Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1697642412519.pdf (Australia)
Submission on Harm being done to Australian children through access to pornography on the Internet To: The Environment and Communications References Committee From: Hon Nick Goiran MLC BCom LLB, Member for the South Metropolitan Region Peter Abetz MLA B.Sc.

(Hons.)

Ag.
BDIV, Member for Southern River Contacts: Hon Nick Goiran MLC Suite 2 714 Ranford Road SOUTHERN RIVER WA 6110 Peter Abetz MLA Suite 4 466 Warton Road SOUTHERN RIVER WA 6110 1 Harm being done to Australian children through access to pornography on the InternetSubmission 269 INTRODUCTION While we acknowledge that studying the effects of pornography on children is fraught with ethical difficulties, the writing of this submission has highlighted to us the gaping hole in research on the effects of pornography on children, and the subsequent long-term effects of adults who have been exposed to pornography as children.
For this reason, the references in this submission are in respect to harm being done to children through access to pornography on the internet, irrespective of country rather than Australian children specifically.

We do not consider that this research would not be applicable to Australian children and young people.

We have also included research relating to the effects of pornography on adults for the simple reason that these effects overlap with the effects of pornography on children.

1.
1.

Online consumption of pornography by children Exposure of children and young people to pornography in Australia has reached critical levels.
Technology has significantly changed the way adolescents encounter and consume sexually explicit material; available on laptops, mobile phones, video game consoles, and other electronic devices, pornography is free and available in mammoth quantities.1 In 2005, estimates suggested that up to 90% or more of youth between 12 and 18 years have access to the Internet2 of which 30% of all traffic constitutes porn.3 Between 1998 and 2007, the number of pornographic websites grew by 1,800%.4 According to a 2004 study of Internet traffic in May of that year, porn sites were visited three times more often than Google, Yahoo!, and MSN Search combined.5 There is a consensus among research in the field that pornography is now “routine among children and young people, with a range of notable and often troubling effects”.
6 The growing ubiquity of mobile devices means those implicated are getting younger and younger, with children as young as 5 or 6 years of age now exposed to online pornography – sometimes of the most extreme kind.7 1.1 Intentional consumption of pornography Children may deliberately seek sexually explicit materials.
They do this for much the same reasons adults do: curiosity, interest in sexual and reproductive health, interest in information which may 1 Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity: The Journal of Treatment & Prevention, Volume 19, Issue 1-2, 2012 2 Ybarra, M.L.

& Mitchell, K.J.

(2005).

Exposure to internet pornography among children and adolescents: A national survey.

Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 8, 473–486.

3 Bridges, A., & Wosnitzer, R. (2007).


Aggression and sexual behavior in best-selling pornography: A content analysis update.

International Communication Association.

4 Websense Research Shows Online Pornography Sites Continue Strong Growth.

(2004).

PRNewswire.com, April 4.

5 Porn More Popular than Search.

(2004).

InternetWeek.com, June 4.

6 Flood, M. (2009).

The harms of pornography exposure among children and young people, Child Abuse Review Vo.
18:384-400 7 A REPORT BY THE UN BROADBAND COMMISSION FOR DIGITAL DEVELOPMENT WORKING GROUP ON BROADBAND AND GENDER, 2015 2 Harm being done to Australian children through access to pornography on the InternetSubmission 269 benefit their interpersonal relations, and a desire for sexual stimulation.8 Unfortunately minors can easily achieve access to porn on the Internet by searching for sexually explicit material using a search engine, going to a particular website, using a chat room, and/or signing up to a sexual mailing list.
The Internet makes access to porn easier, faster, and more anonymous than ever before.

Three- quarters of commercial porn sites display sexually explicit content where anyone can access it.
A curious child typing sexual words into a search engine will be given a list of literally millions of sites.9 There are virtually no age-related barriers to access, and they can spend hours wandering online through a vast collection of free images and video clips.10 1.2 Unintentional consumption of pornography Studies have investigated the means by which children and young people find themselves, through no intention of their own, exposed to pornography on the internet.
Methods identified include pop-ups11, being sent unsolicited images or links in email attachments or through chat rooms or instant messages12, or being taken to a site accidentally while searching for something else13.
The literature also suggests that children and young people are exposed to pornography through websites that are not themselves pornographic or “adult”; for example, video-hosting sites14, social networking sites and websites where young people upload and rate each other’s photographs15, gaming websites16 and peer-to-peer file-sharing websites17.
A Symantec survey revealed more than 80% of children using email receive inappropriate spam daily.18 In 2003, The Australia Institute commissioned a telephone survey among a representative sample of 200 respondents aged 16 to 17 years regarding their exposure to pornography.

84% of boys and 60% of girls said they have been exposed accidentally to sex sites on the Internet.19 Unintentional exposure to pornography results in intentional access of pornography.

8 Flood, M. (2009).
8 Flood, M. (2009).

The harms of pornography exposure among children and young people, Child Abuse Review Vo.

18:384-400 9 Ibid 10 Strasburger, V. C. and B. J. Wilson (eds.)

(2002) Children, Adolescents, & the Media.

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

11 Livingstone, S. & Bober, M. (2005).

UK Children Go Online: Final report of key project findings.

London: LSE/EU Kids Online 12 Cameron, K.A., Salazar, L.F., Bernhardt, J.M., Burgess-Whitman, N., Wingood, G.M.

& DiClemente, R.J. (2005).


Adolescents’ experience with sex on the web: Results from online focus groups.

Journal of Adolescence, 28, 525– 540 13 Buckingham, D. & Bragg, S. (2003).

Young people, media and personal relationships.

London: Advertising Standards Authority, British Board of Film Classification, British Broadcasting Corporation, Broadcasting Standards Commission, Independent Television Commission 14 Mulley, D. (2013).

Sexual health survey 2013 findings presentation.


London Borough of Havering 15 Månsson, S.-A.

& Söderlind, P. (2013).

Technology and pornography.

The sex industry on the internet.

In K. Daneback & S.-A.

Månsson (eds.)

Sexuality and the internet: A collection of papers 2003–2013 16 Livingstone, S., Haddon, L., Görzig, A.

& Olafsson, K. (2011).

Risks and safety on the internet: The perspective of European children.

Full findings.

London: LSE/EU Kids Online 17 O’Connell, R., Price, J.
& Barrow, C. (2004).

Emerging trends amongst primary school children’s use of the internet 18 Business Wire, June 9, 2003 19 Flood, M. (2009).

