"Soft porn is used to entice little children"
Acting Detective Inspector David Jeffries, The Courier Mail, Brisbane
"Rape of 12 year old triggered by pornography"
The Sun-Herald, Sydney
"We know the material (pornography) has been used to coerce children into sexual activities."
Sydney Morning Herald
"Pornography has for years been tied to child sexual abuse"
Pepperdine Law Review, US
"Strong link between pornography and sex crimes"
Inspector Sprague, Spectrum Task Force
Sunday Tasmanian, Hobart
Prepared 10/97 by Jack Sonnemann for the Australian Federation for the Family
Our Children Deserve Better Protection From Pornography
Pornography is routinely used to sexually entrap children. Our lawmakers have failed to adequately protect Aussie kids by allowing children's legal, unrestricted access to pornographic publications such as Playboy. The Australian Federation for the Family is lobbying for "AO" material to be only sold to adults. We hope Australian legislators will realise their duty to act in the best interests of Australian children and families and place sensible restrictions on so-called soft porn magazines such as, but not limited to, Playboy, People, Picture and Penthouse.
At this writing - with the notable exceptions of Tasmania and recently Queensland - "Adult Only" magazines are freely available for sale, display, perusal and access by small children. (AFF Note: Victorian Police simply refuse to enforce their new law, but that is another issue) This normalises sexual deviancy to children and is wrong! Most thinking humans know that Playboy is not a children's magazine and would readily agree that such pornographic material, if sold at all, should only be sold to, displayed to, accessed by and perused by "adults", not children.
In Soft Porn Plays Hardball, Dr Judith Reisman, director of The Institute for Media Education, tellingly says, "Decades ago few parents expressed serious concern about the safety of their child's immediate environment. Very cautious parents warned their youngsters to be wary of taking candy from strangers and took care not to allow their children to stray into unknown or unsafe neighbourhoods. Careful parents in safe neighbourhoods counselled children to come straight home from school, not stopping anywhere along the way." Dr Reisman - author, social commentator, expert witness, frequent visitor to Australia and longtime friend of AFF - is perhaps the world's foremost authority on the effects of pornography.
Dr Reisman's warning continues, "As the sexual environment has changed, sexual threats to children in both their public and private space have increased. The havens of safety - streams, woods and parks - grow even tighter around our children. Many parents now escort their children by foot or car to church, scouts, school, etc. Once inside, parents are often troubled, wondering whether the minister, scoutmaster, or math teacher are trustworthy. Parents concerns about sex criminals (paedophiles and pederasts) molesting their children is not unwarranted. This apprehension reaches deeply into the home, so much so that even young baby-sitters and close relatives become suspect, instilling millions of children and their parents with a sense of distrust and foreboding."
By allowing the open display of pornographic images on the covers of so-called 'soft-porn' magazines, Australians have allowed the family marketplace, where children have unrestricted access, to become eroticised. We have forced an entire generation of young Aussies to grow up accepting the pornographer's hyper- sexualised, callous and animistic portrayal of women as normal. Although a radical concept for Australia, our children and families should enjoy the freedom to shop in the family marketplace free from objectionable pornographic imagery.
Serious desensitisation occurs when any group of people are forced to undergo repeated exposure to pornographic imagery. Impressionable young children are especially at risk and deserve better protection than they now receive.
AFF is advocating legislative measures be undertaken and enforced to restrict such pornographic imagery in the family marketplace where children have unrestricted access. AFF is also saying that so-called "soft porn" magazines like Penthouse, Playboy, People and Picture should be sold to/displayed to and accessed by "Adults Only". The state govt in Victoria recently passed a law that meets these criteria. It is now up to the police to enforce it.
