to pleased that something is being done about online porn.

[mootime]

Don't get me wrong, I am not totally anti porn. Each to their own. I have been reading more and more articles about the impact of online porn on our children due to it being so easily accessible and frankly it scares me.

I have nieces who are 18 and 16 and they constantly post pictures of themselves on FB pulling "porn pouts" and basically posing provocatively. I also know that they have been active for a good few years. I know that when I was that age I was no angel (far from it) but I'd seen one porno (by accident at a friends boyfriends house) and was horrified by it. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be viewed in that way. It seems like its now considered the norm.

I genuinely hope that restricting access makes it less "normal". Its a bit like an online version of having to go to the newsagents to buy it. It doesn't ban it, it just makes it something you deliberately have to access.

[missinglalaland]

MurderOfGoths - Yes, of course! It's not about complete control; it's about making it less ubiquitous.

[MurderOfGoths]

I don't think it will, it'll still be accessible to the majority, and the only ones who will have it blocked will be the ones who already have it blocked. I'd rather see them targetting sexual imagery in mainstream media. But they wont, because it's not about that.

[missinglalaland]

It seems to me that the mainstream media has gotten worse as the internet has made pornography more available and more extreme. To be seen as exciting and titillating the media has to go further and further to shock or catch our attention. The whole culture seems pretty jaded. Fine for grownups. We made this mess, if we don't like it, it's our own fault. Sort of sad for kids to grow up in it, though.

[MurderOfGoths]

I don't know if there's a direct correlation, but even if there is I'm not sure the porn block will help, I can't see it rolling back anything. Plus those who are won over by porn-like images in the media are quite likely to just opt out and see porn anyway.

We need a massive cultural shift and/or to cut down on what images in mainstream media are shown in view of children. At least the internet is currently easier to filter than everyday life.

[MamaMary]

The objectification of women has become more acceptable in mainstream media as a direct result of internet porn, imo. The music industry has a huge part to play with music videos basically being porn, but with increasingly disturbing messages and objectification of women. Men fully dressed while women prance around almost naked, are frequently in chains or even gagged; and in the lyrics are called bitches and whores.

[missinglalaland]

MamaMary - YY!

[MurderOfGoths]

Possibly, I don't see how this will help though. Maybe if you banned porn entirely, but this wont stop people who want to see porn, and it wont stop mainstream media trying to appeal to those who think it's ok.

[Mia4]

It's a great idea in order to help stop being seeing who don't want to...or it would be if the stupid banning didn't stop viewing of certain medical sites, newspapers and other general sites and forums which mention porn or something related to.

Oh and since mumsnet mentions the word porn within it's site, those parts -if not the whole site- would be blocked for those people just trying to block porn.

The software isn't a smart AI, it isn't human, it can differentiate between (for example) the NHS website on STDs and porn sites. It sees commonalities, however vague, and will block both.

So crappy idea for any adult and older child who wants to research. Great if it's purely for a young child but then shouldn't they be supervised online anyway?

[MurderOfGoths]

"The software isn't a smart AI, it isn't human, it can differentiate between (for example) the NHS website on STDs and porn sites. It sees commonalities, however vague, and will block both."

One thing I've noticed a lot in discussion about this is that a fair few people who are for the filter also think computers can reason in the same way as humans. To them it's obvious what needs to be blocked and what doesn't, but they forget a computer cannot distinguish the difference like we can.

[EBearhug]

More importantly why are teenagers having to look online for information on sex?


Because school doesn't cover everything (there are only so many hours in the day/week/term/year), and some people will want to know more.

it's where you go for information these days. It's a lot easier than checking books at home, or going to the library. I still use reference books, but my first stop when I want to check something is usually google.

Also, when it comes to sex education, my teachers would not have been the ones whom I'd have approached to answer questions like, how normal am I? How normal does my vulva look? My breasts aren't the same shape as my friends' breasts, am I normal? Unfortunately, if anyone goes looking for those answers, although there are sites which do show images of that sort of thing in a natural setting, it's a lot easier to find the porn versions first, so they're much more likely to see idealised, surgically enhanced versions of physical attributes (although I'd say over all, porn can be more egalitarian than most mainstream glossy magazines when it comes to female bodies, in that it's more likely to depict women who are overweight or older. But that's only in a comparative sense, and certainly not always.)

And that's just physical attributes, without asking about sexual practices or emotional welfare, which is probably far more of an issue.

