Internet porn fuelling sexual violence, fear most Scots
MORE than 60 per cent of Scots fear internet pornography is fuelling sexual violence against women and girls – and most want tougher curbs on vile content.
Sixty-three per cent of Scottish adults agree that pornography is linked to sexual violence against women and girls, a Savanta ComRes poll commissioned by the Christian charity CARE found.
And 76 per cent said the UK Government ‘should stop websites publishing extreme pornography that portrays violence or non-consensual sex’.
Fears about the links between violent pornography and sexual crime have spiked in recent weeks in the wake of the case of Sarah Everard, whose policeman killer Wayne Couzens was obsessed with extreme pornography.
Last night Scottish Tory community safety spokesman Russell Findlay said: ‘In a few short years, the internet has given people access to the most extreme and disturbing material imaginable.
‘It is becoming increasingly apparent that this can cause serious problems and is often a factor in some of the most abhorrent sexual crimes.
‘The perpetrators are almost always men while the victims are usually women and children. This disturbing research suggests more needs to be done to protect those at risk.’
A growing number of frontline workers helping victims of sexual crime, educationalists and members of the judiciary also warn about the connection between extreme pornography and sexual crime.
The Mail’s Block Online Porn campaign seeks to introduce safeguards to stem the tide of online filth.
Nola Leach, chief executive of CARE, said: ‘The links between extreme pornography and sexual violence are becoming clearer and clearer. Pornography has been implicated in a host of tragic cases involving the rape and murder of women in recent years.
‘It is described as a contributing factor by those working with victims of sexual violence across the UK. And it has been named as a motivator of sexual harassment in schools.
‘On top of this evidence, our polling shows that the public at large is concerned about the impact extreme pornography is having and supports action to curb porn providers.’
She added: ‘Tragically, as the Mail has highlighted, various cases involving the rape and murder of women have involved male perpetrators who watched violent pornography before carrying out their crimes.’
The CARE poll surveyed 2,103 adults and found broadly similar levels of concern across the UK with 63 per cent of adults concerned about the link between porn and sexual violence, with 74 per cent demanding curbs. In 2017, the Commons passed safeguards designed to prevent children accessing all commercial pornographic websites and to tackle extreme content on porn sites.
These measures were supported by women’s groups and children’s charities.
However, ministers scrapped their plans to implement these safeguards in 2019 – leaving children and women unprotected during the pandemic when online usage has increased.
The UK Government said its Online Harms Bill will go further than the Digital Economy Act, allowing watchdog Ofcom to block access to online services – including social media platforms and search engines.