The Australian Institute of Family Studies and the South Australian Office of Families and Children report an alarming "230,000 child abuse and neglect cases each year" in Australia. "Half the children - more than 100,000 - would need some form of treatment". (Aust, 24 Oct 97) Police reports indicate that sexual assault makes up almost one half of all reported cases of child abuse. (Examiner, 2 Nov 97)
This submission - PORNOGRAPHY: PAEDOPHILE PROPAGANDA - cites published reports from across Australia and around the world to show, among other things, how soft porn is used to sexually entrap children; how paedophiles instruct their associates to use porn magazines; how molesters use soft porn to break down a child's resistance; how so called 'Non Violent Erotica' is a dangerous myth and triggers the rape of children; how violence is linked to pornography; how child sex offenders use pornography and how soft porn normalises adult/child sex acts.
The cases quoted herein are simply from our files. Sadly, there are thousands of additional cases where pornography has been used in the sexual entrapment, torture, molestation and rape of small children. Pornography is used to initiate children into a life of sexual deviancy. Australians should demand that their lawmakers stop the legal sale and display of pornography to children. This will be a significant first step in the winnable war against the coruption of our cutlure.
Sample letters are included and we suggest ideas for policy changes needed in order to better protect Aussie children from premature and dangerous exposure to pornographic imagery. We are presenting copies of this submission to each Attorney General in Australia as well as the Federal Attorney General. The state Attorney General is responsible for this issue in each state and the Federal Attorney General is responsible for the Territories. They should act in the best interests of Australian families (instead of the best interests of Australian pornographers) and prevent children's unrestricted access to pornographic imagery.
The Australian Federation for the Family publishes The AFF JOURNAL which is read by thousands across Australia and was recently responsible for lifting of the age to appear in pornography from 16 to 18. Another of AFF's initiatives was enacted to prohibit the pornographers from using pseudo-child imagery - adults dressed as children - in porn videos. Other policy initiatives include:
- Cartoon characters, childhood heroes and characters unique to the world of children's entertainment should no longer be permitted to appear in pornography.
- Publications containing advertisements and promotions for sex services and other strictly 'AO' products should no longer be offered for sale/display to minors.
- Publications or videos containing editorial and/or pictorial content of a sexual nature and clearly intended for an 'AO' clientele should no longer be offered for sale/display to minors.
- All pornography to be removed from and no longer sent into State or Federal prisons where sex offenders are incarcerated.
- Sex offender registration laws must be enacted and an accurate police register kept of the whereabouts of known sex offenders.
- Nude or semi-nude pictures on magazine covers, record covers, advertising posters, video covers and other media generally available to the public at large should no longer be displayed to children and be placed in such a way as to not offend or disturb those who find pornography objectionable.
None of these policy initiatives should be seen as anything other than 'child protection' initiatives. If adults in society wish to purchase or peruse pornography they are free to do so, but these simple measures which are sensible and easily enforceable will protect children from unrestricted access to material that is clearly not intended for them.
For additional data see AFF's Parliamentary Submissions ($5.00 ea posted):
- Pornography and Sex Crimes: the Proven Link
- Pornography, Paedophilia and the Academic Paedophile Movement
- Suffer the Little Children (the impact of media sex and violence)
AFF, PO Box 106, Canterbury, Victoria 3126
Non Violent Erotica Triggers Rape of 11 Year Old
"In Brisbane, a man showed his 11 year-old stepdaughter a pornographic video before raping her. According to the prosecutor, the man had shown his defacto stepdaughter an adult cartoon showing Hansel and Gretal performing sexual acts. The video made sex look like a bit of a game. Crown Prosecutor Ms Leanna Hurley told the court that after the man viewed the video with the young girl, he led her to a bedroom, ordered her to undress and raped her." The girl told the court that her stepfather had sexual intercourse with her at least once a week.
Courier Mail, 7 June 1989.
AFF note: This is a graphic example of the type of material the Prime Minister's Cabinet has decided to call "Non Violent" pornography. Australia's Prime Minister is attempting to dishonour his pre-election promise to ban X Rated videos by creating a new category which is nothing more than X rated videos by another name! Graphic depictions of pornographic sex acts will not help Australia.
