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 were struck off the record – to be ignored. This is known as Appendix C – a section of text and images that cannot be referred to as being part of the submission. Why? Because it has been deemed inappropriate to publish.
What could possibly be so shocking that it would be inappropriate to publish?
Quite simply, a screen shot from of the landing page of Porn Hub. For anyone who has not seen the landing page of the most popular porn site in the world, on March 10 2016 there were 47 live video links available. Free for anyone. Any age. One of the videos rotates between several scenes of anal sex, blow jobs and choking.
Oh the irony.
The pages deemed inappropriate to publish also contained a screen shot demonstrating Bridges (2010) findings that physical aggression in porn such as gagging (54% of scenes); choking (27% of scenes) and slapping (75% of scenes) is overwhelmingly (94%) directed at women.
The pages deemed excluded from the submission also asked the reader to consider for a moment this content through the eyes of a child. How would they process these images? What sort of messages would they learn from it? What feelings would arise? What impact would this have, particularly if they were busy playing games and searched a common term spelt incorrectly that took them direct to these sites? Or perhaps, out of curiosity, they wanted to know what a word meant that had been shared in the playground.
Disturbing? Yes.
Confrontational? Yes.
An uncomfortable reality? Yes.
As stated in the ‘approved for publication’ section of our submission:
If a child or young person Googles the word ‘Porn’ they are met with an unlimited opportunity to rapidly progress to mainstream sites. The most common is PornHub.
• Ranked relative to other sites, traffic to PornHub has a global ranking of 65; RedTube ranks at 180; YouPorn at 194. (Alexa, 2016)
• A 2015 survey in the UK revealed that the porn site Pornhub was one of the “Top 5” internet sites for 11-15 year-old boys. (NSPCC, 2015)
Many who attend Professional Development Workshops through Youth Wellbeing Project are unaware of the graphic nature of pornography, available at the click of one button.
Please be advised that APPENDIX C below the References contain what may be considered ‘offensive material’ and is an extension to this section: 6. Mainstream Sites.
• Currently, children have access to this content.
• It is legal to for adults to view adult material.
• It is expected that anyone reading this document be over the age of 18 years of age.
• APPENDIX C is an important part of Youth Wellbeing Project ’s submission.
APPENDIX C – the unapproved pages of our submission that were too inappropriate to publish by the Senate Committee – included images that can be found within 1 to 2 clicks of a button by any child. Images that range from anal sex, blow jobs, head jobs, gagging, aggression, choking and hair pulling on a landing page that incorporates references to teens, teachers, mothers with babysitters and brutal bondage – inappropriate to be included as evidence for the Senate Inquiry yet free and easy access for our kids.
Total hypocrisy.
I get it. I understand that some people may be offended if they were to read through a public document released on a Government Website to then be confronted with highly graphic images that once seen, can’t be unseen. I know the Senate Committee is exercising due diligence and putting the best interests of the general public at the fore, because after all, not everyone wants to have graphic images thrust in their face uninvited.
I sincerely hope the Senate Committee use the same due diligence and implement strong recommendations as they consider the overwhelming evidence that #PornHarmsKids.
Outraged? Use your voice and take action.
- Share this blog. Help shift the apathy regarding easy access to Internet pornography and the harms it is having on children.
- Add your name to the Porn Harms Kids movement.
- Share the Porn Harms Kids movement with your friends and ask them to sign.
- Purchase Not for Kids! for your children or someone you love. This book helps parents and professionals to be proactive and equip children with their own internal filter.
- Ensure your school has holistic relationships and sexuality education that incorporates protective behaviours and educates young people to think critically about pornography and the impact it can have on self, relationships, families and culture.
You are welcome to download 29 approved pages of the Youth Wellbeing Project submission from here or directly from the Senate Submission Site – Page 7, number 131. It’s a worthwhile and lengthy read and over the next few blogs I will share it in sections.
THANK YOU to everyone who has been sharing these blog posts and for all your great feedback. If you have a topic you would like me to blog about, send an email me or ASK ME through Vidoyen. If you would like to enquire about my availability and professional speaking fees to present at your school, in-service, conference, community, youth or church event, enquire via email. If you are looking for sexuality education support, find us at Youth Wellbeing Project and sign up to receive our newsletter.
