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Ministers have been urged to ban degrading, violent and misogynistic pornography including making it illegal to publish videos of women being choked during sex.
A major review of the industry has proposed giving regulator Ofcom the power to police porn sites plagued with “harmful” material.
The review, commissioned by Rishi Sunak and carried out by Tory peer Gabby Bertin, said porn depicting non-fatal strangulation is “rife on mainstream platforms”.
It said the prevalence of choking videos online had normalised the behaviour in real life and that videos considered too harmful should be banned online, as they are in the offline world.
She also called for a ban on the possession or sharing of other degrading, violent or misogynistic pornography, as well as the prohibition of “nudification” apps.
Speaking to the BBC, Baroness Bertin said online pornography is fuelling some of the “gravest issues in our society, from domestic violence to toxic masculinity to the mental health crisis among young people”.
She added: “I’m not saying that people shouldn’t watch porn. I’m not saying porn shouldn’t exist. I’m not a prude.
“It strikes me as incredible that to buy a DVD, which sounds so sort of retro, the BBFC [British Board of Film Classification] has to put a stamp on it, has to check that certain standards have been met. That there’s no sense you are encouraging child sexual abuse. No harmful, degrading, humiliating practices which is not through consensual role play.
“You just have to go on the homepages of some of these mainstream sites and you will see of all that degrading content – particularly violent towards women – and it’s all there for everyone to see.”
Baroness Bertin’s report contained 32 recommendations for the government to tackle the “high-harm sector” of online pornography, including the ban on videos depicting strangulation. It said: “The evidence is overwhelming that allowing people to view legal but harmful pornography like choking sex, violent and degrading acts, and even content that could encourage child sexual abuse, is having a damaging impact on children and society.
“The law needs to be tightened with more proactive regulation of online platforms.”
Tech secretary Peter Kyle, who is responsible for online safety, said he would not hesitate to “adapt the law” to prevent people from accessing degrading pornography online.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he added: “I know that this content is harmful to many of the people who currently have free access to it.
“We have the powers to prevent people getting access to it, even if the material is provided from elsewhere.
“We just need to find ways of making sure that that is done efficiently and effectively.
“And if I have to adapt the law in response to any gaps that emerge in these powers, then, of course, I’ll act as swiftly as I can.”
Meanwhile, Downing Street said the government would “act swiftly” to address gaps in the law around extreme pornography, but stopped short of saying it would be banned.
Non-fatal strangulation without consent is already an offence, but depicting it online is not illegal.
Baroness Bertin said her recommendations would help Labour with its key mission of halving violence against women and girls. In one case cited in the report, a 14-year-old boy asked a teacher how to choke girls during sex, with Baroness Bertin warning online porn has created “such a confusing world for our sons”.
“They are, quite rightly, encouraged and taught to reject sexist attitudes, while a subterranean online world of pornography is simultaneously showing them that anything goes,” her report said.
Asked whether ministers planned to make strangulation and incest pornography illegal, a No 10 spokesman said: “There are some shocking findings in this report, such as the prevalence of non-fatal strangulation in online pornography and the link to normalisation in real life sexual experiences.
“We are grateful to Baroness Bertin for highlighting them. This report will inform our mission to halve violence against women and girls, which was a manifesto commitment.
“To achieve this, we must interrogate the link between violent pornography online and dangerous behaviours offline, which this important review highlights.
“We’re already taking action now by banning the creation of intimate deep fakes without consent, and from next month, platforms must proactively tackle illegal content, including extreme pornography.”
Pressed if the government would make it illegal, he added: “Where there are gaps that emerge that we need to address, we will act as swiftly as we can.”
