children should be taught about the dangers of pornography as part of sex and relationships education (SRE) at primary school, a cross-party committee of MPs has said.

The call emerged as a report warned that increasing access to online pornography is fueling sexual harassment and sexual violence in schools, with previous research indicating that almost one in ten children first viewed porn when they were under 10 years old.

The research also found that 62 per cent of the youngsters who had viewed porn online at 14 years of age or younger, had done so by accident or because they had been shown it by someone else.

MPs said that pornography is increasingly informing children's views about sex, as the number of referrals of children with porn addictions - including boys and girls aged only eight - is increasing.

Maria Miller, MP and chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee, which published the report, said: "The guidance that is currently in place in schools pays no heed at all to the role of pornography, probably because it hasn't been revised for 16 years, when there was no online pornography to be had. 

"We know that significant numbers of young people access pornography online and it becomes part of the way they learn about sex and relationships, but for me, one of the most important things is that if we are starting to talk to young people about pornography, we include their parents in that as well."

MPs also called for parents to take a more prominent role in addressing "the impact of pornography on children’s perceptions of sex, relationships and consent".

Laura Bates of the Everyday Sexism Project, whose views were taken into consideration by the committee, said lessons about pornography "should be started at primary school level" and that "this can be done in an age-appropriate way".

She added: "In exactly the same way that we teach children from their very first nursery or school experiences that it isn't right to hit another child, we can also be having age appropriate conversations about respect, about bodily autonomy and about consent."

The report comes as separate research found that many schools are delivering poor quality sex education, with some struggling to accept that young people are sexually active.

A review of studies carried out mainly in the UK found that SRE is often "out of touch with many young people's lives".

Researchers found that young people dislike having their own teachers deliver sex education, and said specialist teachers should be brought in to conduct the classes.

Writing in the journal BMJ Open, they said: "Unless we get the delivery right, young people will continue to disengage from SRE and opportunities for safeguarding young people and improving their sexual health will be reduced."

The review was made up of 55 publications, mainly from the UK, but also from countries including the US, New Zealand, Canada and Sweden.

Source: The telegraph