The Rape of the Family: Pornography In Australia

Prepared by Jack Sonnemann for the Australian Federation for the Family, invitational submission delivered to: Lyons Forum, Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices, Brisbane, 16 May 1994 and: Crime Prevention Committee, Parliament House, Melbourne, 23 May 1994.

PORNOGRAPHY AND RAPE: The Proven Link

Dr Don Thompson, consultant to the Australian Law Reform Commission, Fellow of the Australian Psychology Society, Victorian Barrister and Chairman of Forensic Psychology at Monash University in an address to the Victorian Criminal Justice Symposium on 16 March 1991 stated, "The conclusion 1 draw from the findings of the different lines of research is that pornography is causally related to sexually violent behaviour." (emphasis added)

Victorian Crown Prosecutor Richard Read who deals regularly with cases involving pornography and violent sex crimes insists "There definitely is a very clear link between the two". [Sun Herald 22 Dec 91] (emphasis added)

U S Department of Justice National Task Force on Child Exploitation and Pornography created press release 21 Feb 1987 stated that connections between pornography and violent sex related crimes, including rape of women and molestation of children have been proved by scientific research and hard data. The connections between pornography and rape are no longer supposition.

Northern Territory Supreme Court Justice Sir William Kearney says, "People who think there is no connection between pornography and the violent and bizarre crimes that come before the courts ought to do the case studies." [NT News 1 June 1989]

Mr Justice Cosgrove in sentencing a young rapist in Burnie Criminal Court said "he hoped the case would stand as an example to those people who claimed there was no connection between pornography and rape." [Sun Herald 22 Dec 1991]

Australian Family Physician Magazine [Vol 21 No 6 June 921 in an editorial entitled Serial Killers and Sexual Violence, warns doctors across Australia to watch out for patients who, like Strathfield massacre perpetrator Wade Frankum, are regular buyers of "pornographic magazines - Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler, among others."

The Canadian Fraser Committee on Pornography and Prostitution studied the impact of violent and non violent pornography.  Their startling finding was that when it came to forcing women into unwanted sex acts "commonly available, non violent pornography had a substantially greater impact than violent pornography." [Pornography: Research Advances & Policy Considerations, p 147-151, Lawrence Earlbaum Assoc, Hillsdale NJ, 1989]

Dr John Lyons and David Larson, MD, published A Systematic Analysis of the Social Science Research on the Effects of Violent and Non Violent Pornography in 1992. They reviewed 81 research studies from 1971 to the present which had previously been published in peer reviewed scientific journals and included most, if not all, of the important studies in the field of audio or visual pornography.  Their professional analysis concluded, "Systematic research results suggest that exposure to pornography does have an Important causal impact."

Drs Lyon and Larson also found that studies of non violent pornography also show harmful effects. "Non violent pornography contributes to aggressive and callous attitudes and behaviour towards women."  A Systematic Analysis...

Detective Senior Constable Brad Hafner says in eight years work with the Juvenile Aid Bureau every sexual offender he had charged had used pornography as a stimulant to crime. "Pornography is the recurring factor and in every major sexual investigation, pornography has been an issue." [Cairns Post, 1 August 1990]

International scientific magazine, New Scientist, 5 May 1990, has a graph showing South Australia with 5 times the rape rate of Queensland.  The massive increase in rape is attributed to the liberalising of pornography laws in South Australia.

Pornography and Rape in American States, by Baron and Strauss at the University of New Hampshire in 1984, reported "every increase in 2% in the circulation of pornography was linked to a 1 % increase in the incidence of rape reports."

The US Attorney General in 1986 found that Alaska and Nevada, with 5 times the porn sales of South Dakota, also had 6 times the rape rate.  These were socalled soft porn magazines like Playboy and Penthouse. U S Dept of Justice, Final Report, Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, July 1986.

Lt Darrell Pope, Commanding Officer of the Michigan State Police Sex Crime Unit reports that out of 48,000 sex offenders, 42% were found to have pornography in their possession at the time of their offense or had used it just prior to the oftense.  "There is no doubt in my mind but that pornography does have a DIRECT EFFECT on sex offenders. (emphasis in original) I have interviewed several hundreds of sex offenders who indicated to me that they did frequent porno stores and that it did 'give them ideas'."  Testimony before US Select Committee on Children, Youth and Family, Hearing on Women, Violence and the Law, 16/9/87 and documented in personal correspondence 17 February 1989.

