Canberra, Australia, Apr 7, 2016 / 02:06 am
Exposure to pornography harms children to such an extent it should be considered child abuse, Australia's Catholic bishops said in a recent call for action.
"Children have a right to be children, away from the pressures applied by advertising and other images on television and the internet for them to dress and act as mini-adults. Bombarding children with sexualized images can hurt their normal development," a commission of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference said in a statement to the Australian Senate committee last month.
The committee was making an inquiry into the harm of internet pornography.
Australia's Catholic bishops said there is an obligation to protect families from pornography. They said that pornography has become mainstream and is now "the wallpaper of young people's lives." They lamented sexualized images in advertising, music videos and computer games.