Take 15 minutes to help protect children and youth from online porn
A few minutes is all it takes to support a new bill to help limit children and youth from accessing commercial porn sites. Senator Miville-Dechêne introduced Bill S-203 this fall. We suggest three ways you can support the bill right now.
We know that the internet and smart phones are an essential part of life for Canadian youth. Our kids spend more and more time online, starting at younger ages. This means they’re encountering violent, degrading sexual images online at younger ages, as well.
In beginning debate on her bill, Senator Miville-Dechêne explained porn is a legal and public health issue, its impact on youth and what her bill does. Here are some excerpts of her speech:
Porn as a legal and public health issue
Senator Miville-Dechêne explained to the Senate:
Online porn is a legal industry, but its functioning is not consistent with our consensus as a society. Porn is supposed to be only reserved for adults. The proof is that access to all porn, aside from online access, is regulated by law.
The provinces classify films to protect youth. In Quebec, for example, feature films that contain mostly scenes of explicit sexual activity are restricted to adults. Cinemas are to bar persons under the age of 18, 16 or 13. Retailers have to respect this classification when they sell or loan videos containing explicit sex scenes. Municipalities prohibit minors from accessing sex shops and porn magazines, which must be shelved at a specific height. That means our kids can freely watch Pornhub but they cannot buy a Playboy magazine. What a paradox.
… Why should parents be solely responsible, when in many other areas of public health, retailers are asked to verify the age of customers buying cigarettes or alcohol, for example? Those checks are not foolproof, but they do represent an obstacle.
Parents are asking for help. According to a survey by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, 60% of respondents said they are very concerned that their children are being exposed to pornographic or violent images.
Impact on youth
As Senator Miville-Dechêne described:
The harm done to children who are exposed to sexually explicit material is a real and urgent social concern. Scientific research is making more and more worrisome connections between the consumption of pornography and the health or behaviour of young people.
… According to a three-year American study, adolescents who consume violent pornography are six times more likely to be sexually aggressive than those who consume non-violent pornography or no pornography. Other studies have shown that unprotected sex as depicted in pornography can influence young people to have unprotected sex.
It’s important to note that a direct causal relationship between pornography and sexual violence has not been scientifically proven. However, alarming links between the two phenomena have been clearly established in the literature.
Despite these methodological limitations, there is enough research to believe that porn is a risk factor for minors. I would like to quote from the most comprehensive scientific review made at the request of the Australian government:
. . . the most dominant, popular and accessible pornography contains messages and behaviours about sex, gender, power and pleasure that are deeply problematic. In particular, the physical aggression (slapping, choking, gagging, hair pulling) and verbal aggression such as name calling, that is predominantly done by men to their female partners . . . permeate pornographic content. . . . In addition, this aggression often accompanies sexual interaction that is non-reciprocal . . . and where consent is assumed rather than negotiated.
Thirty-seven per cent of online porn scenes depict violence towards women. This distorted view of sexuality can traumatize children.
According to the respected Canadian Centre for Child Protection: “Adult pornography is not only harmful to a child’s developing brain, it is also used to groom children for sexual abuse and to normalize sexual activity.”
What Bill S-203 does
Senator Miville-Dechêne described what the bill would do:
Bill S-203 proposes to restrict children’s access to sexually explicit material available online for commercial purposes with a view to reducing the harmful effect on their health.
…I would like to quote the ruling by Supreme Court Justice Gonthier in Butler: “Obscene materials debase sexuality. They lead to the humiliation of women, and sometimes to violence against them. This is more than just a matter of taste.”
Hence, clause 4 of the bill makes it an offence to make available sexually explicit material on the internet to a minor for commercial purposes. A first offence is punishable by a fine of not more than $10,000 for an individual and $250,000 for a corporation. Fines for subsequent offences are more substantial.
She notes, “the Association des pédiatres du Québec and the Canadian Paediatric Society support this bill unreservedly.”
What you can do
- Sign an online petition.
- Write a letter of support to Senator Miville-Dechêne and ask your local MP and provincial Senators to support the bill. See sample letters and info to find your representatives on EFC's Bill S-203 page.
- Raise awareness on social media:
We urgently need to protect children from online porn. That’s one reason why age verification is SO important. Please stand with us in support of age verification Bill S-203 to make the internet safer. Ask your MP, provincial Senators and the Public Safety Minister to support the bill.
For more information and resources, see TheEFC.ca/S-203.
Author:
EFC staff