Online pornography is to blame for a record number of sex crimes by under-18s in Scotland, an addiction charity has said.
Last year, a total of 407 minors were reported for rape, attempted rape, sexual assault or other sex crimes. This number included 48 people under the age of 16.
Commenting on the figures, Mary Sharpe, Chief Executive of charity The Reward Foundation, said young minds are being desensitised to sexual violence through viewing pornography.
‘Covert teaching’
Sharpe accused the porn industry of “covertly teaching” young people wrong ideas about sex.
The Reward Foundation’s website highlights that “porn can harm mental and physical health” and asserts that adolescents are most vulnerable to addiction.
Last week, a major pornography site claimed that extreme online pornography is just like creating popular art, TV or literature.
Corey Price, vice-president at the pornography website, made the claim in an interview with The Sunday Times which revealed that children are suffering the effects of a “porn-saturated” world.
Impunity
Sunday Times reporter Gabriel Pogrund spoke of boys copying porn actors and engaging in sexual acts that made girls feel violated.
He also described how explicit images were passed around school with impunity and how some men had not “learnt to differentiate between real life and porn”.
Pogrund claimed porn was a “fundamental aspect” of how millennials “express and experience sexuality”.
New powers
At present, pornography sites are largely unregulated but the UK Government is close to forcing pornography websites to verify the age of users.
From spring next year, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) will be given powers to restrict UK and overseas sites which fail to show they are denying access to under-18s.