Kids ‘making their own online porn’

British singer and actress Cheryl Cole

British singer and actress Cheryl Cole

Published Mar 18, 2011

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London - A disturbing number of children - some as young as 11 - are taking pornographic images of themselves and swapping them with friends via text messages or the internet, experts warn.

A survey reveals that 40 percent of 11- to 14-year-olds have used their mobile phones or computer to send pictures of themselves or received naked or topless images of friends.

And more than half of youngsters who sent these images - a trend known as “sexting” - did so knowing the pictures would be passed on to a number of recipients.

And four in ten of the 11,000 children surveyed thought it was “appropriate” to circulate pictures of topless girls in their school.

Experts said the findings show a significant shift from children viewing internet pornography - to creating it themselves.

The shocking trend has been blamed on the volume of internet pornography seen by boys who, as a result, expect girlfriends to be promiscuous and flaunt their bodies.

Singers such as Cheryl Cole were also blamed for their “raunchy” dance routines.

Outraged parents have urged others to monitor their children’s mobile phones and internet use.

Internet safety expert Ken Corish yesterday revealed the findings of his survey at a forum on behaviour and bullying.

He said: “The proportion of young children ‘sexting’ is shocking. The driver of it is boys’ attitudes to online porn, which is now far too accessible. This raises the expectations of young males about what happens in a relationship. The root cause is not just online pornography. It is everywhere in society from the raunchy pop music videos to TV star Gok Wan persuading woman to get their clothes off on his show.”

Liz Murtagh, of independent Radley College, in Oxford, said: “There is rapidly occurring desensitisation. It is a great cause of concern. What is worse is that the images are often voluntarily initiated by young girls, rather than the boy himself.”

Siobhan Freegard, of parenting website Netmums, said: “There is also a big element of desensitisation. They see the likes of Rihanna or Cheryl Cole parading in raunchy poses and they think they look fantastic.”

Sexting is a criminal offence in Britain - for those of any age - under the Child Trafficking And Pornography Act. - Daily Mail

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