CHILDREN AT RISK

Australian Playboy and Penthouse legally use 16 year old girls as centrefolds.  People magazine actually had a cover story bragging about nude photos of a 15 year old! In America all of the above instances would land the pornographers in jail.  The legal age to appear in pornographic publications in the US is 18 and there are moves to raise that age to 21.  Here in Australia we allow the smut industry to take our young 16 year old girls, strip them naked, spread their legs for their cameras and photograph them in such a lewd way at the vulnerable age of 16!

Not only do we allow our 16 year old girls to be so horribly exploited but we even have what is known as "child magnets" placed in the porno publications. Material that is both catering to and attracting a juvenile audience.

Picture magazine of 20 Feb 1991 not only has the pseudo child image of a schoolgirl stripper but contains several pages of hard core pornography, sex service ads, and 'adult only' products and services. The back cover is a full page Sesame Street ad with colourful pictures of Big Bird, Bert & Ernie, Cookie Monster and other popular children's cartoon characters.  Who is this ad targeting, children or adults?

People magazine of 18 Sept 1991 not only has an objectionable picture on its cover but, along with numerous pages of 'AO' products and services, includes a pornographic 6 page, full colour, glossy X Rated video catalogue as an insert.  The back cover of this issue was a full page Disney advertisement containing full colour Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and other Disney characters.

People magazine of 18 Nov 1992 not only has a "Shocking Sealed Section" but also contains multiple pages of pornographic photos, Dial A Porn numbers, ads for strap on plastic penises, X Rated video ads and homosexual sex services.  The back cover of this issue is a full page ad for Dr Seuss books.  Full colour pictures of the Cat in the Hat and other popular Dr Seuss characters are pictured.

Dr Marianne Wamboldt, a psychiatrist formerly with the US Dept of Health and Human Services Section on Comparative Studies of Brain and Behaviour, sounds a cogent warning on 'child magnets' and 'pseudo child imagery'.  Dr Wamboldt says,

"One possible dangerous effect of these pictures is that they disinhibit the prohibition, making less secure people more aware of inappropriate sexual feelings and more confused about what to do about them.  Of particular concern is the relationship of step parent to step child, particularly stepfathers and stepdaughters.  To have media present scenes of child seduction may make it more difficult for men to consciously suppress their feelings. "

'Child magnets' and images of 'Pseudo children' should be especially alarming as Australian Human Rights Commissioner Brian Burdekin says that there is an alarming 500 to 600 per cent increase in sexual abuse of young girls in families where the adult male is not the natural father.

Pornography — A Research Case for Harm

by Jack Sonnemann for the Australian Federation for the Family

Dr James Mason, former US Assistant Secretary of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, writes about the disastrous affects of pornography on children and warns, "These effects include what is called 'traumatic sexualisation' which is the result of a child being coerced into viewing and participating in a broad range of sexual experiences. This experience can produce and obsession with or aversion to, sex and intimacy."

"Clinical studies of children suffering from traumatic sexualisation show a range of pathological responses: sexual dysfunction, preoccupation with sexual activity, sleep disorders, withdrawal from other children and adults and an inclination to act out what they have seen or experienced. Convincing long and short term clinical studies demonstrate that these disorders may last a lifetime."  Pornography and Public Health, Introduction to Surgeon General's Workshop, Dec 1989.

Over 145 scientific papers published during the last 10 years on the development of sexual callousness from consuming violent and non violent pornography found:

• Rape is seen as a less serious criminal offence. Shorter sentences are recommended for a convicted rapist by both men and women.
• Most sexual practices seem more prevalent than they are.
• Callousness toward women and the sexual abuse of women increases.
• There is heightened dissatisfaction with existing sexual relationships and diminished caring for and trust in one's partner
• Evaluations of the victim's 'worthlessness' are significantly increased.
• There is an increase in callousness toward the suffering experienced by child victims  There is a self reported increase in the likelihood of forcing sexual acts on a woman  Even very brief exposure to standard pornography featuring attractive women changed the way men perceived their female sexual partners
• They significantly under appreciated their mate's sexual appeal
• They showed less affection for their mates
• Dissatisfaction with their intimate partner increased.
  