The harms of pornography exposure among children and young people, Child Abuse Review Vo.
18:384-400 3 Harm being done to Australian children through access to pornography on the InternetSubmission 269 Ybarra and Mitchell20 report that children and young people who reported unintentional online exposure were more than 2.5 times as likely to report intentional exposure online.

Not surprisingly, prior access is associated with future access in a number of studies21.

Liz Walker, a sexual education worker, is an exemplar of this statistic.
Shown a pornographic magazine at the age of 6, she then sought out pornography, poring over it daily.

Believing it to be real life, she acted out the scenes she saw on other children, losing her virginity while still a child herself.

Repeated risky sexual experiences throughout her childhood saw her turn to binge drinking and drug addiction.

She spent her late teens and early 20s in and out of psychiatric wards.
Raised in “a healthy home environment” on a farm, Walker attributes her downfall solely to that day she was first shown porn.22 2.

The addictive nature of pornography As Walker demonstrates, the nature of porn is not such that a child will look away and forget – children are not strangers to arousal and/or curiosity.
When describing porn’s effect to a U.S. Senate committee, Dr. Jeffrey Satinover of Princeton University said, “It is as though we have devised a form of heroin … usable in the privacy of one’s own home and injected directly to the brain through the eyes.”23 The brain is the most important organ that responds to sexual stimulation.
The latest neuroscience research demonstrates that pornography use has measurable negative impacts on the brain.24 For more than 10 years, studies have shown that drug addictions can cause the brain’s frontal lobes to start shrinking.25 Recent studies have found this same problem occurs with other kinds of addictions such as overeating, Internet addictions, and sexual compulsion.26 20 Ybarra, M.L.

& Mitchell, K.J.

(2005).

Exposure to internet pornography among children and adolescents: A national survey.
Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 8, 473–486 21 Peter, J.

& Valkenburg, P.M. (2011).

The influence of sexually explicit internet material and peers on stereotypical beliefs about women’s sexual roles: Similarities and differences between adolescents and adults.

Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14, 511–517 22 Walker, L., Girlz Just Wanna Be Loved, 2009 23 Satinover, J.

(2004).
(2004).

Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space, Hearing on the Brain Science Behind Pornography Addiction and Effects of Addiction on Families and Communities, November 18.

24 Kuhn, S., Gallinat, J.

(2014).

Brain Structure and Connectivity Associated with Pornography Consumption, JAMA Psychiatry; 71(7): 827-834 25 Lyoo, K., Pollack, M. H., Silveri, M. M., Ahn, K. H., Diaz, C. I., Hwang, J., et al.

(2005).
(2005).

Prefrontal and Temporal Gray Matter Density Decreases in Opiate Dependence.

Psychopharmacology 184, 2: 139–144; Thompson, P. M., Hayashi, K. M., Simon, S. L., Geaga, J.

A., Hong, M. S., Sui, Y., et al.

(2004).

Structural Abnormalities in the Brains of Human Subjects Who Use Methamphetamine.

Journal of Neuroscience 24, 26: 6028–6036; Franklin, T. E., Acton, P. D., Maldjian, J.

A., Gray, J. D., Croft, J. R., Dackis, C. A., et al.

(2002).
(2002).

Decreased Gray Matter Concentration in the Insular, Orbitofrontal, Cingulate, and Temporal Cortices of Cocaine Patients.

Biological Psychiatry 51, 2: 134–142.

26 Yuan, K., Quin, W., Lui, Y., and Tian, J.

(2011).

Internet Addiction: Neuroimaging Findings.

Communicative & Integrative Biology 4, 6: 637–639; Zhou, Y., Lin, F., Du, Y., Qin, L., Zhao, Z., Xu, J., et al.

(2011).

Gray Matter Abnormalities in Internet Addiction: A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study.
European Journal of Radiology 79, 1: 92–95; Miner, M. H., Raymond, N., Mueller, B.

A., Lloyd, M., Lim, K. O.

(2009).

Preliminary Investigation of the Impulsive and Neuroanatomical Characteristics of Compulsive Sexual Behavior.

Psychiatry Research 174: 146– 51; Schiffer, B., Peschel, T., Paul, T., Gizewshi, E., Forshing, M., Leygraf, N., et al.

(2007).

Structural Brain Abnormalities in the Frontostriatal System and Cerebellum in Pedophilia.
Journal of Psychiatric Research 41, 9: 754–762; Pannacciulli, N., Del Parigi, A., Chen, K., Le, D. S. N. T., Reiman, R. M., and Tataranni, P. A.

(2006).

Brain Abnormalities in Human Obesity: A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study.

NeuroImage 31, 4: 1419–1425.
4 Harm being done to Australian children through access to pornography on the InternetSubmission 269 Research by numerous behavioural scientists show that consumption of pornography can lead to addiction, with similar neurological processes to those observed in substance addiction.27 Just like other addictive substances, porn floods the brain with dopamine which helps to create a new reward pathway in the brain, ultimately changing the make up of the viewer’s brain.28 The more a porn user looks at porn, the more the pathways get wired into the brain, causing the person to return to viewing it for another hit of dopamine.29 The risks of addiction are especially high for teens given a teen brain’s reward pathway has a response two to four times more powerful than an adult brain, meaning teen brains release even higher levels of dopamine.30 Much like a drug addict, porn users can quickly build up a tolerance as their brains adapt to the high levels of dopamine.31 Trying to protect itself from the overload of dopamine, the brain gets rid of some of its chemical receptors, resulting in the user being unable to feel its effects as they did previously.32 In a 2012 survey of 1,500 males, 56% said their tastes in porn had become “increasingly extreme or deviant.”33 Because consistent porn users’ brains quickly adjust to the dopamine dosage, they typically need to constantly be moving on to more extreme forms of pornography to get aroused by it.34 As a result, many porn users find themselves getting aroused by things that used to disgust them or that go against what they think is morally right.35 27 Hilton, D.L.
(2013).

Pornography addiction - a supranormal stimulus considered in the context of Neuroplasticity; Socioaffective Neuroscience & Psychology 2013, 3: 20767 28 Hilton, D. L. (2013).

Pornography Addiction—A Supranormal Stimulus Considered in the Context of Neuroplasticity.

Socioaffective Neuroscience & Psychology 3:20767; Pitchers, K. K., Vialou, V., Nestler, E. J., Laviolette, S. R., Lehman, M. N., and Coolen, L. M. (2013).
Natural and Drug Rewards Act on Common Neural Plasticity Mechanisms with DeltaFosB as a Key Mediator.