Aboriginal Violence Triggered by Pornography
"On Mornington Island, men had forced children as young as 7 to engage in acts depicted in pornographic videos. A 5 year old boy recently suffered internal injuries after older boys tried to emulate a scene from another video."
Sydney Morning Herald, 15 May 1990.
Raped With A Stick
"A worker at a Northern Territory Aboriginal women's shelter described how women are being raped with a stick after porn videos. Rapes are being perpetrated on drunken women by groups of young boys 10 -15. Young girls from 8 years upward are being sexually misused by adult aboriginal and non Aboriginal men in return for beer. They are being shown hard-core porn videos and encouraged to perform similarly." Taken from the book: Looking at the Problem
by Brisbane based Aboriginal research consultant Judy Atkinson.
Soft Porn Used by Molesters to Entice Children
Acting Detective Inspector David Jeffries with the Juvenile Aid Bureau in Brisbane says, "Molesters often use readily available, soft porn material to entice little children and break down their resistance."
Courier Mail, 11 July 1988.
MR CRUEL Case Strongly Linked to Pornography
Inspector Sprague, head of the Spectrum Task Force set up by the Victorian Police to investigate the as-yet-unsolved Mr Cruel schoolgirl abductions and murder of Karmein Chan in Melbourne says, "We're staggered by the amount of porn in the community. I'm convinced... there's a strong link between porn and the amount of sex crimes we get. Some men even set up videos in their cars or vans and recorded young girls waiting for buses. The problem is serial offenders have all got different triggers and that's the hard part. Their chain of crimes could be triggered by... pornography."
The Sunday Tasmanian, 28 February 1993.
Pornography: Stimulant for Sex Crime in "Every Major Sexual Investigation"
"A Cairns policeman said in eight years work with the Juvenile Aid Bureau every major sexual offender he had charged had used pornography as a stimulant to crime. Detective Senior Constable Brad Hafner says, 'Pornography is the recurring factor and in every major sexual investigation, pornography has been an issue. We have to take notice of these things today, if not, our children will suffer.'" The Cairns Post in 1988 quotes Detective Hafner as saying, "... the connections between pornography and child sexual abuse has been made clear in the courts time and again. Pornography of any type has no socially redeeming factors and can be clearly linked, in my experience, with serious sexual offenders."
Cairns Post, 1 Aug 1990.
Rape of 12 Year Old Girl Blamed on Pornography
"In sentencing a young man for raping a 12 year-old girl, Mr Justice O'Brien told Central Criminal Court the man's actions had been triggered by pornographic literature: 'Despite what some psychiatrists and others say, the danger of pornographic material becomes more apparent to those of us who have to deal with these crimes.'"
The Sun-Herald, 22 December 1991.
Child Abuse Linked to Pictures in Sex Magazines
"A U S Justice Department study has found that 3 popular adult magazines has frequently depicted sexual images of children, and the chief researcher said yesterday that the depictions might be linked to child abuse. The researcher, Dr Judith Reisman, said her study should cause lawmakers and the public to reconsider their attitude toward the magazines Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler, and other adult publications.
"A review of 683 issues of the three magazines had found 6,004 images of children... More than a third of the images, she said, associated children with nudity or sex, citing as an example the fact that all three magazines had presented photographs of adult women scantily clad in what appeared to be children's clothing. Dr Reisman added, 'We know the material has been used to coerce children into sexual activities.' Dr Judith Becker, a Columbia University psychologist who was a member of the U S Attorney-General's Commission on Pornography, which issued a report linking pornography to violence said she could see value in studying the depictions of children in adult magazines."
Sydney Morning Herald, 4 September 1988.
Paedophiles exist in every line of work
"Paedophiles exist in every line of work... It should not therefore be surprising to find these felons among the staff, writers, and/or publishers of Playboy, Penthouse, or Hustler."
