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UK – from www.cambridge-news.co.uk – Porn star Johnny Anglais [pictured] presented a spirited defence of the adult entertainment industry last night in a packed Cambridge Union debate.

Watched by a full house at the Bridge Street auditorium, the hardcore pornography star argued that “this house believes that pornography does a good public service”.

The former secondary school teacher, whose real name is Benedict Garrett, said pornography “was a good thing” and “should not be blamed for the ills of society”.

He also attacked parents who let their children use the internet without supervision or adequate restrictions.

He said: “Allowing your child unlimited access to the internet is like dropping your child off in Soho, saying ‘Here you are, we’ll see you in a few hours.”

Mr Anglais’ appearance follows in the footsteps of other notable Union speakers, which include US presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

Other speakers last night included former porn star and stripper Shelley Lubben, now a born-again Christian chaplain, Britain’s only female porn director Anna Span and pro-porn academic Jessi Fischer.

Dr Gail Dines, who spoke against the motion, claimed pornography was a “powerful and articulate disseminator of a woman-hating ideology”.

Claiming “society was becoming pornified” by easy access to it through the internet, Dr Dines argued certain types of extreme porn was “brutal and degrading” to women.

She said: “The sex industry is shaping the way we think and talk about sex.”

Child psychologist Dr Richard Woolfson, who argued against the motion, said the average age that children first viewed porn was now 11, which was “distorting” their personal development and attitudes towards women and sex.

He said: “Porn is about sex without caring. It’s about abuse of women and about wielding power.”

However, the warnings over porn were rejected by US academic Jessi Fischer.

She said: “You found pornography in Rome, Egypt and Greece. There is nothing new about it.

“It is only that through new technology that we can get up closer.

“Porn characterises democratic and affluent cultures.”

Anna Span argued that porn was the only industry that did not discriminate against women.

“Being mature or pregnant means you just appeal to a different market”, she claimed.