Journal of Neuroscience 33, 8: 3434-3442; Hedges, V. L., Chakravarty, S., Nestler, E. J., and Meisel, R. L. (2009).

DeltaFosB Overexpression in the Nucleus Accumbens Enhances Sexual Reward in Female Syrian Hamsters.

Genes Brain and Behavior 8, 4: 442–449; Hilton, D. L., and Watts, C. (2011).

Pornography Addiction: A Neuroscience Perspective.


Surgical Neurology International, 2: 19; (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3050060/) 29 Angres, D. H. and Bettinardi-Angres, K. (2008).

The Disease of Addiction: Origins, Treatment, and Recovery.

Disease-a-Month 54: 696–721; Doidge, N. (2007).

The Brain That Changes Itself.

New York: Penguin Books, 102.

30 Sturman, D. and Moghaddam, B.

(2011).


Reduced Neuronal Inhibition and Coordination of Adolescent Prefrontal Cortex during Motivated Behavior.

The Journal of Neuroscience 31, 4: 1471-1478.

31 Pitchers, K. K., Vialou, V., Nestler, E. J., Laviolette, S. R., Lehman, M. N., and Coolen, L. M. (2013).

Natural and Drug Rewards Act on Common Neural Plasticity Mechanisms with DeltaFosB as a Key Mediator.

Journal of Neuroscience 33, 8: 3434-3442; Angres, D. H. and Bettinardi-Angres, K. (2008).
The Disease of Addiction: Origins, Treatment, and Recovery.

Disease-a-Month 54: 696–721; Doidge, N. (2007).

The Brain That Changes Itself.

New York: Penguin Books, 105; Paul, P. (2007).

Pornified: How Pornography Is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families.

New York: Henry Hold and Co., 75.

32 Hilton, D. L., and Watts, C. (2011).

Pornography Addiction: A Neuroscience Perspective.


Surgical Neurology International, 2: 19; (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3050060/) Angres, D. H. and Bettinardi- Angres, K. (2008).

The Disease of Addiction: Origins, Treatment, and Recovery.

Disease-a-Month 54: 696–721.

33 NoFap Survey http://www.reddit.com/r/NoFap/comments/updy4/rnofap_survey_data_complete_datasets/ 34 Zillmann, D. (2000).
Influence of Unrestrained Access to Erotica on Adolescents’ and Young Adults’ Dispositions Toward Sexuality.

Journal of Adolescent Health 27, 2: 41–44.

35 Paul, P. (2010).

From Pornography to Porno to Porn: How Porn Became the Norm.

In J. Stoner and D. Hughes (Eds.)

The Social Costs of Pornography: A Collection of Papers (pp.

3–20).

Princeton, N.J.: Witherspoon Institute.


5 Harm being done to Australian children through access to pornography on the InternetSubmission 269 Once someone starts watching extreme and dangerous sex acts, they begin to regard those behaviours as more normal and common than they are.36 One study found that people exposed to significant amounts of porn thought things like sex with animals and violent sex were twice as common as what those not exposed to porn thought37.
This highlights the danger once we acknowledge and understand that when people believe a behaviour is normal, they are more likely to try it.38 Sociologist Michael Kimmel has found that men’s sexual fantasies have become heavily influenced by porn39.
When their partners do not want to act out the degrading or dangerous acts porn shows,40 men have been shown to go to prostitutes,41 to live out what they have seen in porn.42 In one survey of former prostitutes, 80% said that customers had shown them images of porn to illustrate what they wanted to do.43 Once a porn user becomes accustomed to a brain pulsing with dopamine, trying to cut back on the habit can lead to withdrawal symptoms.44 Consistent users often find that they cannot feel normal without the dopamine high.45 Little things that used to make them happy (ie seeing a friend, playing sport, etc) cannot compete with the dopamine flood that comes with porn and they are prone to feel anxious or unhappy until they can get back to it.46 Porn is regarded as being as old as time, however via the Internet porn mixes the most powerful natural dopamine release the body can produce with a cocktail of other elements—endless novelty, shock, and surprise—all of which increase the surge of dopamine.
Internet porn offers an endless stream of variety, enabling users to flip to a new image every time their high starts to fade, keeping dopamine levels elevated for hours.

36 Zillmann, D., and Bryant, J.

(1984).

Effects of Massive Exposure to Pornography.

In N. M. Malamuth and E. Donnerstein (Eds.)

Pornography and Sexual Aggression.

New York: Academic Press.

37 Ibid 38 Layden, M. A.

(2004).


Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Subcommittee on Science and Space, U.S. Senate, Hearing on the Brain Science Behind Pornography Addiction, November 18; Cline, V. B.

(2001).

Pornography’s Effect on Adults and Children.

New York: Morality in Media; Zillmann, D., and Bryant, J.

(1984).

Effects of Massive Exposure to Pornography.

In N. M. Malamuth and E. Donnerstein (Eds.)

Pornography and Sexual Aggression.

New York: Academic Press.


39 Paul, P. (2007).

Pornified: How Pornography Is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families.

New York: Henry Hold and Co., 27.

40 MacKinnon, C. A.

(2005).

Pornography as Trafficking.

Michigan Journal of International Law 26, 4: 999–1000; Raymond, J.

(2004).

Public Hearing on the Impact of the Sex Industry in the EU, Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities Public Hearing at the European Parliament.
New York: Coalition Against Trafficking in Women.

41 Monto, M. A.

(1999).

Focusing on the Clients of Street Prostitutes: A Creative Approach to Reducing Violence Against Women.

Paper submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice.

42 Malarek, V. (2009).

Johns: Sex for Sale and the Men Who Buy It.

New York: Arcade, 193–96; MacKinnon, C. A.

(2005).

Pornography as Trafficking.

Michigan Journal of International Law 26, 4: 999–1000; Raymond, J.

(2004).
(2004).

Public Hearing on the Impact of the Sex Industry in the EU, Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities Public Hearing at the European Parliament.

New York: Coalition Against Trafficking in Women.

43 Globbe, E., Harrigan, M., and Ryan, J.

(1990).

A Facilitator’s Guide to Prostitution: A Matter of Violence against Women.

Minneapolis, Minn.: WHISPER.

44 Angres, D. H. and Bettinardi-Angres, K. (2008).

The Disease of Addiction: Origins, Treatment, and Recovery.
Disease-a-Month 54: 696–721; Berridge, K. C. and Robinson, T. E. (2002).