  J Weaver, 'Pornography and Men's Sexual Callousness Toward Women', Pornography: Research Advances and Policy Considerations (Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1989) pp. 95 125.

Law enforcement agencies have collected extensive data showing that people convicted of serial murders, sex crimes and child molestation often used pornography An FBI study of all serial murderers in American prisons revealed that 81% reported significant pornography consumption, making pornography one of the most common profile characteristics of serial murders and rapists.  "When the offenders were asked to rank their sexual interests, the highest ranking activity was pornography (81%), followed by compulsive masturbation (79%), fetishism (72%) and voyeurism (71%).  It is interesting to note the seemingly solitary pattern of these sexual expressions."   The Men Who Murdered, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Aug 1985, p 4.    

Pornography is "material that is predominantly sexually explicit and intended primarily for the purpose of sexual arousal".  This accurate definition was used by the 1986 US Attorney General's Commission on Pornography.  (Emphasis added)

A unanimous ruling by the Canadian Supreme Court on 27 February 1992 asserted the fact that women in Canada have more rights than pornographers in that nation. Pornography that is "degrading, subjugating or dehumanising" is now illegal.

"PORN RULING IS HISTORIC" reads the headline in the Calgary Herald of 28 Feb 92.  The article says, "A ruling on sex and pornography issued by the Supreme Court of Canada Thursday will affect women's rights across the country and around the globe.  This is a world historic case. Violence against women is not a Canadian issue, it's a global issue."  One must ask why the Australian press fails to widely report this "world historic case" dealing with this vital "global issue"?

In order to "degrade" a class of people ie; portray them as sex objects or reduce them to nothing more than vehicles to fulfil sexual gratification, violence must be used.  No class of people will willingly allow themselves to be deprived of their basic right as a human to be respected and protected by society.

A brief word about so called "Non Violent Erotica".  The word 'violent' comes from the word 'violate' which means "to do violence to".  All pornography, by its very nature, violates a woman's personal, private space.  In so doing, it places all women at risk.  Thus no pornography, by definition, can be "non violent".

"Dehumanising" pornography is now illegal in Canada.  In order to dehumanise someone they must be portrayed as an animal or a thing.  Australian pornographers frequently present pictures of naked women as if in oestrus  as if already aroused and in poses reminiscent of animal sexuality.  Human females do not experience oestrus only animals do.  Not only have we had the now famous case of the naked woman portrayed as a dog on the cover of an Australian porn magazine, but at present, all women in Australia are blatantly dehumanised in mainstream pornography by being pictured as nothing more than "bitches in heat".  This is clearly subjugation and thus unconscionable.

The violation of women's rights by "non violent pornography" and the dehumanising and subjugation of women by the multi national pornography industry is no longer tolerated in Canada.  Australian women certainly deserve the same protection as Canadian women now enjoy.

Social science has, and is, demonstrating the harmful effects of pornography.  Clinicians are having to deal with the shattered lives of pornography's addicts and victims.  Australian society, with the highest rape rate in the developed world, is reeling from a loss of its moral and sexual bearings.  Legislators in Australia owe it to the population to enact laws to better protect the basic human rights of all our citizenry.

