Women's centre founded by JK Rowling to host conference on internet pornography
The female-only service opened in December 2022 and has had 624 referrals so far, from over-16s in the Lothians who have experienced sexual violence.
The conference on Tuesday will examine the impact of internet pornography and social media influencers, and how this may be fuelling the increasing levels of reported violence and abuse experienced by young women, according to organisers.
Speakers include Michael Conroy, the director of Men At Work, an organisation which delivers professional training in supporting the healthy personal development of boys and young men.
Mr Conroy warned that trends originating from internet pornography included non-consensual strangulation, which he described as 'worrying' and increasingly normalised.
Mary Sharpe, chief executive of The Reward Foundation, a relationship and sex education charity, will also speak and warned that internet pornography was 'addictive' and could provide a gateway to criminality.
It is hoped the conference will spark 'concrete ideas' for ways to tackle the issue and is part of a series of events, Unseen, Unheard, focused on violence against women.
Mr Conroy said: 'It's increasingly clear from working with a range of frontline professionals that boys and young men are having their expectations around sex and intimacy shaped by porn in harmful ways.
'So-called 'choking', or sexual strangulation, is a really worrying emerging feature of this influence and we have to do all we can to stop its normalisation.
'Unfortunately, there is evidence that some of that normalisation is coming from organisations who should know much better.'
Ms Sharpe said: 'Internet pornography is one of the key drivers of the epidemic of violence against women and girls. It's designed to be addictive.
'Some consumers escalate to violent porn and to child sexual abuse material. The good news is that when users quit porn the brain settles down and appreciation of women often improves.
'The multibillion-dollar porn industry has actively suppressed evidence of the many porn-related health risks. The Reward Foundation provides free, evidence-based training materials for schools, professionals and parents.'
Other speakers include national co-ordinator of the Women's Support Project Linda Thompson, Dr Alison Scott, consultant gynaecologist in sexual health services, and nurse lead for the sexual assault referral centres (SARCs) Jessica Davidson MBE.
Founded and funded by JK Rowling, Beira's Place employs 10 support workers.
Directors of Beira's Place include former prison governor Rhona Hotchkiss, former Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont and director of For Women Scotland Susan Smith.
Lesley Johnston, chief executive of Beira's Place, said: 'We are delighted to be hosting this conference and are thrilled to be platforming so many excellent speakers, all of whom have considerable experience and insights to share.
'We hope to leave attendees with ideas for concrete action that can be taken in order to address the impact of pornography on levels of violence against women.'
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'Not one of them didn't get involved'. She said the men would walk into the next room so they had more space in order to run at the victim with speed while assaulting her. While she was being hit and kicked, Rice heated the head of a hammer up and pressed it 'over and over' against her bare legs, the court heard. They cut her hair which the woman later described as 'the ultimate humiliation'. At one point, she heard the men on the phone to their 'boss' who said: 'Strip her off and get her into bed and bugger her.' They didn't do this but they told her a 'black man' was coming to rape her, the court heard. The man whose house she was staying in was told by the others to get involved and he cut her legs with some sort of blade. They used an aerosol can and a lighter as a makeshift blow torch to burn her. Ms Ennis thought the incident lasted for an hour and a half, but CCTV footage showed she was in the flat for three hours before gardaí entered, the court heard. Ms Ennis was visibly bloodied and bruised, extremely distressed and there was blood on the chair under her as well as clumps of hair scattered around the flat. The men tried to pretend that she had been injured outside by a third party and they were helping to clean her up, but Ms Ennis was taken to another room where she disclosed that they had been torturing her. 'I was being beaten to a pulp by all these men for absolutely no reason,' she later told gardaí. 'They used steel poles, hammers, makeshift blowtorches and lighters to torture me.' In her victim impact statement, Ms Ennis said that the men had tortured her family information out of her and the threat of rape against her daughter had destroyed her. She said she now isolates herself from her family so they will never be in danger again. She said the torture she endured was the longest three hours of her life and she continues to suffer from flashbacks, constant headaches, pain all over her body 'from all the hits I took that day'. She is still waiting on a psychological appointment, she said. Ireland Woman was tortured over false missing drugs accusa... Read More 'What happened to me is something I will never forget,' she said. 'I will never forgive those sick human beings for what they have done to me.' Concluding her statement, she said: 'To the people who did this to me: I hope you can sleep well at night, because I most certainly can't.' In text messages read out in court, one of the men boasted to a friend during the incident that they had a 'hostage' and had 'cut her up', to which this unidentified man replied: 'quality'. Phone video footage taken inside the flat that day was also played in court, which showed the woman bloodied and distressed and a hammer being heated up on a hob.
