Evangelical agency urges action on porn

Online pornography involving women and children could be treated in all cases as commercial sexual exploitation, if recommendations by cross-party MPs are accepted by government.

CARE, the evangelical charity which campaigns for better online safety, has also urged the government to implement MPs’ recommendations. A recent inquiry led to parliamentarians concluding that existing legislation is ‘wholly inadequate’, and recommended that pornography ‘must’ be treated as commercial sexual exploitation and a form of violence against women. This approach has already been adopted in Scotland.

In its recent report, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Commercial Sexual Exploitation warned that explicit content is fuelling real-world sexual violence. It evidences multiple harms connected with the pornography industry and found that sexual coercion is ‘inherent’ to the commercial production of pornography, with exploitative and abusive tactics used to coerce women into performing.

The APPG has made several recommendations including criminalising the enabling or profiting from the commercial sexual exploitation of others.

Louise Davies, CARE’s director of policy and advocacy, said: ‘Research shows that many individuals appearing in porn videos on major sites have not been verified as over 18 or given their express consent for sexual content involving them to be shared.

‘We believe the executives of porn sites should be held liable for their actions. If they are allowing footage of underage people or people filmed without consent to be shared on their platform, they should face legal action. Ministers must ensure sites that don’t comply are blocked.

‘We also believe there should be equal protection for people offline and online. At present, a person found with shocking pornography involving sexual violence or underage sex on their devices can be prosecuted. Porn sites evade consequences for holding exactly the same material.’