The Mind of an Addicted Brain: Neural Sensitization of Wanting Versus Liking.

In J. T. Cacioppo, G. G. Bernston, R. Adolphs, et al.

(Eds.)

Foundations in Social Neuroscience (pp.

565–72).

Cambridge, Mass.

: MIT Press.

45 Ibid 46 Paul, P. (2007).

Pornified: How Pornography Is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families.

New York: Henry Hold and Co., 90.


6 Harm being done to Australian children through access to pornography on the InternetSubmission 269 3.
Pornography and violence Many researchers have suggested that pornography has become more hard core, explicitly degrading and dehumanising, with a greater focus on aggressive sexual activity.47 48 49 50 Themes of sexual violence are well documented in the images circulated on Internet newsgroups.51 Some websites centre on violence, subordination and degradation, while many use derogatory and hostile language in describing the women depicted.52 It is crucial to note that children watching porn are not watching normal healthy sex (as age inappropriate as that would be), but often violent and therefore perverse depictions of sex.
A study of the most popular porn scenes showed that 88.2% contained physical aggression, 94% of it directed toward women; in 95% of cases the victim was shown to respond either neutrally or with pleasure.53 To quote Dr Norman Doidge in his book on neuroscience, The Brain That Changes Itself: 54 “Thirty years ago ‘hardcore’ pornography usually meant the explicit depiction of sexual intercourse … Now hardcore has evolved and is increasingly dominated by the sadomasochistic themes … all involving scripts fusing sex with hatred and humiliation.
Hardcore pornography now explores the world of perversion, while softcore is now what hardcore was a few decades ago ….
The comparatively tame softcore pictures of yesteryear … now show up on mainstream media all day including television, rock videos, soap operas, long, advertisements, and so on.” in the pornification of everything, John Wood, a therapist who works with youth addicted to pornography, writes:55 “A competitive market means that pornographers are trying to outdo each other to come up with the most extreme images.

This contest to push the boundaries means that straight intercourse is considered too boring.
Images of brutal anal sex and women being humiliated and degraded by two or more men at any one time are the new norms.” Studies show that adolescents who are exposed to pornography are more likely to engage in sexual violence.56 A 2012 review of research on "The Impact of Internet Pornography on Adolescents" found that adolescent consumption of Internet pornography was linked to attitudinal changes, including acceptance of male dominance and female submission as the primary sexual 47 Bridges, A.J.

(2010).
(2010).

Methodological considerations in mapping pornography content.

In K. Boyle (ed.)

Everyday pornography.

London: Routledge (pp.34–48 48 Crabbe, M. & Corlett, D. (2010).

Eroticising inequality: Technology, pornography and young people.

DVRCV Quarterly, 3, 1–6.

49 Dines, G. (2010).

Pornland: How porn has hijacked our sexuality.

Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

50 Ezzell, M.B.

(2009).

Pornography, lads mags, video games and boys: Reviving the canary in the cultural coal mine.

In S. Offman (ed.)
In S. Offman (ed.)

The sexualisation of childhood.

Westport, CT: Praeger/ Greenwood Publishing Group (pp.7–32).

51 Flood, M., and C. Hamilton (2003a) Youth and Pornography in Australia: Evidence on the Extent of Exposure and Likely Effects.

Canberra: The Australia Institute, Discussion Paper No.

52, February 52 Ibid 53 Bridges, A., & Wosnitzer, R. (2007).

Aggression and sexual behavior in best-selling pornography: A content analysis update.

International Communication Association.


54 Doidge, N. (2007).

The Brain That Changes Itself.

New York: Penguin Books, 102.

55 Woods, J.

(2012).

Jamie Is 13 and Hasn’t Even Kissed a Girl.

But He’s Now on the Sex Offender Register after Online Porn Warped His Mind.

Daily Mail (U.K.), April 25.

56 Bonino S, Ciairano S, Rabaglietti E, Cattelino E. (2006).

Use of pornography and self-reported engagement in sexual violence among adolescents.

European Journal of Developmental Psychology 3: 265–288.
DOI: 10.1080/17405620600562359.

7 Harm being done to Australian children through access to pornography on the InternetSubmission 269 paradigm, with women viewed as ‘sexual playthings eager to fulfil male sexual desires’.

"57 The authors found that "adolescents who are intentionally exposed to violent sexually explicit material were six times more likely to be sexually aggressive than those who were not exposed.
"58 Research shows that minors who view pornography and other sexualised media are more accepting of sexual violence, and more likely to believe “rape myths” (that women enjoy being raped).59 60 In addition, minors who have been exposed to pornography and sexualised media have less progressive gender attitudes61 and are more likely to view women as sex objects.62 In the words of Sue Berelowitz, Deputy Children’s Commissioner for England:63 “The use of and children’s access to pornography emerged as a key theme during the first year of the Inquiry [into Child Sexual Exploitation in Gangs and Groups].
It was mentioned by boys in witness statements after being apprehended for the rape of a child, one of whom said it was “like being in a porn movie”; we had frequent accounts of both girls’ and boys’ expectations of sex being drawn from pornography they had seen; and professionals told us troubling stories of the extent to which teenagers and younger children routinely access pornography, including extreme and violent images.
We also found compelling evidence that too many boys believe that they have an absolute entitlement to sex at any time, in any place, in any way and with whomever they wish.

Equally worryingly, we heard that too often girls feel they have no alternative but to submit to boys’ demands, regardless of their own wishes.” There is consistent and reliable evidence that exposure to pornography is related to male sexual aggression against women.
This association is strongest for violent pornography and still reliable for nonviolent pornography, particularly when used frequently.64 Studies show that even casual pornography use has the power to start changing ideas and attitudes, and changes to behaviour often follow.65 Australia is currently fighting the scourge of domestic violence.

Today’s boys will be tomorrow’s men.

We cannot afford for the up and coming generations of males to regard women the way in which pornography portrays them.
The federal government has made big promises and poured millions of dollars into tackling the devastating issue of domestic violence, it has spoken endlessly of zero 57 Owens, E.W., Behun, E.W., Manning, R.J. & Reid, R.C.

(2012).

The impact of internet pornography on adolescents: A review of the research.

Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, 19, 99–122 58 Ibid 59 Ibid 60 Hald, G. M., Malamuth, N. M., and Yuen, C. (2010).
Pornography and Attitudes Supporting Violence Against Women: Revisiting the Relationship in Nonexperimental Studies.

