A review commissioned by the previous Conservative government and peer Baroness Gabby Bertin has urged ministers to give regulator Ofcom power to police porn sites deemed to contain “harmful” material.
The report includes proposals to criminalise the possession or publication of pornography showing women being choked during sexual intercourse. However, these thirty-two recommendations on governmental control of legal online pornography have sparked debate about how far the state should regulate adult content.
Baroness Bertin argues that online pornography contributes to some of the “gravest issues in our society, from domestic violence to toxic masculinity to the mental health crisis among young people”.
Speaking to the BBC, she stated: “You just have to go on the homepages of some of these mainstream sites, and you will see all that degrading content—particularly violent towards women—and it’s all there for everyone to see.”
Studies conducted in the UK indicate that 22% of children aged 14–18 have viewed pornography multiple times, with one in five claiming to have a “porn habit”. Alarmingly, some children reported first viewing explicit material as young as 3 years old, with an average exposure of 12.
Additionally, a study from the Children’s Commissioner for England has identified links between children’s exposure to pornography and subsequent harmful sexual behaviour or abuse. The report finds reference to specific acts of sexual violence commonly found in pornography in 50% of the cases examined within the documents, such as strangulation and slapping.
The review highlights cases, such as a 14-year-old boy asking a teacher how to choke girls during sex, as evidence that pornography is normalising violence and creating “a confusing world for our sons”. According to Baroness Bertin, the lack of regulation allows harmful content to thrive unchecked, contradicting broader societal efforts to combat misogyny.
“These depictions of non-fatal choking of women during sex have normalised such behaviour in the real world”, the review suggests, “with violent and degrading material rife on mainstream platforms amid a ‘total absence of government scrutiny’”.
However, does banning certain types of pornography infringe on personal freedoms and overreach into private sexual expression? Some experts suggest that efforts should focus on better sex education—promoting discussions of consent and addressing issues of masculinity—as opposed to an outright ban on specific content. Others suggest that rather than criminalising content, technology-based solutions, such as identification checks and AI-driven content moderation, could offer a more balanced approach.
“They are, quite rightly, encouraged and taught to reject sexist attitudes, while a subterranean online world of pornography is simultaneously showing them that anything goes”, Baroness Bertin writes.
Downing Street has suggested it would “act swiftly” to address gaps in the law but has not explicitly committed to a ban. Measures to increase regulation of pornography, including to prevent children from accessing explicit content, are already part of the Online Safety Act, which became law in October 2023.
While Baroness Bertin urges further action, policymakers must weigh the risks of censorship against the potential benefits of reducing exposure to violent and degrading content. Finding a balance between regulation, education, and digital safeguards will be key in ensuring both protection from harm and the preservation of personal freedoms.