A porn addiction charity has told City News that further laws to tackle violence against women and girls aren’t enough to effectively combat harmful pornography consumption.
Ian Henderson, chief executive of The Naked Truth Project, welcomes the new legislation but says there also needs to be “clearer signposting to support services, improved education, and public awareness campaigns”.
Porn addiction is harming people’s lives, says charity CEO Ian Henderson (The Naked Truth Project)
This comes after a new set of amendments were made to the Crime and Policing Bill in the House of Lords last Tuesday.
Ministers say these changes will help to support their target to halve violence against women and girls within the next decade.
What would stronger laws on pornography look like?
The proposed measures are:
Criminalising the creation and possession of pornography depicting incest, even if the performers are not related.
Making it an offence to screenshot intimate images or videos without consent – extending current intimate image abuse laws beyond sharing to include possession.
Banning the sharing of “semen-defaced” images including AI-generated images or images of fully clothed individuals altered to suggest sexual activity.
Prohibiting the use of AI “nudification” tools.
The Government have published the amendments to their Crime and Policing Bill on GOV.UK
Met admit more can be done to tackle violence against women and girls
The Metropolitan Police published its first VAWG (Violence against Women and Girls) Action Plan four years ago.
Although the number of people arrested and charged with rape and serious sexual offences have more than doubled in that period, over 100,000 cases of gender-based violence have been recorded in London in 2024.
New Scotland Yard, the headquarters of the London Metropolitan Police
Much has been achieved in that time as we seek to deliver against those commitments alongside the ambition of the ‘New Met for London Plan’. Sadly, over 120,000 crimes of violence against women and girls were reported to the Met in 2024, so we know there is still much to do.
What has the government already done to tackle extreme porn?
Last November, ministers announced that pornography depicting strangulation or suffocation would be designated as a “priority offence”, compelling social media companies to actively detect and remove such material.
The change followed a review by Conservative peer Gabby Bertin, which found depictions of choking to be widespread on mainstream pornography websites.
The government also introduced mandatory age verification requirements last year under the Online Safety Act,which forced pornography sites accessible in the UK to implement “highly effective” age checks.
An age verification notice on Pornhub.
But these checks haven’t been enough to stop viewers from accessing material.
Around a million people were estimated to be using VPNs each day by last October, and nearly 11 million VPN apps were downloaded in the UK over the year.
‘It should be treated similarly to gambling’
The Naked Truth said that even before the Online Safety Act, porn addicts went to lengths to hide their behaviour and that “the Online Safety Act may not be particularly effective for individuals in active addiction”.
They added though that despite the “flaws” of the Act, it was preferable to the “‘wild west’ online environment that preceded it”.
They also pointed to a report by The Lucy Faithfull Foundation, showing that nearly half (47%) of survey respondents say they have reduced the amount of pornography they watch since age verification came into force.
Baroness Bertin told Woman’s Hour this morning that porn obsession should be treated like other addictions including gambling and use of tobacco.
Conservative peer Gabby Bertin (GOV.UK)
‘We cannot just sit by and be a generation of legislators who allow this to carry on’
Baroness Bertin praised the government for acting on her choking ban proposals and said that “they have to uplift the Online Safety Act… [and] use that legislation to beef up these laws that could protect online standards in pornography”.
She also said that the next thing on the agenda would be “proper external scrutiny of the industry”, arguing that it is down to ministers to protect children: “We cannot just sit by and be a generation of legislators who allow this to carry on”.
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Standfirst
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HeadlineCharities warn that new laws aren’t enough to stop porn addiction
Short HeadlineWill extreme porn bans be enough to stop addiction?
StandfirstCampaigners say that "pornography is contributing to a public health crisis that demands a public health response."
A porn addiction charity has told City News that further laws to tackle violence against women and girls aren’t enough to effectively combat harmful pornography consumption.
Ian Henderson, chief executive of The Naked Truth Project, welcomes the new legislation but says there also needs to be “clearer signposting to support services, improved education, and public awareness campaigns”.
Porn addiction is harming people’s lives, says charity CEO Ian Henderson (The Naked Truth Project)
This comes after a new set of amendments were made to the Crime and Policing Bill in the House of Lords last Tuesday.
Ministers say these changes will help to support their target to halve violence against women and girls within the next decade.
What would stronger laws on pornography look like?
The proposed measures are:
Criminalising the creation and possession of pornography depicting incest, even if the performers are not related.
Making it an offence to screenshot intimate images or videos without consent – extending current intimate image abuse laws beyond sharing to include possession.
Banning the sharing of “semen-defaced” images including AI-generated images or images of fully clothed individuals altered to suggest sexual activity.
Prohibiting the use of AI “nudification” tools.
The Government have published the amendments to their Crime and Policing Bill on GOV.UK
Met admit more can be done to tackle violence against women and girls
The Metropolitan Police published its first VAWG (Violence against Women and Girls) Action Plan four years ago.
Although the number of people arrested and charged with rape and serious sexual offences have more than doubled in that period, over 100,000 cases of gender-based violence have been recorded in London in 2024.
New Scotland Yard, the headquarters of the London Metropolitan Police
Much has been achieved in that time as we seek to deliver against those commitments alongside the ambition of the ‘New Met for London Plan’. Sadly, over 120,000 crimes of violence against women and girls were reported to the Met in 2024, so we know there is still much to do.
What has the government already done to tackle extreme porn?
Last November, ministers announced that pornography depicting strangulation or suffocation would be designated as a “priority offence”, compelling social media companies to actively detect and remove such material.
The change followed a review by Conservative peer Gabby Bertin, which found depictions of choking to be widespread on mainstream pornography websites.
The government also introduced mandatory age verification requirements last year under the Online Safety Act,which forced pornography sites accessible in the UK to implement “highly effective” age checks.
An age verification notice on Pornhub.
But these checks haven’t been enough to stop viewers from accessing material.
Around a million people were estimated to be using VPNs each day by last October, and nearly 11 million VPN apps were downloaded in the UK over the year.
‘It should be treated similarly to gambling’
The Naked Truth said that even before the Online Safety Act, porn addicts went to lengths to hide their behaviour and that “the Online Safety Act may not be particularly effective for individuals in active addiction”.
They added though that despite the “flaws” of the Act, it was preferable to the “‘wild west’ online environment that preceded it”.
They also pointed to a report by The Lucy Faithfull Foundation, showing that nearly half (47%) of survey respondents say they have reduced the amount of pornography they watch since age verification came into force.
Baroness Bertin told Woman’s Hour this morning that porn obsession should be treated like other addictions including gambling and use of tobacco.
Conservative peer Gabby Bertin (GOV.UK)
‘We cannot just sit by and be a generation of legislators who allow this to carry on’
Baroness Bertin praised the government for acting on her choking ban proposals and said that “they have to uplift the Online Safety Act… [and] use that legislation to beef up these laws that could protect online standards in pornography”.
She also said that the next thing on the agenda would be “proper external scrutiny of the industry”, arguing that it is down to ministers to protect children: “We cannot just sit by and be a generation of legislators who allow this to carry on”.
