UK charity launches app to help teens deal with porn-linked abusive sexual behaviour

The Lucy Faithfull Foundation, a charity that works to preventchild sexual abuse in the UK, has launched a website called "Shore" to help teenagers deal with their sexual thoughts and behaviour cropping from pornography, the Guardian reported.

The firstof its kind in Europe, the website is one of only three in the world. It offers a chat and e-mail service for teenagers (aged 13 to 18) to contact them anonymously.

Child abuse experts and police officials have been issuing warnings over the increased access to pornography which is driving a harmful rise in the sexual behaviour of teens, from sexting to watching online child abuse videos.

The charity said that they saw a 30 per cent increase in under 18 contacting them and a 26 per cent rise in adults contacting them concerned about the behaviour of the youngsters.

Senior practitioner at the charity, Rachel Haynes said that since the COVID-19 lockdown, their "Stop It Now!" helpline, originally designed for adults, received more calls from teenagers.

Rachel told the Guardian, "As a service we have seen an increase in under-18s contacting us for support. We particularly began to see it when we launched a chat service for adults during lockdown."

"A large proportion of young people we work with have downloaded child sexual abuse material – the pathways they reach that by are complex."

She added thatsince 2020, almost two-thirds of children who contacted them talkedabout indecent images of children. Furthermore, she said that half of the young callers were already known to the police, and the charity aims at earlyintervention.

"Porn is a contributing factor – teenagers become desensitised to what they are seeing. Sometimes they have been groomed by adults, or have been sent illegal images during sexualised chats online."

Rachel hopes that Shore will help change the lack of opportunity for talking about online harm and provide a safe space for teenagers to talk openly.

(With inputs from agencies)

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