Ten Policy Initiatives from The Australian Federation for the Family

1. An immediate lifting of the age to appear in pornography to 18. The present legal age of 16, or year 10 in school, is too young and places all 16 year olds at risk.
2. A 5 year moratorium on pseudo child imagery in pornography.
3. Cartoon characters, childhood heroes, nursery rhyme figures and other characters which particularly appeal to the unique world of childhood entertainment should no longer be permitted to appear in pornography.
4. Publications which contain advertisements for sex services, "marital aids", Dial A Porn numbers, X & R rated videos, brothels and materials of a sexual nature which can only be legally ordered by those over the age of 18 should no longer be displayed, sold or otherwise made available to Australian children under that age.
5. Publications which contain editorial content of a sexual nature and clearly intended for an Adult Only clientele should no longer be available for sale to anyone under the age of 18.
6. All pornography to be removed from and no longer sent into Federal and State prisons where sex offenders are incarcerated.
7. Sex offender registration laws must be enacted. Child sex offenders have the largest recidivist rates of all crimes. In order to better protect Australian children, an accurate police register must be kept of the whereabouts of sex offenders.
8. In order to stop the flagrant violation of each of the State's laws in Australia the availability of X Rated videos across State lines through the post must be stopped. If the Constitution guaranteed total free trade between the States, which it does not, opium poppies could be ordered from Tasmania by those in the mainland states, diesel fuel could be bulk purchased in NSW and sold in the ACT and truckloads of cigarettes could be purchased in Queensland and sold in the southern States, Oust to name a few examples of restricted trade between the states).
9. Nude or semi nude pictures, objectionable depictions of the human form (such as in Canada) on magazine covers, video covers, record album covers and other media generally available to the public at large to be placed in such a way as to not be openly displayed by those who would be offended or disturbed by such depictions. Either in "blinder racks" where only the title of the item is visible or behind the counter where one has to ask for the item by name or in a restricted access area not visible or accessible by children. If in a "blinder rack" some height restriction must apply, say 1.75 metres, so as to stop such material from being easily perused by children.
10. Enact a law in each State that requires all police agencies within the State to keep records when sex offenders are arrested providing a space for the arresting officer to cheek as to whether pornography was involved in the sex offence.

AUSTRALIA: THE WORLD'S MOST SEXUALLY VIOLENT NATION

PORNOGRAPHY IS THE THEORY, RAPE IS THE PRACTICE

CRIMINAL VICTIMISATION IN THE INDUSTRIALISED WORLD published by the Dutch Ministry of Justice in the Hague in 1993 found that Australia had the highest levels of sex attacks in the industrialised world.

WITHOUT CONSENT, screened on ABC television on 16 & 23 Sept in 1992 and reported in the Sun Herald 30 Aug 92, quotes a European Community (EC) survey where it was documented that Australia was the highest country in the world for rape, indecent assault and indecent exposure.

A COMPARISON OF CRIME IN AUSTRALIA AND OTHER COUNTRIES, Australian Institute of Criminology Trends and Issues Paper no. 23, dated June '90, states that crime statistics in Australia give "a result that must surely give cause for concern to all Australians". Australia leads the world in "assaults involving force" and "sexual incidents against women".

JAPANESE WARNED OF RAPE IN AUSTRALIA headlined an article in the Australian of 31 March 1993. The story reports that the Foreign Ministry in Japan issues a rape warning to female tourists who apply for an Australian visa and says "Australia, along with New Zealand and Peru, has been ranked in an official Japanese Government survey as having the highest rate of rape in the world."

INTERNATIONAL CRIME SURVEY released by the Home Office in London in April 1994 documents how Australians are at greater risk of sexual assault than people in any other developed country.

INTERPOL CRIME STATISTICS reports that Australia is the 4th highest country in the world for overall sexual offenses. The United States is 22nd from the top.

Prepared by Jack Sonnemann for the Australian Federation for the Family

(All of the above surveys include the US, Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand and other industrialised countries)

ASSAULT ON SCHOOLGIRLS

According to the 11 Sept 91 Sydney Morning Herald, a 17 year old schoolgirl was violently assaulted in Sydney "in broad daylight on the corner of Market and Kent Sts while pedestrians and shoppers walked around her."

The Schoolgirl was part II in the "Secrets of Seduction" series in Sept 88 Australian Penthouse.  This 3 page child molesters manual included such instructions as "Get a job as a school gardener "Every schoolgirl has a secret Lady Chatterley fantasy." "... you can tell a schoolgirl absolutely anything and she'll believe every word of it."  "...never, ever underestimate the naivety of a schoolgirl."  Penthouse includes instructions on how to entice a schoolgirl into a motel room.  They even state "...today's schoolgirl prefers drugs...".

