Father wants stricter proof of age on pornography sites

Ioannis Dekas, along with student campaigner Ava Vakil, are calling for the stricter restrictions on pornography. They are looking to attend a High Court Hearing to ask for the implementation of proof of age, as promised in the 2017 Digital Economy Act.

Ioannis Dekas is a father of four boys. Two weeks ago he noticed a huge change in the behaviour of one of his boys. He had become withdrawn, angry an there was a general sense of growing frustration. Ioannis, upon investigation, shockingly found his underage son was accessing online pornography.

Talking to his son opened Ioannis’s eyes to the peer pressure children are under from school peers. He is asking all parents to talk to their children, to discuss the potential danger pornography poses to his son, and family, if not properly used.

Mr Dekas and his wife question whether the subject should be discussed in schools. Frustrated with the lack of knowledge available surrounding “how to deal with it”. He wants the Government to put in place the age verification promised in the Digital Economy Act. However, Government officials have already paused this, instead focusing on the upcoming Online Harms Bill.

This movement comes as the Government prepare the Online Harms Bill. This bill gives watchdog Ofcom the power to block access to services. Services that can prove harmful to children if not strictly regulated, such as social media and search engines.

Mr Dekas says this will put children in harms way, harm which the Digital Economy Act can prevent.

Not alone in the battle against pornography

Ioannis is working with Ava Vikal, a 20 year old University of Oxford Student. Clearly passionate, Ava is a student campaigner whose letters describing the sexual violence cultures prevalence in schools have already gone viral.

Ava believes men, without a doubt, are “ingesting more pornography online” then they let on. Many women report, in conversation with partners, they find desires heavily influenced by porn. In her open letter to the head of a King College School in Wimbledon, she describes the “culture of ranking girls and rating girls”. Ava writes that a “deep rooted culture of misogyny” is increasing due to exposure to porn at a young age.

Additionally, a link between Porn and Social Media has been proven by City, University of London. They found 63% of 1,000 16 – 17 year olds said they found porn on social media. The other 47% accessed it through dedicated websites. Websites that do not require verification of your age.

Equally important, 46% of people use technology that disguises them online. This makes it harder to clarify age verification. The originator of the study, Professor Neil Thurman, says this is proof that widening legislation to multi platforms is the right thing to do. The introduction of legislation will stop accidental clicking on links.

Vanessa Morse, head of the End all Sexual Exploitation Centre says one in eight videos on porn sites feature violence. The link between porn consumption and the use of violence in real life sexual situations has been proven in the Governments own research. By limiting access to porn at a young age, the link can be severed.

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