Pornography is “setting a moral standard for young people”, a psychology professor has warned.
William Struthers, Associate Professor of Psychology at Wheaton College in America, says porn is setting unrealistic expectations of sex among the young.
He is backing the SafetyNet campaign in the UK which is seeking a default block on internet pornography.
Violation
Prof Struthers said: “Pornography is a violation of the childhood mind, creating expectations that anybody and everybody is willing to engage in sex on demand and that consent will always be freely given.”
He added: “Internet pornography demonstrates the act but never the consequences. There are a variety of potential consequences that are never explored such as sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, and the impact of sexual exploitation.”
He added: “Without input from a mature adult, sex is understood as a recreational commodity.”
Consequences
The SafetyNet campaign, which wants users to have to ‘opt-in’ to view explicit materials, is backed by Premier Christian Media and SaferMedia.
Premier Christian Media’s Peter Kerridge welcomed the support saying: “As Professor Struthers explains so clearly, internet pornography teaches that sex is always available on demand and that it is a performance without consequence.
“We are now calling upon this government to take decisive action to halt this blatant and relentless assault on young and impressionable minds.”
Petition
Earlier this month SafetyNet handed a petition containing more than 115,000 names to the Government.
The petition urged “the Government to force Internet Service Providers to make accessing pornography an adult only opt-in service”.
The Government’s own consultation on cracking down on adult materials closed on 6 September.