"MAN ATTACKS SCHOOLGIRL" screams the headline of The Sunshine Coast Daily, 14 Nov 1989.

"POLICE WARN ON ATTACKS: CHILD MOLESTER FEARS” "In the latest attack the man, posing as a school gardener, lured two nine year olds to a secluded section..." Daily Mirror 16 March 90.

"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.

The police have to deal with "copycat crimes".  The molesters read about or see schoolgirls pictured in porn magazines, get their ideas and carry them out.

SCHOOLGIRL STRIPPER cover story of PICTURE magazine, 20 Feb 1991.  Inside a schoolgirl is pictured in her uniform with her books walking to school.  After school she is shown as a stripper with topless photos of the same girl.  She is not a schoolgirl but a grown women masquerading as a schoolgirl.  This is know as a "pseudo child image" and places all schoolgirls at great risk.

People magazine of 12 Feb 1992 has a photo essay entitled "Schoolgirl's Class Act" which includes pornographic photos of schoolgirls including one picture with a professor or male teacher pulling down a schoolgirl's panties on his lap.

Bikie magazine, Born to Die (undated Issue Number 3) has a cover story entitled, "SPECIAL!! Schoolgirls Rock Allbury!!" and includes several pages of porno photos of schoolgirls in uniform doing things sexually with a motorcycle gang.

The Australian Federation for the Family is calling for a voluntary 5 year moratorium on "pseudo child imagery" and "child magnets" in pornographic publications.  An accurate record during this period should show the cases of child molestation and schoolgirl rapes dropping considerably.

Through computerised literature searches and personal conversations with recognised authorities, Dr John Lyons and David Larson, MD, identified 152 empirical studies on the effects of pornography from 1971 to the present.  As a form of quality control, they used only peer reviewed studies, but these included most of the important studies in the field.  Thus, the final analysis was based on eighty one research studies of audio or visual pornographic materials, all of which had previously been published in peer reviewed scientific journals.

The studies were classified into three categories of results based on evidence of effects on arousal, attitudes or behaviour.  The conclusion: Systematic research results suggest that exposure to pornography does have important causal impact. The majority of studies found a causal association between exposure to pornography and both aggression towards women and the development of rape myth attitudes and beliefs. This means that pornographic material not only arouses sexually, as it was designed to do, it arouses to the point that it changes attitudes and beliefs and causes more aggressive behaviour. The causal impact was particularly pronounced for exposure to violent pornography. (Emphasis added)

According to Drs. Lyons and Larson, the most surprising finding was that there were any adverse effects of pornography given the serious restrictions on pornography research.  Experimental laboratory studies:

1. Cannot ethically study subjects most likely at risk from harmful effects of pornography such as children, teenagers, sexual deviants and psychologically unstable individuals;
2. most often used soft core or erotica rather than hard core and violent pornography, which may have produced more adverse effects;
3. did not study the cumulative effect of heavy exposure to visual pornography over long periods of time (Dr Lyons states that it 'would be reasonable to propose that if there are effects of a little exposure there should be bigger effects with more exposure); and
4. did not study the effect of hard core pornography consumption compared with masturbation, which is often the real life practice.

J Lyons and D Larson 'A Systematic Analysis for the social Science Research on the Effects of Violent and Non Violent Pornography' (published in 1992) (Paper delivered to the National Family Foundation Media Workshop, Pittsburgh, PA Nov 1990).

According to the US Department of Justice, law enforcement statistics have reported that 'pornography's clientele have a frightening, but not surprising, degree of overlap with the police blotter's list of sex criminals and violent assaults'.  National Law Centre for Children and Families Fact Sheet on Harms of Pornography (Alexandria, Virginia 1992)

"Connections between pornography and violent sex related crimes, including rape of women and molestation of children have been proved by scientific research and hard data.  They are no longer supposition."  (Emphasis added) US Dept. of Justice Press Release (Feb 21, 1987).  National Task Force on Child Exploitation and Pornography Created

A study by Dr James Check, undertaken in 1984 for the Canadian Frazer Committee on Pornography and Prostitution is a most significant study in that it compares the impact of violent and nonviolent pornography.  It is the only study that makes a direct comparison after prolonged consumption.  Three classes of pornography were shown to samples of male students and nonstudents for three 30 minute sessions within one or two weeks.  Four or five days later, the subjects were tested.