"Soft Porn Plays Hard Ball", Dr Judith Reisman, Huntington House Publishers, PO Box 53788, Lafayette, Louisiana 70505, 1991, ISBN 0-910311-92-7.
Death of 8 Month-old Girl Linked to Sex Magazine
U S Senate Hearings on the "Effect of Pornography on Women and Children", 12 September 1984, was told of the "St Petersburg, Florida, account of the 9 year-old boy who was convicted of first degree murder, aggravated child abuse, and three counts of sexual battery in connection with the torture death last September of an 8 month-old girl. The brother of the 9 year-old boy testified that, in sexually assaulting the infant with a pencil and coat hanger, they were imitating actions they had seen in their mother's sex magazine."
Playboy normalises adult/child sex acts
In her research for the University of Salford in England on Playboy cartoons, Dr Gail Dines-Levy found that Playboy "did not show any offence at the images of the children in sex acts with adults." Dr Dines-Levy found over 43% of the children in sexual scenes in Playboy were being sexually used.
"Toward a Sociology of Cartoons: A Framework for Sociological Investigation with Special Reference to Playboy Sex Cartoons", PhD dissertation, University of Salford, Great Britain, 1990.
Soft "Gateway Pornography" Most Dangerous
In the U S Playboy is called the "gateway pornography", that is the most accessible, acceptable and attractive of all pornographies. The most prominent "gateway pornography" in Australia would most likely be People magazine.
Adolescent Sex Offenders Use Pornography
Dr Judith Becker of Columbia University in New York served on the U S Attorney General's Committee on Pornography and reports that "89% of the 160 adolescent sex offenders whose average age was 15 reported that they use sexually explicit materials. 67% said the material increased their sexual arousal." Taken from "Clinical Psychiatry News" as quoted in National Coalition on Television Violence NCTV News, April/May 1989.
Porn Videos Teach Sex Deviancy
The U S Department of Justice sent out a mailing in February of 1991 that included a report of "a 10 year-old boy who learned to have sex by watching X Rated movies was arrested on charges he raped and sodomised an 8 year-old girl and her 4 year-old sister. Medical tests showed evidence of sexual intercourse. Whoever is responsible for letting the boy see the movies [police said] should be arrested for endangering the welfare of a child."
AFF Note: Several porn videos named in a number of criminal cases are in the Howard Government's misguided new category of "Non Violent" pornography. ALL pornography, by its very nature is violent in that it violates a woman's personal, private space and thrusts it into the public arena - thereby placing ALL women (including your wife, mother or daughter) at great risk.
Playboy Typically Used to Sexually Entrap Children
John Rabun, Director of the Missing and Exploited Children's Centre in Washington DC reported to the Senate Hearings on the Effect of Pornography on Women and Children that "Playboy is typically used to sexually entrap a child." Entrapment entails showing the children "pictures progressing to something in the form or fashion of Playboy, where you had partial or full nudity going on, up until something like Penthouse or Hustler..."
Soft Porn Plays Hardball, Huntington House Publishers, Lafayette LA.
Pornography Found in 100% of Paedophile Arrests
Reporting on 1400 cases of suspected child exploitation Rabun insists that "all, that is 100% of the arrested paedophiles, child pornographers, pimps, what have you, all of these, in effect child molesters had in their possession at the time of arrest, adult pornography ranging from what is in the literature typically referred to as soft pornography such as Playboy, on up to harder, such as Hustler..."
Youth gaoled for 8 year-old girl's abduction
"An aboriginal youth who watched a pornographic video and then abducted an 8 year-old girl was gaoled for at least 9 months yesterday." The youth "snatched the sleeping girl from a welfare hostel and escaped with her under his arm." The Court was told the youth became "aroused" after seeing pornography.
West Australian, 15 May 1987.
11 Year-old Girl Victim of Pornography
"After watching X Rated videos, a teenager dared a primary schoolgirl into posing for nude photographs which he later used to blackmail her into having sex." A 19 year-old "pleaded guilty to two charges of aggravated sexual assault, including anal assault, on the girl who was 11 at the time."
