Published: 08 October 2016
Experts are warning parents on the damaging effects of pornography – often violent and easily accessible – on school aged children, while alarming figures show kids and teenagers have committed more than 40 percent of all sexual assault offences in Queensland, eclipsing all other states.
Forty-two percent of sex offences, or 955 out of a total of 2,244, were committed by youth aged 19 and under in the year until June 2015, the latest findings from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed – a shocking number which has almost doubled since 2011.
Experts link the rising numbers of youth sex offences to children accessing pornography on their phones and electronic devices, normalising deviant sexual behaviour at a young age and increasing their likeliness of committing crimes.
The average age of children viewing pornography is now 11, child psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg told NewsCorp.
“Kids are seeing this stuff and acting it out, because pornography is normalising very aggressive sexual behaviour,” he said.
Police want parents to be aware that violent pornography is incredibly easy to access online, usually at no cost, and the soaring number of kids watching it is likely fuelling the spike in youth sex offences.
Gold Coast Centre Against Sexual Assault director Di Macleod told NewsCorp her clinic deals with youth sexual assault victims daily.
“What we are seeing is the rise of young women saying they are coerced into types of sexual activity they are not comfortable with,” she said.
“In the last 10 years the kinds of things we are seeing is a huge increase in rape, a huge increase in object penetration, and an increase in the filming or recording of those acts.”
This year, police have dismantled a number of ‘child porn rings’ across Australia, involving high school students widely distributing explicit pictures of their classmates.
“I am pleading with parents, and schools and the Government to not let the multinational porn industry be the lead sex educator for children, which unfortunately is what is happening right now,” Mr Carr-Gregg said.
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