Aggression and Behavior 36, 1: 14–20; Berkel, L. A., Vandiver, B. J., and Bahner, A. D. (2004).

Gender Role Attitudes, Religion, and Spirituality as Predictors of Domestic Violence Attitudes in White College Students.

Journal of College Student Development 45:119–131; Allen, M., Emmers, T., Gebhardt, L., and Giery, M. A.

(1995).

Exposure to Pornography and Acceptance of the Rape Myth.
Journal of Communication 45, 1: 5–26.

61 Brown, J.

& L’Engle, K. (2009).

X-Rated: Sexual attitudes and behaviors associated with U.S. early adolescents’ exposure to sexually explicit media.

Communication Research, 36, 129-151.

62 Peter, J.

& Valkenburg, P. (2007).

Adolescents’ exposure to a sexualized media environment and their notions of women as sex objects.

Sex Roles, 56, 381–395.


63 Horvath, et al, (2013) Basically... porn is everywhere: a rapid evidence assessment on the effects that access and exposure to pornography has on children and young people.

Project Report.

Office of the Children's Commissioner for England, London, UK.

64 Flood, M. (2009).

Youth, Sex, and the Internet.

Counselling, Psychotherapy, and Health, 5(1), The Use of Technology in Mental Health Special Issue, 131-147 65 Bridges, A. J.

(2010).
(2010).

Pornography’s Effect on Interpersonal Relationships.

In J. Stoner and D. Hughes (Eds.)

The Social Costs of Pornography: A Collection of Papers (pp.

89-110).

Princeton, NJ: Witherspoon Institute.

8 Harm being done to Australian children through access to pornography on the InternetSubmission 269 tolerance, yet the question must be asked: what authentic steps is it taking to quell the booming industry that fuels one of the root causes of the degradation of women world-wide?

4.
4.

The impact of pornography on the development of healthy and respectful relationships Pornography is having widespread and measurable negative consequences on the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of children and young people.66 Relationships are subsequent inevitable casualties.

In the words of Scott Flanders, CEO of Playboy, “My personal view is that, unfortunately, availability of porn… has substituted for intimacy in personal relationships”.
According to Professors Jennings Bryant and Dolf Zillman, who have studied the effects of porn and media for over 30 years, with regards to porn use “no rigorous research demonstrations of desirable effects can be reported.”67 Instead porn use can cause serious relational damage not only to the user, but also to those closest to them, with research showing that after men are exposed to pornography, they rate themselves as less in love with their partner than men who didn’t see any porn.68 Another study found that after being exposed to pornographic images, people were more critical of their partner’s appearance, sexual curiosity, sexual performance, and displays of affection.69 Many partners of porn users are depressed, anxious, and feel like they can never measure up.70 Instead of learning to build relationships with real people, for shy youth or a consistent porn user it often feels more natural and arousing to be alone in front of a computer.71 “It’s sad,” said Dr. Gary Brooks, a psychology professor who studies porn’s effect on men.
“Boys who are initiated in sex through these images become indoctrinated in a way that can potentially stay with them for the rest of their lives.”72 The more pornography a person consumes, the more their brain connects being aroused with the fictional fantasy depicted in porn as opposed a real person or relationship 73 As a result, many users don’t know how to be aroused by a real person, much less form a deep personal connection.74Frequent porn use is associated with generally feeling cynical about love, having less trust in romantic partners, and feeling like marriage is confining.75 66 'Pornography and Harms to Children and Young People' held at UNSW on Feb 9 2016, http://pornharmskids.org.au/ 67 Zillmann, D. (2004).
Pornografie.

In R. Mangold, P. Vorderer, and G. Bente (Eds.)

Lehrbuch der Medienpsychologie (pp.565–85).

Gottingen, Germany: Hogrefe Verlag.

68 Bridges, A. J.

(2010).

Pornography’s Effect on Interpersonal Relationships.

In J. Stoner and D. Hughes (Eds.)

The Social Costs of Pornography: A Collection of Papers (pp.

89-110).

Princeton, NJ: Witherspoon Institute.

69 Zillmann, D. and Bryant, J.

(1988).

Pornography’s Impact on Sexual Satisfaction.

Journal of Applied Social Psychology 18, 5: 438–53.
70 Steffens, B.

A. and Rennie, R. L. (2006).

The Traumatic Nature of Disclosure for Wives of Sexual Addicts.

Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity 13, 2 and 3: 247–67; Wolf, N. (2004).

The Porn Myth.

New York Magazine, May 24; Wildmom-White, M. L. and Young, J. S. (2002).

Family-of-Origin Characteristics Among Women Married to Sexually Addicted Men.

Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity 9, 4: 263–73.

71 Woods, J.

(2012).

Jamie Is 13 and Hasn’t Even Kissed a Girl.


But He’s Now On the Sex Offender Register after Online Porn Warped His Mind.

Daily Mail (U.K.), April 25.

72 Paul, P. (2007).

Pornified: How Pornography Is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families.

New York: Henry Hold and Co., 187.

73 Ibid 74 Interview with Dr. Gary Brooks, Oct. 23, 2013; Paul, P. (2007).

Pornified: How Pornography Is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families.

New York: Henry Hold and Co., 105.


75 Zillmann, D. (2000).

Influence of Unrestrained Access to Erotica on Adolescents’ and Young Adults’ Dispositions Toward Sexuality.

Journal of Adolescent Health 27, 2: 41–44 9 Harm being done to Australian children through access to pornography on the InternetSubmission 269 In the words of Woods, pornography addiction “is no longer just a private problem.
It is a public health problem.”76 Studies show that after viewing pornography men are more likely to: report decreased empathy for rape victims; have increasingly aggressive behavioural tendencies; report believing that a woman who dresses provocatively deserves to be raped; 77 report anger at women who flirt but then refuse to have sex; report decreased sexual interest in their girlfriends or wives; report increased interest in coercing partners into unwanted sex acts.78 Children and adolescents are not exempt from these side-effects.
Access and exposure to pornography affect children and young people’s sexual beliefs which in turn affects their relationships.

