By The Children’s Commissioner for England

This is the second in a series of reports investigating the impact of pornography on young people, building upon the Children’s Commissioner’s report published in January 2023, “A lot of it is actually just abuse”, which set out findings from a survey of over a thousand 16-21-year-olds and focus groups with teenagers. This series of work shows the detrimental effect that pornography is having on children and young people. It adds weight to the Children’s Commissioner’s view that no child under the age of 18 should be able to access pornography. This report aimed to discover whether references to specific acts of sexual violence commonly seen in pornography could be found in official documents relating to the investigation of children who abused other children. It is not intended to be read by children, but by researchers and policy makers interested in making children safer. It makes frequent reference to sexual harassment and sexual violence, and includes descriptions of pornographic content, language, and discussion of sexual abuse. This content may be difficult to read, however, we think it is important to understand how pornography impacts children, in order that we may better protect all children from harm. The research contained within this report synthesises data from 502 documents of two types: 379 Achieving Best Evidence (ABE) transcripts of interviews with children who have been sexually harmed and children who have sexually harmed another child, from one police force, and 123 Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) documents concerning children who were sexually harmed by other children from one NHS foundation trust.   

London: Children's Commissioner for England, 2023. 58p.