Alarm over teenage boys who have been warped by web porn
A GENERATION of children are being warped by online pornography, a damning report reveals today.
Children as young as 11 are being ‘stripped of their childhoods’ by viewing graphic sexual images on mobile phones and tablets, the survey found. And 94 per cent of 14-year-olds said they had looked at X-rated films or photographs.
Worryingly, more than half (53 per cent) of 11 to 16-yearold boys believed porn they had seen on screen was a ‘realistic’ depiction of sex – prompting them to degrade or be violent to their girlfriends.
More than a quarter of children aged 11 or 12 had looked at X-rated content, despite being barely out of primary school. A shocking 4 per cent of youngsters who watched explicit images did so every day, raising fears that children were becoming desensitised to the damaging impact of pornography.
Campaigners called for tougher rules from the Government on multi billionpound internet firms to make it more difficult for children to access the depraved images.
The survey, commissioned by the NSPCC charity and the Children’s Commissioner for England, said it was ‘not right’ that so many children were learning about sex from debased and violent depictions.
Middlesex University researchers surveyed 1,001 children using interviews, questionnaires and focus groups in the most extensive study of the menace of pornography in secondary schools. The report comes after the Daily Mail cam- paigned for automatic blocks on online porn to protect youngsters, with only over-18s being able to see adult sites.
The survey discovered it was more likely for youngsters to find material accidentally (28 per cent) than seek it out (19 per cent). About a fifth of chil- dren who had seen porn said they had felt repulsed and anxious by the images. But a similar proportion still viewed it regularly.
And 39 per cent of 13 to 14year-olds and one in five children aged 11- 12 said they wanted to copy sexual acts they saw on screen. One 13year-old girl said: ‘It can make a boy not look for love, just look for sex, and it can pressure us girls to act and look and behave in a certain way before we might be ready for it.’ A boy of the same age said: ‘One of my friends has started treating women like he sees on the videos – not major, just a slap here or there.’
The NSPCC said: ‘A generation of children are in danger of being stripped of their childhoods at a young age by stumbling across extreme and violent porn online.
‘Frighteningly, some children are growing up believing that they should emulate the behaviour they see in porn, which can have a damaging effect on their relationships.’
The Government announced in the Queen’s Speech that it would require pornographic sites to verify users are over 18 in the Digital Economy Bill.