The studies showed that commonly available, non violent, mainstream hard core pornography and violent pornography had exactly the same effect on men's inclination to commit rape.  The both significantly elevated a man's likelihood of committing rape.  When it came to the inclination to force women into unwanted sex acts, commonly available non violent pornography had a substantially greater impact than violent pornography.  While the effect of the ideal pornography (material used in sex education without offensive elements) was not as great, it was clearly in the same direction.  This study also revealed that men who score high in terms of psychoticism were most influenced by both common and violent pornography.  Also already regular consumers were more strongly affected than those who were not.  Subjects who viewed sexually explicit videos or films at least once per month (relative to those who rarely viewed such materials) were more accepting of rape myths and violence against women, more likely to endorse adversarial sex beliefs and more likely to report that they would rape and force women into unwanted sex acts and were more sexually callous.  Regular watchers were particularly likely to report that they might rape, were more sexually callous and reported engaging in more acts of sexual aggression.  The greatest effect, and perhaps the greatest cause for alarm, was in response to commonly available, nonviolent pornography, the type most prevalent In mainstream commercial entertainment videos. (Emphasis added).

D Zillmann, 'Effects of Prolonged Consumption of Pornography,' D Zillmann and J Bryant (eds) Pornography: Research Advances and Policy Considerations (Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1989) 147-151.

Even critics of the US Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, Linz, Donnerstein and Penrod found in their 1987 studies that: "The 1986 Commission maintained that there was a causal relationship between exposure to sexually violent pornography and negative changes in certain attitudes towards and preconceptions of women as well as increased aggression towards women. This is an accurate statement Donnerstein, El, Linz,D and Penrod. S., The Question of Pornography: Research Findings and Policy Implications. (New York:Free Press, 1987)

Research indicates that if factors sometimes present in real life pornography consumption - months or years of prolonged exposure for teenagers and sexually deviant makes or consumption of hard core pornography accompanied by masturbation   the negative impact would be even greater.

SEX CRIMES AND PORNOGRAPHY: THE LINK

The Australian Federal Police in Canberra document an alarming increase of almost 200% in sex crimes in the Australian Capital Territory.  They report, "Sexual assault in the ACT has nearly tripled in the past year [1992] and other crimes risen significantly...". [1]

The report found that incest (up 20 fold!), sexual assault (nearly tripled), and cases of abduction with "sexual intent" all increased dramatically in the ACT, yet homicides remained the same and other non sexual crimes such as burglary and motor vehicle thefts increased very little.

ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Ken Crispin reports in 1993 that "Australia's national capital has recorded a startling increase in crime over the past 12 months.  The most disturbing was the dramatic increase in the prosecution rate for sexual offences."[2]  Mr Crispin reports that criminal prosecutions had increased 46% yet sex offence prosecutions had more than doubled for a massive increase of 137%.

The first nationwide survey of crime completed by The Australian Bureau of Statistics in 1994 found that although "rates of non sexual assault fell" across Australia and overall sexual assaults had "remained stable", the ACT still leads the nation in the numbers of sexual assaults against women. [3]

The ACT pornography industry's paid apologists insist that there is no link between their product and the enormous rate of sexual assault in the ACT, which has the highest sex assault rate in Australia.  A look at Australian and world wide statistics will show how foolish it is to think pornography is not linked to rape.

Inspector Sprague, in charge of Victoria's Spectrum Task Force investigating the 'Mr Cruel' serial sex murders says he is convinced "there is a strong link between porn and the amount of sex crimes we get."

Swedish Rape Data — Sweden reports a 34.9% increase in "rape" from 1986 to 1990; a 28.8% increase in "offences against morals" and a 45.7% increase in "offences against family" not explained by Sweden's .4% growth in population.  Also, Swedish "assaults not resulting in death" escalated 24% while offences "against life and health" increased 23.3% during that 4 year period.

