The public say children shouldn't be allowed to see this

Perhaps it was Miley Cyrus swinging on a wrecking ball that did it – or maybe it was the sadomasochism in a Rihanna video that was banned in 11 countries. But more than three-quarters of the British public now believe that sexually explicit music videos should be given age ratings, like films, a survey shows.

An Ipsos/Mori poll for the feminist campaign group Object suggests that 81 per cent of people in Britain would like age certificates for pop videos to prevent young people being exposed to sexually explicit content.

The same poll showed that more than 70 per cent thought regulation should also be applied to sexual material in newspapers, magazines and websites.

Nearly two in three of those surveyed believe porn normalises violence against women, and more than half agreed that watching it has a negative effect on personal relationships.

Beti Baraki, the campaigns officer for Object, said: “There is now clear public backing for dealing with music videos in the same way we deal with films, classifying those which are sexually explicit in advance and protecting young people from them.”

More: Page 3: Looks like The Sun will now just be mildly sexist instead of explicitly sexist