‘Online porn fuels sexual violence against women’

An anti-porn campaigner has said online content is teaching boys that “violence is sexy”.

Gemma Aitchison, whose sister was murdered by a sexual predator in 2013, argues that pornography portrays women as nothing more than ‘sex objects’.

In April, an unnamed teacher told the BBC that her pupils had asked questions about bestiality and strangulation in an anonymous written exercise in class.

‘Direct link’

Aitchison believes there is a “direct link” between sex crimes and violent acts against women in pornography.

She said: “People who appear in pornography act as if it isn’t painful, whether it is or not.

“Boys then think ‘I’ll do that because that’s what she’ll like’ – then they go and copy it.”

Recent analysis by The Daily Express revealed that more than twenty women have been killed by men addicted to pornography since 2003.

Age-verification

Last month, delegates at the National Education Union’s annual conference passed a motion calling for more time and resources to warn children about the dangers of pornography.

Under the Government’s Online Safety Bill, pornographic websites could face large fines and risk being blocked if they do not have age-verification systems in place to prevent children from accessing content.