Of the 1,332 victims in 1988, the Swedish authorities convicted only 159 men of "rape and aggravated rape".  So, 88 of the accused rapists went free for every 12 who got a sentence.  In 1990, over 87% of all accused rapists in Sweden went free with less than 13% of them convicted.[4]  In post-pornography Sweden, institutional disregard for rape victims, women's lack of power and the acceptance of rape as a way of life seems to now be acceptable.  Incest is now so prevalent that Sweden has had to initiate a national telephone "hot line" for incest victims.[5]

Netherlands Rape Data — The Journal of Homosexuality (1990), commenting on the "sexual tolerance" of the Dutch penal system, brings several important items to the readers attention.  It is reported that "... a high percentage of [sex crime] cases are not prosecuted and the punishments are relatively light.  Judges and prosecutors are not elected and juries do not exist ... The Netherlands is not flooded with the kind of gutter press that so effectively helped eradicate Tom O'Carroll's PIE [Pedophile Information Exchange - where to locate children for sex] in Britain."[6]

The Dutch people, especially women and children, appear to have little voice in their justice system with few rapes of women and children prosecuted and even fewer penalised.  Pushing for a removal of all age of consent laws and citing the "sharp decline of the number of convictions for sex below the age of consent (16)" and the "relatively mild prosecution" for pedophilia,[7] the Journal of Homosexuality seems obsessed with the idea of promoting sex with Dutch children.  Australian pornographers would seem to be following this same line of thinking as they routinely portray Australian children as sexually accessible and available.[8]

Danish Rape Data — The most recent data available from Denmark indentifies the changes in sex crimes from 1987 to 1988. Total sex crime reports increased by 17% with incest increasing 33.6%.  Rape is reported as 3.8% higher and "offences against decency" were up 20.7%.[9]

The Brussels Tribunal on the Exploitation of Women warned in 1976 that changing the porn laws in Denmark would increase rape. They said:

"One of the strongest arguments for changing the law was that women would not be raped as much as they had been before.  But that is a big lie.  With the legalisation of porn it is also legal to regard women as sex objects, to rape and accost according to need, because pornography ideologically establishes that a woman's innermost wish is to subject herself to man."[10]

USA Rape Data — The most recent Justice Department survey of crime victims in the US finds "an estimated 59% surge in rapes".[11]  The FBI Uniform Crime Rate(USA) finds a 25.1% increase in men arrested for 'forcible rape' between 1981 to 1990.
    
Just as the tobacco industry continues to insist that there is no proven link between their product and disease, the porn industry continues to further the lie that there is no harm associated with their product.

Former Director of Research for the Australian Institute of Criminology, Prof Paul Wilson, frequent contributor to Australian Penthouse magazine,[12] continues to cast doubt on the proven rape/porn link.  In Feb 1993 Australian Penthouse, in an article entitled "The Pornography Myth", Paul Wilson attempts to deny a much publicised report that police records were kept by the Michigan State Police Dept linking pornography with sex crimes.

Paul Wilson's article says no such report exists and states that the Michigan Police had found no causal link between sexually explicit material and sex crimes.

Lt Darrell Pope was the Commanding Officer of the Michigan State Police unit that was required by law to record whether pornography was involved in sex offences.  The Michigan State Police compiled a total file of 48,000 reports from 1956 to 1981 and Darrell Pope says, "I could tell you case history after case history which would support my findings.  There is no doubt in my mind that pornography does have a DIRECT EFFECT on sex offenders."[13] (emphasis in original)

Paul Wilson should be seriously questioned about his research protocol.

A review of his book A Life of Crime, contains some interesting observations about Prof Wilson.  Clarence Osbome, a homosexual child molester who had sex 1. with some 2500 adolescent boys over a 20 year period" came to see Wilson. "His collection of material included hundreds of photos`* and Wilson says "he had come to see me because of my reputation as a civil libertarian and because he was sure I would respect his rights to privacy." [14]         

Paul Wilson should be asked about the rights of the adolescent boys who were being molested.  In the US (I'm not sure about Australia but 1 would imagine the same is true) it is illegal to know of a felony being committed, such as the sexual report it to the police. molestation of adolescent boys, and not report it to the police.

