Major review of pornography's links to sexual violence

The Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza has launched an inquiry into the link between online pornography and sexual violence against women.

Dame Rachel has previously called for pornographic sites to be required to include age-verification software on their sites, given fears of porn’s effects on young people.

Whilst the Government has committed to introducing age-verification measures on such websites, the details of what will be required are still unclear.

A study by Durham University of 150,000 pornographic videos found that one in eight were themed around violent, coercive and non-consensual sex.

The Commissioner said: “It really affects what boys think is normal and girls think is acceptable...there are issues around consent and whether it normalises rape”.

Last year, schools’ regulator Ofsted warned sexual harassment has become “normalised” among school-aged children

Internet porn was regularly cited as a motivator of sexually violent behaviour by pupils, particularly boys and young men.

CARE has been calling for stricter regulation of pornographic content for years and will continue to demand for better protection from online harms for young people.

Find out more on our website: care.org.uk/cause/online-safety