Very disturbed and feeling powerless after watching a film about child abuse

[TeenyQueen]

I have a beautiful little baby girl, like any mum I feel intensively protective of her and would do anything for her.

Yesterday I watched a film I'd recorded called Border. In the film there's a plot line about child pornography and a scene where a video of a baby being raped is played. Obviously you don't see anything actually happening but you hear the baby screaming and the characters talk about what they can see in the film. I'm so so disturbed by this and keep getting upset. I know it's just a film but this actually happens in real life all the time. There's so much child pornography available online that apparently that people who watch it are getting desensitised to it and the victims are getting younger and younger. Babies!

I just feel strongly that I need to do something about this, how can this be happening? People making and watching this vile stuff are dads, uncles, grandad with normal jobs and seemingly normal lives, but how can any human being actually do something that horrible. I think there should be automatic death penalty or life imprisonment for anyone convicted for sexual crimes against children, even 'just' watching videos because these children are suffering unimaginable abuse.

I didn't know what to do so I made a donation to nspcc, I'll also write to my MP, not that this is at the top of government agenda atm. Just can't shake the feeling of horror and disgust.

I agree. Looking at online child sexual abuse is becoming more and more common - normalised - in our country.

Child abuse is a massive scandal that simply isn't talked about. Our leaders are not prioritising it. This is partly what drove me to train to be a child protection social worker. Something needs to be done.

I agree op. I think it's ridiculous that it is still such a big problem, and apparently so easily accessible to veiw online. I really have to try and avoid watching things about child abuse, because once I see a story I have to read into it because I have this strange belief that of I don't know what happened to these children, I'm in some way disrespecting them, (well not disrespecting, but I can't think of the word I'm looking for). It can lead me down a very dark path mentally, and has in the past.

its heartbreaking. The penalties given to offenders are pathetic.

I'm also really disturbed by the thought of all the people who enable the abuse, the women who supply the children, often their own children, the friends and family who turn a blind eye. If I knew someone who had this content I would report them to the police immediately. I'm a teacher and work with disabled children. I often wonder how many of them have been abused.

Why did you watch that, I feel sad and sick thinking about it.

Sorry for my sharp reply, but this is something I find really hard to get my head around so personally I avoid anything like it. I used to have the Daily Mail app (because I'm an idiot obviously) and deleted it long ago because of all the stories of child abuse. I feel that the more we are told it is happening the less it shocks people and that is really dangerous. In my opinion anyone harming children in this way should be hung.

I didn't set out to watch child abuse, I was watching a Swedish film which I'd read about, the main character in the film has the ability to smell guilt and she finds a man who's part of a child pornography ring. If I'd known about this storyline I wouldn't have watched it because I feel really disturbed by it. It made me think though that I might feel sickened and horrified but this actually goes on in real life all the time. We can't just pretend it doesn't exist because it makes us feel uncomfortable.

I know how you feeling was browsing twitter yesterday and there was a thread that has a random video with an account with lots of followers and the tweet was something like, 'watch father and son playtime'. I was bored so I went to watch it thinking it was something cute and it was a man physically abusing his son. I just sat and cried.

You look at your child, so small and helpless yet so full of love and you think, how can anyone do that to a child? It makes me sick. People who watch, download or share those videos are just as culpable in my opinion. Supply in demand after all. Sentences should be so much higher for these low life scumbags.

Wtf @Ilovethekitths. Did you report the video? That sounds horrific.

Yeah, I reported it straight away. It was horrible.