Girls On Film

According to studies by numerous reputable news and research organizations pornography accounts for roughly 12% of the internet. There are 68 million search engine requests for pornographic content every day – A staggering result but one which is no surprise to many of us. We all know that it is adult websites which first caused the World Wide Web to flourish. Next week a public consultation by the government regarding this issue will end and decisions will be made on the future of what we view online.

The Daily Mail has embarked on a tirade against anything sexual online claiming that children are unwittingly being exposed to images which are “scarring” them on a daily basis. While they have evidence to reinforce this from the NSPCC and Childline alarm bells continue to ring in my mind. Firstly, any user of the internet will know that pornography does not simply creep up on you. Granted, it is easy enough to search for websites but every major porn site asks your age before you enter and restricts access if you are under 18 (or 21 in some cases). How naïve to assume that the internet is some malevolent force, pushing sordid images and videos upon innocent minors. If your child is accessing porn it is because they or their friends have went looking for it any bypassed security measures to do so. Sorry to shatter the image of your sheltered little brats. Just because you haven’t given them ‘the talk’ certainly doesn’t mean their mates in the playground haven’t already enlightened them to the Birds and the Bees.

Secondly, what is The Daily Mail’s proposed course of action against this? To make pornography “opt-in”. This means that everybody’s internet is automatically restricted and to undo this you have to call your ISP and ask someone at a call-centre if you’d like to change this. Now, call me crazy but if I want a wank I’d like not to have to ask James in Cardiff from Virgin Media, thanks very much. It is my civil liberty to be able to watch whatever I want online (given it is not illegal) and it is not OK for that to be taken away from me. Government intervention has gone too far when your access online is being restricted. I can only like it to the quote from Robert A. Henlein on censorship: “The whole principle is wrong; it's like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can't eat steak.” As long as what is being shown is not against the law, why should we be forbidden from seeing it?

It is another way for people to be made to feel dirty for doing what is normal. Pornography is certainly not a substitute for real human sexual interaction but when watched in moderation (both alone and as a couple) it can contribute to a healthy sex life. Yes, people have reported becoming addicted to it. But there are also sex addicts and alcoholics and those hooked on nicotine and none of those things are even considered taboo let alone illegal.

Parents – If you are worried your child is going to be scarred by the image of a couple having sex then please, firstly, get a grip. They see heads get kicked off in Tekken and people’s guts get blown up in action movies. They tell you they’re scared and traumatized because they’ve been caught. If they say it wasn’t their fault and they don’t know what happened then they’re not in trouble. No kid is going to tell their mum that they wanted to know what a woman’s downstairs looks like so they searched it on Google.

Furthermore if it’s that big an issue for you, feel free to add parental controls. It’s easy and free with most service providers. If that’s too hard for you? Well, you’re a lazy parent and any worries you profess to have are bullshit because if you cared that much you’d take the ten minutes and do it.

Personally, I don’t think it’s fair that busybodies and poor parenting should be to blame for censorship of the internet. Freedom is important whether it’s to be able to vote or to be able to look at fake tits and creepily large penises. WHO’S WITH ME?!