West Australian 16 January 1988.
Young Woman and Her Mother Raped by Youth
"A young tribal Aboriginal raped a young woman and her mother... because his only knowledge of white women came from pornography." Judge O'Connor told the Perth Children's Court that pornography "portrayed non-Aboriginal women as eager participants in sexual acts and as objects to be used and abused by men. The youth would never have committed the particular acts had he not viewed the pornographic material." West Australian, 12 November 1994.
17 Year-old Boy Rapes Mother of Two, Judge Blames Pornography
"A 17 year-old boy who raped a mother of two at her home after watching pornographic films was sentenced yesterday." Mr Justice Cosgrove said, "He hoped the case would stand as an example to people who argued that there was no connection between pornography and rape."
West Australian, 6 February 1980.
Soft Porn Addictive and Promotes Rape Myth
"Police and child-welfare groups yesterday urged the State Government to restrict the open display of pornographic magazines that contain pictures of simulated sex and full nudity. Mr Jack Sonnemann of the Australian Federation for the Family said the unrestricted display and sale of such magazines was harmful to children. These magazines promote the myth that women want to be raped, Mr Sonnemann said. Children walking along the street see this material every day. It gives them a false image of what women are for and how they should be treated. Mr Sonnemann adds, if we have protected our children against most other addictions such as alcohol, smoking and gambling, why do we advertise and sell these images in these magazines to children?"
The Age, 15 October 1991.
Soft Porn Plays Hard Ball
Terri Rosenthal, completing an autobiography of her own incestuous abuse, reports that her brothers used soft porn magazines like Penthouse and Playboy. She warns:
"My two step-brothers showed me Playboy and Penthouse when I was about 10 years-old and they were 14 or 15 years. They first explained how pretty the women were and then insisted I take off my clothes like these ladies. I was threatened if I didn't and then was threatened after I did. They made me pose like the women in Playboy and then like the ones in other magazines, and yes, they raped me - many times." Soft Porn Plays Hard Ball, by Dr Judith Reisman.
How To Entice a Child into Sex
The prestigious U S News and World Reports magazine warns, "New York's Channel 4 News showed some footage last March of a paedophile group having a quiet chat in Midtown Manhattan. The paedophiles were all members of NAMBLA, the 1,000 member North American Man/Boy Love Association, which wants the law to allow adults to have sex with children. Unaware he was being taped, one member of the group, a public school teacher, urged another, a public school librarian, to keep his membership secret until he has tenure."
"The press ignored the spreading story of parental protests about Peter Melzer, 53, the teacher on the WNBC TV tape who advised the librarian to lie low. Melzer teaches physics and science at one of the city's elite schools, the Bronx High School of Science. He is on the NAMBLA Steering Committee and the editorial board of the NAMBLA Bulletin, which has offered advice on how to entice a child into sex ("Leave a pornographic magazine someplace where he's sure to find it")."
"Melzer, by the way, is a regular delegate to an annual international conference of paedophiles and pederasts. To the folks at NAMBLA, it's important to make sex with children look legitimate. David Finkelhor, a sex researcher at the University of New Hampshire, calls NAMBLA 'the intellectual elite of child molesting'. NAMBLA is a member of the International Lesbian and Gay Association, which has called on members to 'treat all sexual minorities with respect', including paedophiles. NAMBLA has been allowed to march in gay parades in New York and San Francisco under its own banner." US News and World reports, 11 Oct 93.
NAMBLA, arguably the world's most powerful and influential paedophile group, is strongly aligned with homosexuals and informs its members on the importance of pornography in enticing children into sex.
Concerned Australians would do well to not only restrict pornography but to also restrict homosexual access to children.
AFF Note: The International Gay and Lesbian Association was expelled from the United Nations in September of 1994 because of their refusal to sever links with paedophile groups. Research has shown homosexuals to be prodigious users of pornography and disproportionately inclined to incorporate children into their sexual practices.
