Flooded by porn

normal. They are being taught it is OK even if a step-daughter initially says no, but finally concedes.

Researchers were pleasantly surprised to find just one in 10 of the videos showed aggression – a category defined not just by one person showing aggression but also the reaction of the person subject to it. Almost all showed aggression from a man towards a woman.

That surprisingly low figure was the good news among the bad: 35 per cent of the videos showed non-consensual behaviour of some kind. These were times when sexual contact was not welcome.

It should be noted that these videos were most popular in an era when issues of consent have been high in the media. This is the #metoo era, when public villains such as Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein have been identified.

‘‘I’m surprised constantly how often those working with children say it is just about the greatest issue of our time that no-one is addressing and encouraging public dialogue and discussion about,’’ Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft says.

Pornography, for young New Zealanders, is ‘‘one of the great, unaddressed issues of our time’’, he believes.

Exactly what the problems would be – as those children with free and unfettered access to porn through childhood enter adulthood – remain to be seen.

‘‘It’s a wake-up call and a catalyst for a national conversation about children and young people watching online porn,’’ Becroft says.

‘‘We have totally underestimated the avalanche of porn freely available to our children, uncensored and unregulated, in New Zealand homes day and night. Adults have been passive and abdicated responsibility for this.’’

Becroft backs calls for an R18 ‘‘age-gate’’. At the lowest end, that would mean people signing into porn sites saying they are 18; at the higher end, viewers would have to prove they are 18. ‘‘I’m not opposed to that either,’’ he says.

Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin is currently receiving advice from officials on what the Government can do about the issue – and she’s not ruling out age-gates.

‘‘At the moment, our regulatory system has no powers over this particular area . . . We’re trying to run to keep up with the internet,’’ she says.

Victoria University criminology researcher Samantha Keene says education is critical when it comes to pornography and its tendencies.

‘‘The porn we’re seeing now is increasingly hostile, misogynistic and aggressive in nature.

‘‘We’re seeing the increasing eroticisation of inequality relating to gender, disability and aggression in a majority of contemporary material – that’s not to say it wasn’t present in previous types of porn, but it’s become a bit main-stage.

‘‘I think we’re right to be concerned about its harmful potential.’’

Strangulation – cited in the recent Grace Millane trial – is