Pornography has been linked to unrealistic attitudes about sex; maladaptive attitudes about relationships; more sexually permissive attitudes; greater acceptance of casual sex; beliefs that women are sex objects; 79 more frequent thoughts about sex; sexual uncertainty (e.g.
the extent to which children and young people are unclear about their sexual beliefs and values); and less progressive gender role attitudes (e.g.

male dominance and female submission).
Children and young people learn from and may change their behaviour due to exposure and access to pornography.80 Online seekers of pornography are more likely to report clinical features associated with depression and lower levels of emotional bonding with their caregiver.81 Those who report intentional exposure to pornography are significantly more likely to cross-sectionally report delinquent behaviour and substance use in the previous year.82 Based on a representative sample of 500 18 year-olds, 70% said ‘pornography leads to unrealistic attitudes to sex’ and that ‘pornography can have a damaging impact on young people’s views of sex or relationships’.
In addition, two-thirds of young women (66%) and almost half of young men (49%) agree that ‘it would be easier growing up if pornography was less easy to access for young people’.83 76 Woods, J.

(2012).

Jamie Is 13 and Hasn’t Even Kissed a Girl.

But He’s Now On the Sex Offender Register after Online Porn Warped His Mind.

Daily Mail (U.K.), April 25.

77 Milburn, M., Mather, R., and Conrad, S. (2000).

The Effects of Viewing R-Rated Movie Scenes that Objectify Women on Perceptions of Date Rape.
Sex Roles 43, 9 and 10: 645–64; Weisz, M. G. and Earls, C. (1995).

The Effects of Exposure to Filmed Sexual Violence on Attitudes Toward Rape.

Journal of Interpersonal Violence 10, 1: 71–84; Ohbuchi, K. I., et al.

(1994).

Effects of Violent Pornography Upon Viewers’ Rape Myth Beliefs: A Study of Japanese Males.

Psychology, Crime, and Law 7, 1: 71–81; Corne, S., et al.

(1992).

Women’s Attitudes and Fantasies About Rape as a Function of Early Exposure to Pornography.
Journal of Interpersonal Violence 7, 4: 454–61; Check, J. and Malamuth, N. M. (1985).

An Empirical Assessment of Some Feminist Hypotheses About Rape.

International Journal of Women’s Studies 8, 4: 414–23.

78 A REPORT BY THE UN BROADBAND COMMISSION FOR DIGITAL DEVELOPMENT WORKING GROUP ON BROADBAND AND GENDER, 2015 79 Barak, A., Fisher, W. A., Belfry, S., and Lashambe, D. R. (1999).

Sex, Guys, and Cyberspace: Effects of Internet Pornography and Individual Differences on Men’s Attitudes Toward Women.
Journal of Psychology and Human Sexuality 11, 1: 63–91; Allen, M., Emmers, T., Gebhardt, L., and Giery, M. A.

(1995).

Exposure to Pornography and Acceptance of the Rape Myth.

Journal of Communication 45, 1: 5–26.

80 Horvath, et al, (2013) Basically... porn is everywhere: a rapid evidence assessment on the effects that access and exposure to pornography has on children and young people.

Project Report.

Office of the Children's Commissioner for England, London, UK.

81 Ybarra, M.L.

& Mitchell, K.J.


(2005).

Exposure to internet pornography among children and adolescents: A national survey.

Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 8, 473–486.

82 Ibid 83 Parker, I.

(2014).

Young people, sex and relationships: The new norms.

IPPR.
10 Harm being done to Australian children through access to pornography on the InternetSubmission 269 4.1 Pornography and divorce Divorces related to porn use have “exploded”.84 In a survey of members of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers taken in 2002, 62% of the divorce attorneys surveyed said that obsession with porn had been a significant factor in divorces cases they had handled in the last year.85 Children are often victims either by being directly exposed to porn or by being neglected by a parent who uses the time they could be spending with their kids to view porn instead.86 In a 2004 poll conducted by Elle magazine and MSNBC.com, one in five of the male respondents confessed that porn was taking away hours that used to be spent with their partner or kids.
Among users that spent five or more hours per week looking at porn, that number shot up to 37 percent.87 5.

Pornography and boys Boys aged 12- 17 are the largest consumer group of Internet porn.88 This suggests that the first images and information surrounding sex that a young boy is exposed to would include violence towards a woman.
A 2015 survey in the UK revealed that the porn site sites for 11-15 year-old boys.89 was one of the “Top 5” internet Seekers of pornography, both online and offline, are significantly more likely to be male, with only 5% of self-identified seekers being female.90 Young men and boys are more likely to be exposed to pornography than young women and girls.
They are also more likely to access, seek or use pornography and are exposed to or access pornography more frequently.91 Ybarra and Mitchell found that males were significantly more likely to report pornography seeking than females; boys were more than 7 times as likely to report online seeking and 4 times as likely to report offline-only seeking as compared to otherwise similar females.92 International studies have found that boys exposed to pornography in early adolescence are more likely to engage in sexual harassment in middle adolescence.93 A 2011 US study found that “adolescents who are intentionally exposed to violent sexually explicit material were six times more 84 Interview with Dr. Gary Brooks, Oct. 23, 2013.
85 Dedmon, J.

(2002).

Is the Internet Bad for Your Marriage?

Online Affairs, Pornographic Sites Playing Greater Role in Divorces.

Press Release from The Dilenschneider Group, Inc. 86 Paul, P. (2010).

From Pornography to Porno to Porn: How Porn Became the Norm.

In J. Stoner and D. Hughes (Eds.)

The Social Costs of Pornography: A Collection of Papers (pp.

3–20).

Princeton, N.J.: Witherspoon Institute; Schneider, J. P. (2000).

Effects of Cybersex Addiction on the Family: Results of a Survey.
Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity 7, 1 and 2: 31–58.

87 Paul, P. (2007).

Pornified: How Pornography Is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families.

New York: Henry Hold and Co., 155.

88 A REPORT BY THE UN BROADBAND COMMISSION FOR DIGITAL DEVELOPMENT WORKING GROUP ON BROADBAND AND GENDER, 2015 89 NSPCC: Porn Addiction Concerns; The Wave; March 31 2015 90 Ybarra, M.L.

& Mitchell, K.J.

(2005).

Exposure to internet pornography among children and adolescents: A national survey.
Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 8, 473–486.

91 Horvath, et al, (2013) Basically... porn is everywhere: a rapid evidence assessment on the effects that access and exposure to pornography has on children and young people.

Project Report.

Office of the Children's Commissioner for England, London, UK.

92 Ybarra, M.L.

& Mitchell, K.J.

(2005).

Exposure to internet pornography among children and adolescents: A national survey.

Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 8, 473–486.


