BBC highlights harm of porn on children

Originally published by The Christian Institute

A BBC Sounds interview has emphasised the prevalence and harm pornography has on children.

Mary Sharpe is a Scottish lawyer and co-founder of The Reward Foundation, which offers education on the harms of online pornography. In ‘Mary v the porn industry’ she spoke about her efforts to help governments better legislate on the topic, and to equip parents and educators to better engage with children.

Sharpe listed a number of harmful effects of online pornography on children, including: depression, extreme social anxiety, inability to form relationships, body dysmorphia, lack of sleep, poor concentration, and brain fog.

Age verification

The campaigner explained the physical impact pornography has: “over a period of time high level stimulation changes the brain – just the way cocaine or alcohol or drugs can do”.

She expressed her support for better age verification for websites, confirming “it’s the best way to stop kids getting easy access” to porn.

Her colleague Anton Ferrie added: “The average age that kids first see porn is 13 but that one in 10 kids have seen it by the age of nine. And the thing is, the majority of those kids have stumbled upon it by accident.”

‘A huge problem’

Sharpe continued: “The world has changed completely with this ready, free access to internet porn”.

She stated: “It’s a really huge problem and it’s like a hidden epidemic. If somebody drinks too much you can see it, if they take too many drugs you can see it, you can’t see when somebody is using too much porn.”

Listing things parents can do to tackle this challenge, Sharpe said: “the best we can do is educate ourselves, educate kids, monitor them, help them navigate their way, be good parents, give them boundaries, don’t let them use screens after 10 o’clock at night, don’t maybe give them phones until they’re 16 – there’s lots of things that can be done to help.”

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