Impacts of porn

In February 2016, I had the privilege of opening the Pornography and Harms to Children and Young People Symposium. The largest gathering of its kind in the southern hemisphere with the aim to spark a national conversation about the public health crisis caused by porn harms to children across Australia….

In addressing the Senate Inquiry: Harm being done to Australian children through access to pornography on the Internet, myself and Master of Sexology student Hilary Key, put together an exceptionally well crafted and extensive submission on behalf of Youth Wellbeing Project. It was well received. In part. The irony of our submission was that 3 pages...

In October last year I was involved in the filming of a documentary highlighting the harms of pornography on the brain. It’s essential this is acknowledged as an issue. Unfortunately, I’m hearing some very dismissive advice from untrained professionals when teens express concern. For instance, recently I reviewed the chat…

One of the fabulous things about being a sexologist is that you learn lots of things about humanity. The job title in itself beckons people to share their deepest secrets over a meal or casual drink. Last year was one such occasion. I had spoken at a sexual health conference and over…

Today, on November 25th, we recognise White Ribbon Day – Australia’s campaign to prevent men’s violence against women. There is definitely a part of the conversation missing: violence against women eroticised by pornography. Violence against women deserves copious amounts of attention while ever girls and women are being murdered or…

When something is ubiquitous, it is present, appearing, or found everywhere. omnipresent, ever-present, present everywhere, everywhere, all-over, all over the place, pervasive, all-pervasive, universal, worldwide, global, rife, prevalent, predominant, very common, popular, extensive, wide-ranging, far-reaching, inescapable Trying to ascertain exactly how much porn is on the web produces a myriad of conflicting results. One article indicated that claims vary from 4-30% of the Internet being sex…

Pornography is a ‘hot button’ and controversial topic. I often refer to it as the ‘naked elephant in the room’. Everyone knows it’s there, but no one really wants to acknowledge it. Porn is controversial because it’s divisive. There’s ‘Pro-Porn’ and ‘Anti-Porn’ sides. It’s as oppositional, if not more, as any…