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Many people in the Party – especially at the grassroots – are totally unaware of the extreme libertarian approach that has been adopted to a whole range of issues that are most accurately framed as ‘sexual exploitation.’ From pornography to prostitution there has been a laissez-faire attitude and a presumption that somehow these matters are all about individual choice and can even be framed as ‘empowering.’
Of course, the majority of the sexual exploitation in these cases is against women and by men (for example in the UK 88% of people in prostitution are women and buyers are 95% + male).
How has this approach arisen in the party? Mill’s harm principle can be paraphrased as the idea that people should be free to act as they wish as long as their actions do not cause harm to others. So, if harm can be shown to occur to both the women being exploited and in broader society, should we reconsider our current policies? I believe we should.
Our kids deserve better
I have started by pushing back at this year’s Spring Conference by arguing in favour of an amendment on social media restrictions for children. I spoke about the societal harm that has been done by the ready access to pornography that children – especially young boys – have had for the last 15 years. This is especially pertinent as it is something the party could have tried to address during the time of the coalition government had Conference not rejected a motion on the subject in 2013.
The reason for the rejection? Mill’s harm principle was invoked – putting age restrictions on access to online pornography would cause ‘real harm’ conference goers were told. Well…we sure got that one wrong.
Whilst the harm being done to individual women involved in the pornography industry has been well document by others (including recently by Bartosch and Jessel in ‘Pornocracy’ which will be addressed in an April Liberal Voice for Women Zoom discussion) my speech focussed on the harm being done to wider society – especially girls.
At a time when banning phone use for pupils in schools is a hot topic and the harm caused to children by addictive algorithms resulted in a landmark loss for Meta and Google in a California court case, this is an issue that demands our attention. The LibDems as a party should care about the lives and futures of the next generation, not keeping their heads down and hoping the subject goes away.
Here’s my conference speech
Conference, I rise to support Amendment 1.
In 2013, this party voted down Baroness Floella Benjamin’s attempt to protect children from online pornography. People said it would cause ‘harm.’ But conference, how much harm has occurred in the past 13 years to children, when a different result could have had Lib Dems working on this problem inside and outside government? We cannot make that mistake again.
So, I want to use my speech to discuss this term ‘extreme content’. As Lord Clement-Jones said we are facing “a public health emergency that is reshaping an entire generation’s understanding of relationships, consent, and self-worth.” He was referring to extreme, degrading, online pornography. 79% of 18–21-year-olds have seen content involving sexual violence before turning 18. And what are the real-world consequences of this? The consequences are that boys and young men are more likely to assume that girls expect or enjoy physical aggression during sex.
The group ‘We Can’t Consent to This’ reports that 38% of women under 40 have experienced unwanted choking, slapping, or being spat on during sex. Online pornography has normalised non-fatal strangulation which is now the second most common cause of stroke in women under 40. We are failing our daughters…and our sons.
Girls are fleeing from girlhood. And who can blame them? Look at the toxic, degrading online world that has been built for them. Over 80% of online porn contains violence towards women and girls. The metaverse, a virtual reality world, was barely launched before a young girl’s avatar was virtually sexually assaulted. This experience has left the girl psychologically traumatised.
Even Baroness Burt in her International Women’s Day speech recognised why girls might want to flee girlhood. And this flight from girlhood can be seen in statistics in the Cass Review which shows that referrals for gender distress have exploded from fewer than 50 children in 2009 to over 5,000 today. Crucially, the demographic has flipped from mainly boys identifying as girls and it is now predominantly teenage girls who want to identify as boys.
So, conference, please help safeguard children from this extreme, inappropriate and irreversibly damaging content so our girls and boys can grow up to know a more equal, more respectful place where both sexes can see a positive, empowered future for their role in this world.
Thank you.