93 Owens, E.W., Behun, E.W., Manning, R.J. & Reid, R.C.

(2012).

The impact of internet pornography on adolescents: A review of the research.
Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, 19, 99–122 11 Harm being done to Australian children through access to pornography on the InternetSubmission 269 likely to be sexually aggressive than those who were not exposed”.94 Adolescents’ and young adults’ exposure to media which sexualises girls and women is also “associated with greater acceptance of stereotyped and sexist notions about gender and sexual roles, including notions of women and sexual objects”.

95 6.
95 6.

Pornography and girls Girls and young women generally report that porn is unwelcome and socially distasteful and they feel much more uncomfortable than boys and young men when viewing pornography.96 However pornography is moulding and conditioning the sexual behaviours and attitudes of boys, and girls are being left without the resources to deal with these porn-saturated boys, sexual bullying and harassment.
Consistent porn users wire their sexuality to looking at virtual images of unrealistic, surgically altered bodies.97 Girls know they cannot compete, but that doesn't stop them thinking they have to.

They describe being ranked at school on their bodies, and are sometimes compared to the bodies of porn stars.
Requests for labiaplasty have tripled in a little over a decade among young women aged 15- 24.98 Girls who do not undergo porn-inspired "Brazilian" waxing are often considered ugly or ungroomed (by boys as well as by other girls).

Melinda Tankard Reist, author of Big Porn Inc: Exposing the harms of the global porn industry, writes:99 Girls and young women describe boys pressuring them to provide acts inspired by the porn they consume routinely.
Girls tell of being expected to put up with things they don't enjoy.

Some see sex only in terms of performance, where what counts most is the boy enjoying it.

Girls and young women are under a lot of pressure to give boys and men what they want, to adopt pornified roles and behaviours, with their bodies being merely sex aids.

Growing up in a pornified landscape, girls learn that they are service stations for male gratification and pleasure.
Asked "How do you know a guy likes you?," a Year 8 replied: "He still wants to talk to you after you suck him off."

A male high school student said to a girl: "If you suck my dick I'll give you a kiss."

Girls are expected to provide sex acts for tokens of affection.

A 15-year-old told me she didn't enjoy sex at all, but that getting it out of the way quickly was the only way her boyfriend would settle down and watch a movie with her.
Some girls suffer physical injury from porn-inspired sexual acts, including anal sex.

94 Owens, E.W., Behun, E.W., Manning, R.J. & Reid, R.C.

(2012).

The impact of internet pornography on adolescents: A review of the research.

Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, 19, 99–122 95 Flood, M. (2009).

The harms of pornography exposure among children and young people.

Child Abuse Review, 18, 384–400.


96 Horvath, et al, (2013) Basically... porn is everywhere: a rapid evidence assessment on the effects that access and exposure to pornography has on children and young people.

Project Report.

Office of the Children's Commissioner for England, London, UK.

97 Hilton, D. L. (2013).

Pornography addiction—a supranormal stimulus considered in the context of neuroplasticity.

Socioaffective Neuroscience & Psychology, 3, 20767; Doidge, N. (2007).

The Brain That Changes Itself.


New York: Penguin Books, 109; Paul, Pamela.

(2007).

Pornified: How Pornography Is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families.

New York: Henry Holt and Co., 145.
98 Runacres, S., Hayes, J., Grover, S., Temple-Smith, M., Exposing The Hidden Truth About The Need for Adolescent Labiaplasty, April 2015, Volume 28, Issue 2, Page 60 99 Reist, M.T., Growing up in Pornland: Girls Have Had it with Porn Conditioned Boys, March 2016 12 Harm being done to Australian children through access to pornography on the InternetSubmission 269 In mass-marketed heterosexual pornography, “sex is divorced from intimacy, loving affection, and human connection; all women are constantly available for sex and have insatiable sexual appetites; and all women are sexually satisfied by whatever the men in the film do.”100 Based on a representative sample of 500 18 year olds, almost eight out of 10 young women (77%) say ‘pornography has led to pressure on girls or young women to look a certain way’ and almost as many young women (75%) say ‘pornography has led to pressure on girls and young women to act a certain way’.
101 It is young girls themselves who are asking for change.

Commissioned by Plan Australia and Our Watch, a recent survey of 600 Australian women aged 15-19 reveals Australian teenage girls’ perceptions about uninvited sexually explicit images, pressure to take and send sexy photographs and cyberbullying.

‘Josie’ is quoted in the survey report, Don't send me that pic:102 "We need some sort of crack down on the violent pornography that is currently accessible to boys and men.
This violent pornography should be illegal to make or view in Australia as we clearly have a problem with violence and boys are watching a lot of pornography which can be very violent ...

This is influencing men's attitude towards women and what they think is acceptable.

Violent pornography is infiltrating Australian relationships."

7.
7.

“Monkey see, monkey do” There is agreement in the literature suggesting that adolescents can learn sexual behaviours from observing the behaviours depicted in sexually explicit material.103 104 105 106 Emeritus Professor Freda Briggs states that online pornography is turning children into copycat sexual predators - acting out on other children what they are seeing in porn.107 This copycat behaviour is not specific to children.
FBI statistics show that pornography is found at 80% of the scenes of violent sex crimes or in the homes of the perpetrators.108 The Australian Psychological Society estimates that adolescent boys are responsible for around 20% of rapes of adult women and between 30% and 50% of all reported sexual assaults of children.109 It stands to reason that exposure to pornography contributes to this harrowing statistic.

No child is born with the desire to sexually assault someone.
Access and exposure to pornography affect children and young people’s sexual beliefs; they learn from and may change their behaviour 100 Dines, G., Jensen, R., Russo, A., Pornography: The production and consumption of inequality, Psychology Press, 1998 101 Parker, I.

(2014).

Young people, sex and relationships: The new norms.

IPPR.

102 “Don’t Send Me That Pic, Plan International and Our Watch survey”, March 2016 103 Alexy, E.M., Burgess, A.W.

& Prentky, R.A. (2009).


Pornography use as a risk marker for an aggressive pattern of behaviour among sexually reactive children and adolescents.

Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, 14, 442–453 104 Häggström-Nordin, E., Sandberg, J., Hanson, U.

& Tydén, T. (2006).

‘It’s everywhere!’ Young Swedish people’s thoughts and reflections about pornography.

Scandinavian Journal of Caring Science, 20, 386–393.

105 Häggström-Nordin, E., Tydén, T., Hanson, U.

& Larsson, M. (2009).


