Ashling Murphy’s killing highlights the need for restrictions on children’s access to pornography and better education on sex and relationships.
The killing of the 23-year-old schoolteacher along the canal near Tullamore on Wednesday has sent shockwaves through the country.
While there is currently no suggestion of a sexual element to the crime, on The Pat Kenny Show this morning, politicians from three different parties agreed that pornography and the lack of proper sex education in schools is fuelling a culture of violence against women in Ireland.
People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith, Fianna Fáil TD Jim O’Callaghan and Social Democrats TD Holly Cairns said we need to refocus on educating our children about sex and relationships.
“I do think we should be taking steps to ban children from having access to pornography,” said Deputy O’Callaghan.
“What we don’t know is the extent to which boys and young men now are having their views about women formed and moulded by pornography online.
“Obviously, a lot of porn online presents women in a very submissive way and it presents men as very dominant in their relationships with women so that must be having an impact on all the young men and boys who are exposed to this tidal wave of pornography.
“So, I think we should be taking steps to ensure internet providers are prevented from providing pornography to children.”
Deputy Smith said we need to re-think our educate model to bring about a culture shift in the way women are treated.
“That culture of seeing women as objects – as something that titillates and excites,” she said. “Not as thinking, walking, intelligent individuals but as people that are there to be picked off. That culture has to end.
“It has to start with proper education in our schools. With challenging the culture of seeing violence against women as some form of entertainment.
“One of the biggest entertainment industries in the world is porn and it is mainly to do with violence against women.
“I am not trying to be purist here and saying we should ban porn, but we do have to start tackling this culture that is deeply embedded in our society.”
Deputy Cairns said children can turn to porn for education when they have nowhere else to learn from.
“In the absence of actual substantial, helpful sex education in our schools, people do then educate themselves through pornography,” she said.
“As Jim highlighted, sometimes the roles men and women play in pornography is that submissive woman and the dominant man.
“In the absence of any other kind of sex education, where can young people to go to get this information?”
Vigils will be held in memory of Ashling all over the country this afternoon.
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Labour TD Ivana Bakic urged men to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with women at the vigils in Ashling’s memory.
