The data shows that Poles (and others) must not stand by passively

In Poland, studies show that children’s first contact with pornography occurs on average at age 11. As many as 21.5 percent of Polish children aged 12-14 say they watch pornography daily. At the same time, 73 percent of Polish children believe that finding pornographic content is not a problem for them. The vast majority of minors seek pornography through electronic devices.

Many children’s first contact with pornography is through their friends’ or classmates’ smartphones. Therefore, relying on the safeguards we install on our children’s accessible devices is not enough in a world of ubiquitous pornography access. This is true not only for Poland, unfortunately.

The latest research conducted among minors by Poland’s public cyber research institute NASK in 2021 is simply striking.

Specialists in developmental psychology leave no doubt that any contact with pornography negatively affects a young person’s brain development, attitudinal formation, relationships, and bonds. As scientists from the Polish Academy of Sciences point out, the mechanism of compulsive pornography use is identical to the addictive mechanism of gambling or psychoactive substances. Significantly, the World Health Organization has included a new disease entity – compulsive sexual behavior – in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Health Problems (ICD-11), as of January 1, 2022. 

At the inaugural conference of the Polish citizens’ initiative against unfettered access to pornography in early August, psychologist Bogna Białecka, who chairs the Foundation for Health Education and Psychotherapy, stressed the destructive impact of pornography on child development:

Early exposure to pornography makes compulsive sexual behavior more likely, or even certain, to occur, but frequent pornography viewing also affects the developing brain. As a result, this brain never matures. Children who watch pornography on a consistent basis will not have a fully mature brain.

Recently, in response to the dire consequences of pornography consumption by young people, work on effective child protection has begun in countries such as France, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. Italy is also among those also preparing to introduce protective measures.

How the new Polish law will work if the current citizens’ bill passes

The goal of the Ordo Iuris-backed citizens’ bill project is to introduce a general ban on the availability to minors in Poland of online pornographic material. Regardless of where those websites are based, their owners will be required to introduce an effective mechanism to verify the user’s age of majority. An appropriate authority will evaluate the effectiveness of the age-verification system. Sites that fail to implement verification solutions will be placed on a central registry, and this will result in Polish internet providers blocking them. Furthermore, the sites listed in the Polish central registry will no longer have access to payment services for users connecting from Poland.

This model provides a uniform list of blocked sites, legal certainty, and a transparent criterion for internet providers to block specific sites. In addition, this regulation solves the difficulties of offshore enforcement, as there is no need for such enforcement at all. The Polish administrative authority can simply assert that a particular site with pornographic content does not fulfill the statutory obligation. It then imposes a sanction by placing the web domain on the registry of sites blocked by internet providers and for whom payments will not be available through the Polish banking system.

The draft stipulates that the minister in charge of cybernetics will specify by decree the detailed conditions for effective and safe (from the standpoint of users) implementation of the age-verification system. It is particularly important that the age-verification mechanism not allow the storage of personal data. Poland’s Office of Electronic Communications, whom the draft establishes as the competent authority for the protection of minors from pornographic content on the internet, will evaluate the implementation of the age-verification mechanisms. Its tasks will include examining the effectiveness of mechanisms verifying a user’s age of majority, inspecting these mechanisms, and evaluating them for compliance with the criteria established in the governmental decree.

In early September, representatives of the Citizens’ Legislative Initiative Committee submitted to the Sejm (Polish parliament) an application for the committee’s registration. In the first week of October, Speaker of the Sejm Szymon Hołownia approved the registration.

The collection of signatures has started and will last 3 months

Therefore, the project’s collection of signatures has officially begun. Organizers have three months to collect 100,000 signatures. On the website stopnarkotykowipornografia.pl, Polish citizens can download a card for collecting signatures, and then send it to the committee’s address. On this site, one can also download the draft law on the protection of minors from online pornographic content with the proposed amendments to the Telecommunications Law.

The start of the signature-collection period was announced at a press conference held in front of the Sejm on October 7.

During the press conference, attorney Rafał Dorosiński of the Ordo Iuris board of directors, spoke about the consequences of youth viewing pornography.

“In justifying this project, we point to a number of research studies that show the harm of pornography to the younger generation, to children and teenagers,” he noted. “Pornographic content is not harmless to child behavior, or to building relationships with the opposite sex. The proposed draft law is aimed at stopping the pathology of easy access to pornography for children and adolescents.”

Meanwhile, Marek Grabowski, president of the Mom and Dad Foundation, pointed out the negative societal perception of pornography and the strong support for the effort to limit access to this kind of content.

“Pornography has been available on the market long enough for society, as well as pornography users themselves, to see how great the evil it spreads is,” he stated. “Ninety percent of Poles support restricting access to pornography for children and young people. This is because pornographic content has a devastating effect on families and marriages.”

Adam Leszczyński, spokesman for the All-Polish Youth, spoke about the impact of pornography on interpersonal relationships.

“It is in the interest of big companies that young people do not enter into relationships, that they just buy and consume,” he asserted. “On the other hand, the formation of deep relationships, especially by young people, can improve our health and our lives, so it serves our national interest.”

Aleksander Kowaliński, spokesman for the Independence March Association, mentioned how widespread pornography promotes radical leftist ideologies.

“Easy access to pornography for children and young people not only destroys the psyche of young people and the social relationships they form, but it contributes to their adoption of various harmful ideologies,” he said. “That’s why we at the Independence March Association strongly support this initiative, and we support restricting access to pornography among young Poles.”

Agnieszka Gracz of the Center for Life and Family, meanwhile, noted that the citizens’ bill aligns with the message that the movement surrounding the Marches for Life and Family has been creating for years.

“We encourage joint responsibility for children and young people,” she stressed. “The goal of the proposed bill is to protect children, young people, and the future generations that will make up our society and families.”

The Polish citizens’ bill, if successful, could set an example for other European nations whose political leaders, for reasons only known to themselves, have consistently refused to act on this very sick situation whereby children can access pornography without any restrictions, whether voluntarily or by accident.

This article originally appeared on the Ordo Iuris website’s English language page. Edited and republished with permission.

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Published to The Liberty Beacon from EuropeReloaded.com