Australian Penthouse prints instructions on "How to Molest Schoolgirls"
In Part II of a series entitled, "Secrets of Seduction", Australian Penthouse published "The Schoolgirl". Although they say it is just a funny story, Penthouse praises the importance of "deception" and "rat cunning" in dealing with schoolgirls. After instructing the molester to "Get a job as a school gardener" the article says, "Schoolgirls are as impressionable as a fresh pack of Playdoh" and that "you can tell a schoolgirl absolutely anything and she'll believe every word of it."
Penthouse explains what type of clothes to wear, how to impersonate a fashion photographer, how to outfit a motel room as a photo studio and how to entice a schoolgirl to it - and "today's schoolgirl prefers drugs". Included in the Penthouse schoolgirl's molesters manual are such phrases as "never, ever underestimate the naivety of a schoolgirl", "Schoolgirls are used to taking orders", "remember the golden rule when it comes to humping schoolgirls: tread carefully" and Penthouse says you can tell them, "you won't get pregnant. I've been sterilised".
"The Schoolgirl", Australian Penthouse, September 1988.
Copy Cat Crimes Follow
POLICE WARN ON ATTACKS Child Molester Fears, "... the man, posing as a school gardener, lured two nine-year-old girls to a secluded section at the rear of the playground just before class." Daily Mirror, 16 March 1990.
CHILD MOLESTER STRIKES AGAIN, "The man lured the young girl behind the grounds of Chatswood Primary School, posing as a gardener..." Sydney Morning Herald, 16 March 1990.
GIRL, 9, MOLESTED AT SCHOOL, "A trusting nine-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by a man posing as a builder in her North Shore schoolyard yesterday." Daily Telegraph, 16 March 1990.
AFF Note: Penthouse says the article is funny, they call it "humor". In a newspaper photo of murdered Victorian schoolgirl Karmein Chan, she is pictured with a beautiful smile but would no doubt have not found the article funny. The molester/abductor/murderer - Mr Cruel - has not been found but he may, like Penthouse, have found the molesters manual humorous.
Sexual Deviations Are Caused by Pornography
For years, we have saturated generations of young Aussies with increasingly pornographic depictions of women. Think back to the covers of People magazine 10 years ago and compare it to the current issue. Many youth are becoming conditioned to believe that deviant and abnormal sex acts are normal and acceptable, that vaginal sex in marriage is dull and boring and that illicit sex and abnormal sexual activity is done routinely by everyone.
In magazines like People, children have unrestricted access to advertisements and promotions for homosexual sex services, Dial-a-porn numbers, brothels, porn videos, strap-on-plastic penises, vibrating vaginas etc. An entire generation has become desensitised to deviant and, for those under 18, illegal sexual activity.
An affiliation with perverted sexual activity makes children more susceptible to molesters. When children are molested, a tragic cycle begins and they are more likely to become addicted to any number of sexual disorders or to become molesters themselves.
In "Out of the Shadows: Understanding Sexual Addiction", P J Carnes cites case studies of those addicted to sexual disorders and found that 81 per cent have experienced sexual abuse as children. A study published in "The Police Chief" (Feb 1991), the Los Angeles Police department magazine, showed over 80 per cent of molesters had been sexually abused in childhood. The legal sale/display of porn to children is far from being a trivial matter. Research proves that children are harmed, some irreparably, by premature exposure to pornographic imagery.
"The best research and scientific evidence to date suggests that all sexual deviations are learned; none are inherited. By repeated conditioning with pornography, sexual deviations have, in fact, been created in live subjects in the laboratory 100 percent of the time. If pornography validates and promotes the deviant conduct as normal and acceptable, such deviant conduct is more likely to be acted out."
Behaviour and Research Therapy, 1965, p 185.
