Thousands of parents are seeking help to cope with their child’s online pornography addiction.
Dr Gail Dines, author of Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality, said nearly 40,000 parents have sought help from her Culture Reframed site in six months. An expert on the impact of pornography on the mind, she likened free-streaming porn to smoking and climate change, calling it “a stealth public health crisis of the digital age”.
Her free resource run by academics, paediatricians and psychologists helps parents start a dialogue with their children without “shaming and blaming”.
She said parents of boys often seek help after “freaking out” when they find hardcore material on a child’s smartphone. One family told her how their 15-year-old son became suicidal after locking himself in his bedroom glued to endless intense free content.
But more worryingly, US-based Dr Dines said data showed increasing “child-on-child sexual abuse”, fuelled by the violent and degrading imagery. She added: “Parents aren’t just coming to us — they’re begging. They’re the first generation who’ve had to bring up kids with free, anonymous access to hardcore porn. Studies show parents hugely underestimate how much porn their kids see. The average age from which they will be viewing porn, depending on the study, is between nine and 12.”
The Government is preparing to impose an over-18s age check to block adult content. Alcohol-style verification online, by credit card or driving licence, was due to go live last April but has suffered administrative delays.
Also “porn passes” will be purchasable at shops, in conjunction with a phone app run by an age check firm. Adult sites breaking the rules can have card payments banned, be blocked by internet providers or be fined up to £250,000. Dr Dines said the block will help stop youngsters “in five seconds being catapulted into a world of sexual violence and abuse”. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport said: “Adult content is currently too easy to access on the internet, we will ensure protection for children offline is provided online too.”