Experiences of and attitudes towards pornography among a group of Swedish high school students.

European Journal of Contraception and Reproductive Health Care, 14, 277–284 106 Hunter, J.A., Figueredo, A.J.

& Malamuth, N.M. (2010).

Developmental pathways into social and sexual deviance.

Journal of Family Violence, 25, 141–148.

107 Reist, M.T., Growing up in Pornland: Girls Have Had it with Porn Conditioned Boys, March 2016 108 Anderson, K. (1992).
“Pornography.” http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/porno.html 109 Reist, M.T., Growing up in Pornland: Girls Have Had it with Porn Conditioned Boys, March 2016 13 Harm being done to Australian children through access to pornography on the InternetSubmission 269 because of exposure and access to pornography.110 One study found that exposure to sexualised material was related to the likelihood of young people engaging in more sexualised behaviour because they perceived more social pressure to have sex.111 Access and exposure to pornography are also linked to children and young people’s engagement in ‘risky behaviour’.112 For example, young people who used pornography were more likely to report engagement in sexual practices from a younger age, having had unprotected anal or oral sex, sex with multiple partners and using alcohol and drugs during sex.113 “Sexting” (which should be considered as comprising a range of activities) has recently emerged as another “risky behaviour” because it can lead to various negative outcomes for children and young people.
Studies have shown a correlation between early exposure to pornography and early sexual activity.114 Researchers have repeatedly found that people who have seen a significant amount of porn are more likely to start having sex sooner and with more partners, and to engage in riskier kinds of sex, putting them at greater risk of getting sexually transmitted infections.
115 Braun-Courville and Rojas found that the more frequently an adolescent is exposed to sexually explicit material, the greater their sexually permissive attitudes.

In 2009, Brown and L’Engle’s findings116 supported the studies of Haggstrom-Nordin et al.117 and Kraus and Russell118in finding that early exposure to sexually explicit material increases the likelihood that both male and females adolescents will engage in oral sex and sexual intercourse earlier than their non-exposed peers.
In this study, 66% of male and 39% of female adolescents reported that by the age of 14, they had been exposed to sexually explicit material in the previous year.

In addition, 90% of the adolescent males reported having oral sex and 88% reported having sexual intercourse.

110 Horvath, et al, (2013) Basically... porn is everywhere: a rapid evidence assessment on the effects that access and exposure to pornography has on children and young people.

Project Report.
Project Report.

Office of the Children's Commissioner for England, London, UK.

111 Bleakley, A., Henessy, M. & Fishbein, M. (2011b).

A model of adolescents’ seeking of sexual content in their media choices.

Journal of Sex Research, 48, 309–315.

112 Horvath, et al, (2013) Basically... porn is everywhere: a rapid evidence assessment on the effects that access and exposure to pornography has on children and young people.

Project Report.

Office of the Children's Commissioner for England, London, UK.
113 Braun-Courville, D.K.

& Rojas, M. (2009).

Exposure to sexually explicit websites and adolescent sexual attitudes and behaviours.

Journal of Adolescent Health, 45, 156–162.

114 Carroll, J.S; Padilla-Walker, L.M; Nelson, L.J; Olsen, C.D; McNamara Barry, C; Madsen, S.D.

(2008).

Generation XXX: Pornography Acceptance and Use Among Emerging Adults; Journal of Adolescent Research; 23(1), 6-30; Sage Publications 115 Layden, M. A.

(2010).

Pornography and Violence: A New look at the Research.
In J. Stoner and D. Hughes (Eds.)

The Social Costs of Pornography: A Collection of Papers (pp.

57–68).

Princeton, NJ: Witherspoon Institute; Carroll, J. S., Padilla-Walker, L. M., and Nelson, L. J.

(2008).

Generation XXX: Pornography Acceptance and Use Among Emerging Adults.

Journal of Adolescent Research 23, 1: 6–30; Haggstrom-Nordin, E., Tyden, T., and Hanson, U.

(2005).

Associations between Pornography Consumption and Sexual Practices among Adolescents in Sweden.
International Journal of STD & AIDS 16, 2: 102–7; Wingood, G. M., et al.

(2001).

Exposure to X-Rated Movies and Adolescents’ Sexual and Contraceptive-Related Attitudes and Behaviors.

Pediatrics 107, 5: 1116–19.

116 Brown, J.D.

& L’Engle, K.L.

(2009).

X-rated: Sexual attitudes and behaviors associated with US early adolescents’ exposure to sexually explicit media.

Communication Research, 36, 129–151.

117 Häggström-Nordin, E. (2005).

Worlds apart?


Sexual behaviour, contraceptive use, and pornography consumption among young women and men.

Unpublished dissertation for PhD, submitted to the Faculty of Medicine at Uppsala University.

118 Kraus, S.W.

& Russell, B.

(2008).

Early sexual experiences: The role of internet access and sexually explicit material.

Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 11, 2.


14 Harm being done to Australian children through access to pornography on the InternetSubmission 269 Children and adolescents are not just watching porn.

They are emulating it.

CONCLUSION We applaud the decision of our Federal Parliament to conduct this Inquiry.

It has been long overdue.

However, ultimately, what we desperately need is Federal members of parliament and a Federal government who will be courageous enough to take authentic action following this Inquiry.
What we do not need is another glossy report, whether from a parliamentary Inquiry or otherwise.

Only those with commercial interests or with a personal porn-addiction deny the harm to our society caused by pornography.

There is nothing authentically beneficial to women in pornography.

There is nothing liberating about it nor does it do anything for the ongoing push for equality.

There is nothing authentically beneficial to men in pornography.
Addiction and relationship destruction is not what Australian men want.

There is absolutely nothing beneficial to children in pornography.

We do not need a parliamentary Inquiry to understand something that is self-evident.

What Australia needs is courageous recommendations and genuine implementation.

RECOMMENDATIONS 1.

The creation of a Minister for Men’s Interests to, amongst other responsibilities, lead the charge in empowering men to take responsibility to say “no” to pornography.

2.
2.

The implementation of internet filtering to block “refused classification” websites with the capacity to “opt in” for those enthusiasts of such sites who pretend to object to any filtering under the guise of censorship.

3.

Mandating that all outdoor/billboard advertising be G-rated.

4.

Educating the public on what the e-Safety commissioner does and what we can expect the commissioner to achieve.

15 Harm being done to Australian children through access to pornography on the InternetSubmission 269