LifeSiteNews
2025-10-23
A member of the British House of Lords is calling for more restrictions on pornography to mitigate the devastating effects of digital content on the young - although she stops short of calling for a ban.
Baroness Gabrielle Louise Bertin, a Conservative and former Downing Street Press Secretary, recently published an editorial in the Financial Times titled "Time to say 'enough' to extreme, unregulated online pornography."
Bertin noted that over a quarter of the UK population "regularly" views online pornography, and the average age of first exposure is now 13. Bertin observes what I have reported often in this space, which is that ubiquitous pornography use shapes "attitudes, behaviours, and expectations of both adults and children." It is also a key factor behind the growing mental health crisis amongst the young.
"The independent review I led into harmful pornography laid bare the human cost," Bertin writes. "I heard heartbreaking stories: a schoolboy waiting for police after committing sexual assault, pleading to be told what he did wrong; 14-year-old boys asking teachers how to choke girls during sex; a nurse describing the rise in sexually inflicted injuries. Nearly 40 per cent of women under 40 have been choked. Erectile dysfunction is rising among men, when real-life intimacy proves less stimulating than online extremes."