strong measures” and argued that Ofcom should have the authority to establish minimum requirements.
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