Maria Miller (pictured) said it was now common for women to be harassed on public transport, in bars and on the street
MPs are to investigate whether online porn leads to ‘routine’ sexual harassment of women and girls in public places.
Maria Miller, chair of the Commons women and equalities committee, said it was now common for women to be harassed on public transport, in bars and on the street.
She launched an inquiry after a survey showed the number of reported sex offences on trains had doubled in five years.
There were 1,448 offences in 2016/17, up from 650 in 2012/13.
The MPs will consider, as part of their probe, the effect of easy access to hardcore pornography on the internet – and whether it is making boys grow up to see girls merely as sex objects.
Mrs Miller said: ‘We know that there is huge public concern about sexual harassment, particularly of women and girls.
‘We know that sexual harassment can be experienced by anyone, but the evidence shows that it is overwhelmingly a problem that is perpetrated by men and boys against women and girls and forms part of the wider inequalities that women and girls experience – which is why we are focusing on this.
‘Women and girls are harassed on buses, trains, in the street and in bars and clubs.
‘We are putting a spotlight on a problem that seems to be so routine in women’s lives, and yet has received very little attention in public policy.
‘We want to find out why it happens, what the Government is doing to root it out, and what more can be done.’
The fresh inquiry follows the committee’s 2016 report which found that sexual harassment – and even sexual assault – of girls at school is routine and normalised.
It concluded that online porn was exacerbating the problem.
MPs are to investigate whether online porn leads to ‘routine’ sexual harassment of women and girls in public places
It said: ‘Significant qualitative evidence suggests that increasing access to pornography and technological advances, including online platforms, can facilitate harassment and violence and thus exacerbate the problem.’
As part of the inquiry, the MPs will consider why sexual harassment of women and girls in public places happens.
They will consider how men and boys learn what is acceptable behaviour, and whether there is any evidence of links between harmful attitudes and sexual harassment.
In particular, they will consider what evidence, if any, there is of links between harmful attitudes and other behaviours such as paying for sex or using pornography.
The committee will consider the impact of sexual harassment on the lives of women and girls, and on society in general.
They will ask whether the police need more powers to tackle sexual harassment in public places.
The committee will not, in this inquiry, focus on sexual harassment in the workplace.