A social researcher is challenging the porn industry to move away from what he says are increasingly aggressive depictions of sex. [Read more…]
Pop porn: Genre’s sexy antics worse than hard-core pornography, U.K. MPs told
“Sexualized” pop stars are more of a threat to children using the Internet than hard-core pornography, says a U.K. expert on child protection.
Jim Gamble, former head of a British government task force on child protection and chairman of a London-based group for safeguarding children, says “highly sexualized” singers such as Miley Cyrus have a “far greater” impact on young people than the worst kinds of pornography.
Addressing a government committee on culture, media and sports, he told MPs that unlike pornography, there is “no filter” for children’s viewing of such celebrities.
“I think there is far too great focus and emphasis on (the online pornography) side of the debate,” Gamble said. “If you look at Miley Cyrus, if you look at some of the other pop stars and their behaviour, that has a far greater and much more easily accessible influence on young people today than actually seeing adult, or hard-core, pornography, for that matter.
What is the impact of a steady diet of “grotesque online porn” on boys and girls?
But what impact is this steady diet of online depravity having on the attitudes of boys and girls towards real life relationships, and on their self-esteem? asks ex- lads’ mag editor Martin Daubney – presenter of a UK Channel 4 documentary called Porn on the Brain
Could it even have a wider impact on their lives, blighting their ability to function in the world, get good qualifications and jobs?
What I discovered left me truly shocked and saddened.
You might be surprised. After all, from 2003-2010 I edited lad’s magazine Loaded.
With its frequent nudity and lewd photo spreads, I’d long been accused of being a soft pornographer, and after leaving Loaded I agonised that my magazine may have switched a generation onto more explicit online porn.
In the documentary I set out on a journey to answer the question: is porn harmless, or is it damaging lives?
My interest was deeply personal, too, as my own beautiful little boy, Sonny, is now four. Even though he has only just started primary school, the Children’s Commissioner estimates boys as young as ten are now being exposed to online porn.
I wanted to know what I could do to protect my own son from a seemingly inevitable exposure to hardcore material in just a few years’ time.
I used to be sceptical that porn was as damaging a force as the headlines and David Cameron – who recently said it was ‘corroding childhood’ – suggest. In the past I’d even defended pornography in university debates, on TV and on radio. I claimed it was our freedom of choice to watch it and said it could actually help add to adult relationships.
But what I saw during the making of the film changed my opinion of pornography forever.
The true stories of boys I met whose lives had been totally taken over by porn not only moved me to tears but also made me incredibly angry that this is happening to our children.
And the looks of revulsion on those poor girl’s faces in the playground enraged me.
I feel as if an entire generation’s sexuality has been hijacked by grotesque online porn.
Read full Story. Published 25 September 2013
Experiment that convinced me online porn is the most pernicious threat facing children today: By ex- lads’ mag editor Martin Daubney – presenter of a UK Channel 4 documentary called Porn on the Brain.
Kids get Facebook illegal porn in their faces – “Porn On The Brain” TV Doco
Martin Daubney – presenter of a UK Channel 4 documentary called Porn On The Brain writes:
What’s now considered ‘normal’ by under-18s is an entirely distorted view of intercourse and the way relationships should be conducted.
It seemed as if the children’s entire expectation of sex had been defined by what they see in online porn.
The conversation was horrifying enough, yet there was worse to come.
In the playground, I interviewed a brave group of seven bright boys and girls aged 14-15 to ascertain in more detail what online porn they had witnessed.
One boy calmly recalled watching a scene too graphic to describe in a family newspaper, but which had involved an animal.
‘You’re watching bestiality?’ I asked. ‘That’s illegal. Where are you getting this stuff from?’
‘Facebook,’ the boy said. ‘It just pops up whether you want it or not, sometimes via advertisements. You don’t have any control over it.’
A girl added, ‘On Facebook, you just scroll down and it’s there. If any of your friends like it, it comes up on your home page.’
These kids were balanced, smart and savvy. They were the most academically gifted and sporting in the school. They came from ordinary, hard-working households. This was not ‘Broken Britain’.
Some were clearly shocked by what they had seen on the internet.
‘I find it dirty and disturbing,’ said one 15-year-old boy. ‘I try not to look at it, but people just keep sending it to each other. They email disgusting links to each other’s mobile phones to shock.’
One girl put her head in her hands and said, ‘It’s just gross’.
It’s horrifying enough for parents to know that children can get porn via the internet. But to think they get it from Facebook – the social media currency that has become a universal must-have for teenagers globally – will strike terror into their hearts.
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Experiment that convinced me online porn is the most pernicious threat facing children today: By ex-lads’ mag editor Martin Daubney. Published 25 September 2013
Teenage brain is especially vulnerable to porn addiction.
By talking with sexual addiction experts such as Professor John E Grant of the University of Chicago, Dr Paula Hall, the UK’s top sex addiction therapist, and Professor Matt Field from the University of Liverpool, we learned that the teenage brain is especially vulnerable to addiction.
The brain’s reward centre is fully developed by the time we’re teenagers, but the part of the brain that regulates our urges – the pre-frontal cortex – isn’t fully developed until our mid-20s. The brains of teenagers are not wired to say ‘stop’, they are wired to want more. The implications of this study are profoundly troubling.
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Experiment that convinced me online porn is the most pernicious threat facing children today: By ex-lads’ mag editor MARTIN DAUBNEY. Published 25 September 2013.