Senator nostalgic for ‘Playboy’ and ‘Hustler’

A senator has warned that the easy availability of internet porn makes her “nostalgic” for the days when magazines like Playboy and Hustler dominated the adult market.

Mary Ann O’Brien said she was concerned that web porn is now “poisoning our children’s minds”.

As David Cameron, the British prime minister, announced plans to clamp down on illegal internet pornography, Ms O’Brien told the Seanad that Ireland also needed to face up to the problem: “We are allowing our children to see material that a decade ago would have been accessible only in an extreme fetish club.

“If people do not believe me, they should type ‘Youporn’ or ‘Redtube’ into Google and see the options that come up.

“The effect on children is devastating. They think these gross scenes are normal and set out to copy them as they take their first steps in getting together with other people in sexual activity.

“I never thought I would stand up in the Irish Seanad and feel nostalgic for Hustler, Penthouse, or Playboy, but we must now admit that we must think of them as part of the good old days.”

Ms O’Brien said she was concerned by the lack of action taken by Pat Rabbitte, the communications minister.

“Half of the children in this country have access to a smartphone and all of them have access to a computer. Let us not pretend for one minute that we all know what they are looking at.”