London, England, Oct 24, 2018 / 17:00 pm
Members of Parliament challenged the UK government to address sexual harassment of women by restricting sexualized media, especially pornography.
In a recent report, the House of Commons' Women and Equalities Committee said sexual harassment is connected to the way women are portrayed in pornography and other areas of mainstream media – among them social media, movies, and advertisements.
"There are very deep concerns about the relationship between the media, culture and sexual harassment, including the portrayal and representation of women and men and the way in which the media facilitates sexual harassment," the report said.
The committee cited research saying that girls and young women are frequently made uncomfortable by sexualized media portrayals of women, and that many young women in the UK believe pornography and mainstream media portrayals of women contribute to sexual harassment, or trivialize violence against women.
The committee also mentioned surveys in which 85 percent of 18-24-year-old women, and 64 percent of all women, had experienced sexual harassment in public; 35 percent reported being touched against their will.