Pornography is ‘desensitising’ teenagers to viewing child sex abuse material, a charity has warned.
The Lucy Faithfull Foundation reported a 32 per cent increase in under 18s contacting its Stop it Now! helpline since 2020. The helpline, which was originally set up for adults, also experienced a 26 per cent increase in adults voicing concerns about a young person’s behaviour towards children.
In response, the charity has launched the website Shore to provide 13 to 18 year olds who are worried about harmful sexual behaviour with anonymous support.
‘Extreme porn’
Rachel Haynes, Senior Practitioner at the Foundation, said: “A large proportion of young people we work with have downloaded child sexual abuse material – the pathways they reach that by are complex.
“Porn is a contributing factor – teenagers become desensitised to what they are seeing. Sometimes they have been groomed by adults, or have been sent illegal images during sexualised chats online.”
Detective Inspector Tony Garner of West Mercia Police added: “Quite often when we go through a door following intelligence on someone watching or sharing child sexual abuse, we find a teenager.
“There is a crisis here and it’s being driven by young people having access to very extreme pornography that is changing their brains.”
Age-verification
The Government’s Online Safety Bill is set to become law, after final amendments were agreed by Parliament last month.
The amended Bill, which now awaits Royal Assent, requires both social media and pornography websites to implement age-verification measures that are “highly effective at correctly determining whether or not a particular user is a child”.
Conservative MP Miriam Cates told the House of Commons the Bill is an “important step forward”, but warned the Government not to be so “naïve” as “to expect this Goliath of an industry to roll over and keep children safe” from porn.
She said: “There is much more to be done”, urging the Government to consider how it can further “disrupt the business model” of pornography websites.
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