05/10/2011 Session
Deeply concerned at the public’s increased access to violent and extreme pornographic material, the Assembly has called on European governments to ensure the effective implementation of existing law regulating the production, distribution and sale of pornography. “A common feature in Council of Europe member states is the poor enforcement of existing law and regulations in this area,” it underlined.
The Assembly expressed its preoccupation at the negative impact of violent and extreme pornography on women’s dignity and right to live free from sexual violence.
The adopted resolution, based on a report by Michal Stuligrosz (Poland, EPP/CD), recalls that this type of pornography “further erodes the conditions for achieving effective gender equality”, alongside other forms of hard and soft pornography, the widespread use of sexualised images of women for commercial purposes and the portrayal of gender stereotypes by the media and the entertainment industry.