The implications for the future are staggering. "In a recent survey of non-incarcerated paedophiles, almost 54 percent of the offenders developed their deviant sex interest before age 18, had committed an average of about 7 offences in juvenile years (mostly molestation and rape), and 380 sex offences in their lifetime."
Handbook of Sexual Assault and Treatment of the Offenders , W L Marshall (1990) and The Nature and Extent of Sexual Assault, G Abel (1990).
Soft Porn Sexualises Children
IMAGES OF CHILDREN, CRIME AND VIOLENCE IN PLAYBOY, PENTHOUSE AND HUSTLER MAGAZINES
An exhaustive US Justice Department Study of soft porn magazines found:
"Nearly 2/3 of the child scenarios were sexual and/or violent; the dominate age bracket 3 to 11 years; girls more prevalent than boys and most likely associated with adult males. Close to 1,000 sexual scenarios included children with adults; 80% of the children were actively involved in all scenes; and each magazine portrayed children as unharmed and/or benefited by adult/child sex."
A total of 6,004 child images included the following:
- 1,675 child images were associated with nudity.
- 1,225 child images were associated with genital activity.
- 989 child images were associated sexually with adults.
- 792 adults were portrayed as pseudo-children (adults dressed as children).
- 592 child images were associated with force.
- 267 child images were associated with sex with animals or objects.
- 51% of child cartoons and 46% of child photos showed children age 3-11.
- More girls than boys were associated with sexual assault.
- Almost all depictions of child sexual abuse portrayed the child as unharmed or benefited by the activity.
Official Justice Department Study #84-JN-AX-K007 available from AFF
Several issues are raised by the U S Justice Department for society's consideration:
- What role do these magazines play in making children more acceptable as objects of abuse, neglect and mistreatment, especially sexual abuse and exploitation?
- There is a distinct possibility that these images of children reduce taboos and inhibitions restraining abusive, neglectful or exploitative behaviour toward children.
- The possible trivialisation of child maltreatment in the minds of readers; and,
- The consequences of presenting sexual and violent images of children in magazines that call attention to sexual and/or violent activity.
AFF Note: When children - or adults dressed as children - are pictured in mainstream, soft porn magazines it is easier for molesters to use the pictures to entice children and breakdown their resistance. Because we have allowed the imagery to be sold and displayed in the local shops without restriction or objection, molesters more easily entice children to accept such activity as normal.
How to Restrict Smut in Your State
Each state Attorney General is responsible for this issue. If Playboy, Penthouse, Picture, People or any similar pornographic magazines are displayed to and available for sale to children in your state, contact your Attorney General, Parliament House, Your Capital City. Contact your state Premier and your own local Member of Parliament as well. Encourage your friends and family members to write. (To be more effective don't mention AFF, use own words.)
Sample letters:
Playboy magazine is available for sale to children in my state. Are you aware of this? Do you consider Playboy magazine to be suitable for children? If not will you please see to it that such pornographic magazines as Playboy are restricted to Adults Only? Please reply as all of my friends are concerned about this and are anxious to hear your response.
Playboy magazine is not a children's magazine yet it is legally sold and displayed to children in this state. Pornographic magazines like Penthouse and Playboy have been used by molesters to coerce children into sexual activity, are not intended for children and should be restricted to their intended audience - adults. Can you help me see to it that our children are protected from dangerous exposure to pornography? Please respond soon as all of my friends are interested in your reply.
I was shocked to learn that pornographic magazines are used by paedophiles to seduce children yet are legally available for sale to and access by small children. Does your government consider pornographic publications like Playboy suitable for children's access? My friends all thought that it was illegal to sell and display such smut to children yet, sadly, this is not the case. Can you help me see to it that such clearly 'AO' publications are prohibited from display and sale to children?
Sadly, you may have to write the following at the bottom of your letter. Ask them to circle one. "Yes - I will protect children from dangerous access to pornography" or "No - I will not act to protect children in my state from pornography".