But anyway - teenagers will look online to answer their questions first, because that's the world we live in these days.

[soontobeburns]

Wow I started watching porn when I found my mums stash at 11.

Im a perfectly normal individual with a normal sex life.

Too much scaremongering that it harms kids. If anything it made me much more confident and helped me orgasm during sex.

[soontobeburns]

Oh and when I say confident I dont mean promisious I was 17 and in a relationship before I lost my virginity.

[ChipsNKetchup]

The only good thing that can come out of this is that the filters being set at a level to prevent access to the majority of porn will also block filth like the Daily Mail.

Oh and Mumsnet too.

I personally can't wait for the day that our children access illegal content only in the deepest, darkest, most depraved corners of the internet . Because making it a wee bit difficult is going to immediately stop a teenager from doing something they're not supposed to.

I found the shreakers on the news hilarious though. No matter how inocuous the search apparently they get hardcore porn hits every time. I'll admit back in the nineties I was a little shocked when looking up recipes with mince beef but we've moved on and when I want a cake recipe I get a cake recipe not hot girls take it up the arse.

The whole thing is unworkable bullshit that abdicates parents of yet more responsibility and won't protect a soul. The only thing it progresses is the erosion of freedom of speech.

[MurderOfGoths]

I cannot think of the last time I stumbled upon porn accidentally, even with safe search off on google! How are they managing it?!

[daddoinghisbest]

I know it's a serious subject, but I have to laugh at the prospect of having to phone an ISP and opt in. Will we have to specify exactly what flavour of porn we want the filter to let through? After a week, would I have to call again to say maybe ease off the anal but ramp up the blow jobs?

[EBearhug]

And then the ISPs will be charging extra for their "porn included" broadband packages.

[Scarletohello]

Was listening to David Cameron talking about this on Women's Hour this morning and was amused by an irate male listener who rang up to complain, how was he going to be able to watch porn now without his wife knowing about it? Ha ha ha ha...

[opilo]

What a terrible move this is, the state seeking to curtail liberties of its citizens use of the internet.

[mercury7]

totally unworkable, it's not possible to police or regulate the internet, how can an internet filter discern pornographic content?
Are they going to employ a vast army of people to trawl the net and determine which porn is ok and which porn isnt

plus anyone can use a vpn or proxy server can get round filters

Cameron is talking shiite, really he must think we are all stupid

[mercury7]

yes EBearhug, the govt wants to impose a porn tax payable via your ISP...so download all your 'erotica' now while it's still free

[libertarianj]

soontobeburns
Wow I started watching porn when I found my mums stash at 11.

Im a perfectly normal individual with a normal sex life.

Too much scaremongering that it harms kids. If anything it made me much more confident and helped me orgasm during sex.


Totally agree. It's just more blatant scaremongering from the anti porn lobby and i have not seen any reliable unbiased evidence to convince me of the negative effects of porn either.

The internet has been mainstream for around 15 years now. So are we seeing any decline in standards for the current 25 to 30 age group? They would have been the first group of teenagers to have had easy access to porn on the internet. Have their minds been warped?.... I think not.

Also why is it assumed that kids will be looking at the most extreme stuff?
The most popular searches/ views when i investigated some popular porn forums were softcore fetishes/ sites. I genuinely believe that people like what they like and extreme stuff is always going to be a niche, no matter how easily available it is.

[SinisterSal]

Nonsense libertarianj. Tedious nonsense which boils down to I lik cummin and I don't care about anything else. The harmful affects of porn are well documented - perhaps try the 'anti-porn lobby' for data.

[TabithaStephens]

It's pointless. Kids will work out a way around it, and the block will no doubt block many non-porn sites too. It's another instance of parents expecting the government to parent their kids for them.

[gloucestergirl]

I can't believe that some people think that because porn is hard to regulate on the internet that nothing should be done about it. In the olden days when someone wanted porn they had to go to shop to buy a magazine or video. What is wrong with a little inconvenience and forethought (a bit like when we buy food) for porn users in order to TRY and estabilsh healthy sexual attitudes in children. Just because something is hard to do doesn't mean that it shouldn't attempted.

Also, just because some adults like porn, there needs to be recognition that children and teenagers react very differently to such explicit sexual images. As a result of porn it is considered within adults that anal sex and complete removal of pubic hair is normal if you don't want to be considered a prude. God forbid as well if you say that you find porn degrading and disgusting. I have seen these sexual boundaries move during my lifetime and I'm not even 40.