New initiative launched to prompt conversations about pornography

Together for Childhood and partners have joined forces to launch a campaign to help young people understand the impact of pornography and its link with violence against women and girls. 

This week (February 6th-12th) marks this year’s Sexual Abuse and Sexual Violence Awareness week, which makes it the perfect time for the group and its partners to launch the initiative. 

During the week, Together for Childhood and partners meeting with either a group of young people or professionals about pornography to start exploring perceptions and misconceptions about pornography.  

From these conversations, themes and insights gained will be developed further into a city-wide campaign later this year.

This work comes as a response to the Violence Against Women and Girls commission report findings, which recommended that:

“Young people are invited to develop a city-wide campaign to kick start conversations about online harm: This will build on existing campaigns and give a specific focus to social media and the impact of pornography.” 

Oliver Mackie, Strategic Service Manager at the NSPCC, who oversee Together for Childhood said: “This campaign could make a real difference to people in Plymouth and I’m really excited to be involved. 

“We believe that children and young people are best placed to know what those risks look like, so providing them with an opportunity to be involved will help them teach us what we need to do as adults. 

“This has huge potential for Plymouth and will hopefully keep generations of people safe online.”

Councillor Rebecca Smith, Chair of the Violence Against Women and Girls Commission, said: “I really welcome this new campaign. We all know that when young people go online there are risks, particularly if they are exposed to inappropriate content. The impact of pornography and its link with violence against women and girls is clear. And it can have a long lasting impact on how people interact in the future.

“Working collaboratively with young people to design and deliver a campaign that will educate their peers of the impact of pornography will help ensure that they can use the internet safely in the future. 

“I look forward to hearing more about the campaign as it develops in the future.”

A recent report by the Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, found one in 10 children surveyed had watched pornography by the time they were nine and that almost 80% of those who took part had seen pornography which involved violence by the time they were 18-years-old*. 

In addition to its Together for Childhood programme, which is based out of Brunswick House in Plymouth, the NSPCC also provides a free helpline for children called Childline. 

Through that service, children have also spoken about their own concerns at how pornographic and adult content had shaped their perception of women as sexual objects, one boy said:

“Watching porn was just something everyone in my social group did. I never really thought about how it was polluting my mind until I realised how awkward I am around girls. It’s like I’m not able to talk to a girl without seeing them as a sexual object, when I should be seeing them as a human, as a friend, etc. I feel so disgusted with myself, and I just wish I could be normal.”

Childline, is free and anonymous, is available for children to call with any worries they have, including domestic abuse. The service is contactable by calling 0800 1111, or children can chat online 1-2-1 with a counsellor chat www.childline.org.uk.

To find out more about Together for Childhood, contact the NSPCC in Plymouth at Plymouth.TFC@nspcc.org.uk or 01752 422577 or visit the NSPCC website. You can also look for us on Facebook at TogetherForChildhoodPlymouth

Cover photo - NSPCC Stock Image - Cred Tom Hull