'Violence is no longer a deviation from sex - it is sex'

EARLIER this year the Bertin Review found 38% of young women had been throttled by a partner during sex, 34% gagged and nearly 60% slapped.

- Josephine Bartosch

Violence is no longer a deviation from sex - it is sex.

B ELATEDLY, the Government acted. Age verification isn't perfect - children can still reach sites through VPNs or an adult's login but it will stop most accidental exposure, which is how two-thirds first encounter porn. Figures reported in the Financial Times show that UK visits to pornography sites have fallen sharply since the checks started. Traffic to Pornhub, the world's largest free pornography site, has dropped by 77%, and overall visits from the UK are down by nearly a third.

VPN use briefly doubled but soon fell back. Even Pornhub's Canadian owner Aylo admits there has been no mysterious spike to suggest Britons are simply masking their location. In other words, fewer Britons, and crucially fewer children, are logging in. That's good news. But the damage is done.