Question

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of violent and abusive online pornography on violence against women and girls.

The Government Equalities Office published 2 reports in 2021 on the relationship between pornography and harmful sexual practices, including violence against women and girls. These are ‘The relationship between pornography use and harmful sexual behaviours’ and ‘The relationship between pornography use and harmful sexual attitudes and behaviours: a literature review’. These are available on GOV.UK.

The reports indicate that there is not one single factor that leads someone to engage in harmful sexual behaviour, rather it is a combination of factors which interact with one another to differing effects on each individual. No causal link could be established between porn use and harmful sexual practices as the evidence can not establish if the use of porn leads to harmful sexual practices, or if it is the other way round. Conclusively establishing such a link would require impractical and unethical study conditions (exposing individuals who have never seen it, to porn).