A majority of Irish people believe that pornography is harming society, a new report commissioned by Woman’s Aid has found.
Among those surveyed, the majority also believe that pornography is too accessible to children and that it is contributing to gender inequality, coercion and sexual violence against women and girls.
The survey also found that almost two thirds of people (63%) believe that pornography leads to increased sexual violence in society.
A massive 81% of 18-25 year olds believe that pornography is increasing young men’s interest in seeking rough or violent sex while 71% believe the Government and Tech companies must do more to protect children and young people from exposure to pornography.
In it’s report ‘Time to Talk About Porn’ Women’s Aid said its frontline support workers regularly hear disclosures where pornography is playing a role in the verbal, sexual and physical abuse women are subjected to by their male partners.
“The survey also found that there is a majority belief that pornography undermines men’s respect for women, but not that it reduces women’s respect for men,” said Sarah Benson, CEO of Women’s Aid.
“This is most likely explained because pornography consistently and disproportionately portrays women in extreme degrading, humiliating and dehumanised ways - and because the most negative impacts of pornography in Ireland are experienced directly by women and girls. They are bearing the brunt of the harm.”
“Women have also reported that children have been exposed to inappropriate content on their fathers’ phones including dating sites and sexualised photos or pornography.”
Alexandra Ryan, businesswoman and survivor of image-based sexual abuse, added her concerns that the negative exposure to sexually violent content at a young age is distorting young people's views of sex and the expectations of sexual activity.
“This undoubtedly leads to women of all ages being subjected to uncomfortable situations in their relationships,” said Ms Ryan.
“I have no doubt in my mind that intimate image abuse (formerly mistakenly known as 'revenge porn') has strong links to this issue, and as a victim of intimate image abuse myself, it is so important to me to highlight the real effects it can have and to work on the prevention of this horrendous crime.”
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