THE boss of an East Lancashire children’s charity has called for more to be done to address the issue of youngsters being addicted to porn, following the publication of a ‘shocking’ survey.

Sue Cotton, who is the chief executive officer of Child Action North West, said that there was no one answer to the issue of children accessing inappropriate material online.

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Mrs Cotton was speaking after Childline published the results from a nationwide survey into the relationship children have with porn.

The figures show that more than one in 10 children aged 12 to 13 have made or been part of sexually explicit video footage.

The new research also reveals that nine per cent of children in the age group are worried that they are addicted to porn.

The survey of nearly 700 children was carried out for the NSPCC’s ChildLine service.

Around one in five said they have seen porn images that have shocked or upset them.

Mrs Cotton said: “These are quite shocking statistics in terms of the numbers of children who are affected.

“I think that it’s sad but it is not a big surprise.

“Over the last couple of years there have been more and more concerns raised about the availability of such content to children online.

“Parents do have a role to play in terms of making sure that the filters available are in place and that they make sure they are aware of what their children are accessing online.

“There is no one answer to this however and schools and other organisations also need to help raise awareness.

“A lot of children it seems are accessing the content to find out answers for themselves so we need to make sure that children can turn to other sources for that information.”

Dame Esther Rantzen, the founder of Childline, said: “Young people are turning to the internet to learn about sex and relationships.

“We know they are frequently stumbling across porn, often unintentionally, and they are telling us very clearly that this is having a damaging effect on them.

“Girls in particular have said they feel like they have to look and behave like porn stars to be liked by boys.

“We absolutely have to talk to young people about sex, love, respect and consent as soon as we feel they are ready, to ensure that they gain a proper perspective between real life relationships and the fantasy world of porn.”