AFF Note: It is imperative to keep writing letters until your State Attorney General takes their responsibility seriously by placing sensible restrictions on pornographic publications. You can include information in this submission to back up your claim that porn should be restricted. DO NOT accept the excuse that it is up to some Board or committee to place restrictions on smut - you expect your elected representatives to act responsibly and protect your family!
This is NOT a censorship proposal - this is not banning anything - this is not telling adults what they can see or read - this is simply placing sensible restrictions on "Adult Only" material to prevent children's dangerous unrestricted access.
Ideas for legislation
If a magazine contains editorial or pictorial content of a sexual nature and is clearly intended for 'Adults Only' then such a publication can only be sold to, displayed to, perused by or accessed by persons over the age of 18.
The covers of such publications shall be restricted in such a way that only the title is visible by placing in a "blinder rack" which obscures all but the top 150 mm (6 inches) of the cover page. Such publications shall also be placed on shelves at least 1.75 meters off the ground or behind the counter, out of sight of children. Similarly, opaque plastic wrapping can be used with the top 150 mm (6 inches) clear so only the title of the publication is visible.
If a publication contains promotions, advertisements or order forms for such "Adult Only" products and services as homosexual or heterosexual sex services, Dial-a-Porn numbers, porn videos (by whatever name the Howard government chooses to call them), sex aids or any similar items or services that prohibit those under 18 from ordering, then such publications can only be sold to/displayed to/accessed by or perused by adults.
The onus should be on the publishers of smut to either wrap them in opaque covers or send instructions to the retailers as to which publications should be restricted. No new government departments are necessary and no expensive measures are needed. After the new legislation determines what constitutes an "AO" publication, then the publishers of that item must either supply it with a plastic opaque wrapping or instruct the retailer to place it in a 'blinder rack'. Simple as that.
EVERY city across America already has restricted pornography in such a way and if your Attorney General lacks the intelligence to implement similar laws, have him contact us at AFF and we will supply them with samples of American laws.
AFF Note: Current community standards are OK. To ascertain current community standards ask community members if Playboy and Penthouse should be sold to children. We can easily set 'current community standards' (we have in the past) by remembering that MPs look upon 1 letter as up to 1500 people!
Porn Cited in Rape of 6 year-old
Melbourne based journalist Kate Watson reports on the connection between pornography and the increase in rape and sexual assaults. She writes:
"The shocking increase in reported rapes and sexual assaults in Victoria has sparked public debate on the effects pornography has on society. Pornography is now coming in for closer scrutiny. Retail outlets are under mounting public pressure to control the display of soft-porn publications."
"Authorities have found a strong causative link between pornography and sexual violence. Police Senior Detective Ray Morel says 'pornography has figured strongly in the rapes I have dealt with.' He said new laws to control the circulation of pornography were long overdue as research shows 'pornography produces an enhanced interest in deviant sexual behaviors.'"
Kate Watson quotes Victorian Crown Prosecutor Richard Read saying, "... the present levels of violent crime in Australia were linked to the proliferation of violent pornographic videos, porn magazines and other material." Mr Read cited "the case of a 10 year-old boy who raped a 6 year-old girl. Police found a box of pornographic magazines and videos at the boy's home which belonged to his brother. A forensic phychologist said it appeared the pornographic material had been a significant contributing factor in the boy's offences."
Prosecutor Richard Read concludes, "People are frightened to do something that might increase censorship and get them tagged as wowsers because we live in a free society where anything goes. How many girls raped or murdered do we have to have before we tighten things up?"
The article quotes a Melbourne senior pastor echoing senior police and Crown prosecutors by saying he was "concerned about children having easy access to pornography in newsagencies and convenience stores. Censorship laws are far too lenient. Even soft porn should not be displayed on an open stand. It should be in a restricted area that kids do not have access to."
Nunawading Gazette, 11 Dec 1991.
AFF Note: Pastors, prosecutors, police and the public all agree that children should not have access to pornography. What's wrong with our politicians?