Children face 'sexual coercion' because of porn - Bishop

Children are being forced into unwanted sexual activity due to the widespread availability of porn, a senior Church of England bishop has warned.

The Bishop of Chester called for more curbs on what young people can access on the internet.

And he warned that porn users can become addicted to it like people who are dependent on alcohol or drugs.

The government has promised new laws forcing "adult" websites to introduce age restrictions.

The Bishop of Chester cited a Bristol University study of 13 to 17-year-olds found that 40% had suffered sexual coercion "ranging from rape to being pressurised into unwanted sexual activity often with elements of physical violence".

'Fine line'

And a BBC survey of 700 children aged 12 and 13 suggested that 20% had seen porn that shocked or upset them, and more than 10% had made, or taken part in, a sexually explicit video, the Bishop told peers.

He confessed to peers that he had "limited knowledge" of pornography - but said two of his clergy had been prosecuted for downloading illegal images of children.

"I understand that the sheer volume of cases of down loading child pornography has overwhelmed the police to the point where prosecutions are no longer routinely brought," the Bishop said.

Quoting the author DH Lawrence, the Bishop said: "Pornography is the attempt to insult sex, to do dirt on it."

Labour's Lord Giddens, a well known social scientist, said more research on the impact of pornography was needed before "intrusive policy" of the kind being considered by the government was introduced.

"We just don't know at this point how far regular exposure to pornography on the part of minors affects their actual sexual behaviour, how far it damages relationships, leads to addictive behaviour and so forth, or crucially, on what scale, we just don't know on what scale," he told peers.

He backed government efforts to protect vulnerable children but argued much of the data on the subject was "superficial".

"There is a very fine line to tread. If children are shielded too much and for too long they may not be able to cope simply when plunged into the maelstrom that is sexuality today," he added.

'Sex lives'

Conservative peer Lord Farmer warned that the "premature sexualisation of young minds" was reinforcing outdated stereotypes that women were "primarily sex objects to provide men with sexual gratification".

For the Liberal Democrats, Lord Scriven said the "underage" had to be protected but cautioned those who thought there was a technological solution alone through online filtering.

"We need to be much cleverer," he said. "It's about parents talking openly with children about sexuality and the issues around pornography."

If consenting adults wanted to watch porn "to spice up their sex lives", legislators had a "very limited" role to play in this, Lord Scriven said.

Lord Collins of Highbury, for Labour, said "good quality, age appropriate, sex and relationship education is vital" to enable young people to understand what was appropriate and inappropriate behaviour and resist pressures.

Prime Minister David Cameron has promised legislation to protect children from online pornography by forcing sites to introduce "age filters," something several UK service providers have already done on a voluntary basis.

Speaking earlier this month at prime minister's questions, he said the UK had secured an opt-out to an EU ruling which demanded all online traffic passes "without discrimination, restriction or interference".