Liberal Democrat plans to allow 16-year-olds to watch and star in pornographic movies have been condemned by furious mothers.
The controversial Lib Dem policy has faced intense criticism from users of the popular parenting website Mumsnet.com.
One mother, who identifies herself as crystal123 on the website, warned: “Many young people aged 12 appear 16 or 17 and could easily end up in explicit pornography.”
Protect
Her concerns were echoed by another Mumsnet user, Clairewilliams1973, who said: “I simply cannot vote for a party that advocates this”.
She went on to warn that when her husband had phoned the local Lib Dem office to complain, he was told: “Look I have explained the policy and if you do not like it you do not have to vote for us”.
The controversial policy was passed by a large majority at the party’s conference in 2004, and earlier this week the party confirmed that they stood by it.
But a Lib Dem spokesman added: “Our manifesto sets out what we will do in Government. This policy is not in our manifesto.”
Pornographic
Currently the legal age for watching and appearing in pornographic movies is 18.
Last month it was revealed that the Lib Dems had selected a porn director to stand as a parliamentary candidate.
And when Mr Clegg was asked about his view on somebody involved in pornography representing his party he said: “I think all the indications are that she’s going to be a really, really strong voice for that local area”.
Anna Arrowsmith, a 38-year-old managing director of Easy on the Eye Productions has made more than 300 explicit films under the pseudonym Anna Span.
Violent
There have been a spate of recent stories regretting the ‘pornification’ of boys and the sexualisation of girls.
Research has revealed that boys who watch porn are more likely to be violent towards girls and treat girls like sex objects.
A recent Home Office commissioned report stated: “The evidence gathered in the review suggests a clear link between consumption of sexualised images, a tendency to view women as objects and the acceptance of aggressive attitudes and behaviour as the norm.
“Both the images we consume and the way we consume them are lending credence to the idea that women are there to be used and that men are there to use them.”