Paul Wilson says Osborne "was guilty of having homosexual relations with minors.  But was he a monster ... ?"[15]  Remember. sexually molesting over 2,500 adolescent boys for 20 years and Paul Wilson asks was he a monster?

Another book by Paul Wilson says that children should have the "right to sexual freedom", advocates abolishing "any age of consent in sexual relations" and insists that given proper instruction "children should have the right to conduct their sexual lives with no more restrictions than adults…” [16]

While delivering the 1992 Dr Graham Dick memorial lecture at the University of Tasmania, Paul Wilson was asked if X Rated videos led to an increase in sex crimes.  In direct opposition to the overwhelming scientific evidence, Wilson is quoted as saying, "I don't think there's any evidence of that whatsoever."[17]  One can see why it might be advisable to question the research capabilities of someone like Professor Paul Wilson.

Another prominent pornography promoter is Professor B. Kutchinsky, whose work is routinely quoted by Paul Wilson and other professional pom apologists.

Paul Wilson quotes Dr Kutchinsky as saying that "he found that large decreases in child molestation could be directly attributed to the availability of hard core pornography" in Denmark.[18]  Kutchinsky also denies the increase in Copenhagen's rape rate after porn was liberalised.  Kutchinsky's methods have been compared to the "science" of phrenology where one measures the size of the bumps on one's head to determine one's intelligence.

Soon after his "findings", researchers began to question Kutchinsky's data.  Victor Bachy of the University of Louvan in Belgium, among others, found that serious crimes such as rape and attempted rape had indeed increased.  The correct data disproved Kutchinsky's "findings".[19]  In fact, "Some of the more serious types of sex crimes such as rape... increased in number and rate following the legalization of pornography in Denmark."[20]

Even greater doubt was cast upon Kutchinsky's "findings" when he was forced to acknowledge that "there were unofficial changes in the handling by police of those sex crimes that remained, which also reduced their 'reported' incidence, further distorting the problem or illusion of decreased sex offences."[21]

A problem occurs whenever activities are made legal which, in the past, have been illegal.  If it is no longer legally required to report cases of rape, depending upon the degree of viciousness; or child sexual molestation depending upon the age of the child; or if it is no Ion er illegal to have sex with a 13 year old; etc, etc; reports of these crimes which are no longer crimes will diminish considerably.

Also whenever criminal activities are placed onto or removed from "major crime" lists, they are then categorised as more important or less important.  In some cases, the police are forbidden to allocate sufficient manpower and resources to effectively act against a particular criminal activity commensurate with its location on the "major crime" index.

The Kirner ALP govt in Victoria removed "sexual penetration of children" from the major crime index in 1990.[22]  A serious study should be undertaken to determine how sex crimes against children in Victoria have been affected.

Hon Dr Marlene Goldsmith, MLC, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Social Issues for the NSW Govt says, "The argument that research does not show pornography to be harmful will no longer wash."  Dr Goldsmith found that the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics reports a 90.6% increase in the level of rape from 1975-91, a time during which pornography has become increasingly available.  She also found that the US saw sex related murders rise 160% between 1976 and 1984 (when porn was also increasingly available) at a time when the overall homicide rate declined.[23]

World wide scientific data shows a clear link between pornography and criminal sexual assault.  Likewise, evidence suggests that whenever restrictions are placed on pornography, a corresponding decrease in crime and violence against women and children will occur.

When restrictions were placed upon the sale and display of pornography in Hawaii in 1974, the rape rate fell for the following three years.  According to the United States Department of Justice, when the restrictions were lifted the rape rate immediately increased.[24]  Oklahoma City, in 1985, closed all their "adult only" porn stores and a 25% decrease in rape occurred over the next 5 years.  The rest of the State of Oklahoma did not close their "adult only" pornography outlets and experienced an increase in rapes.[25]

Well respected, international science magazine, The New Scientist, in a cover story entitled THE P~ OF PORNOGRAPHY, says that Australia has "unwittingly conducted an interesting experiment on the effect of pornography.  Queensland, the most conservative state, has maintained the strictest controls on pornography and has a comparatively low rate of rape reports.  By contrast, South Australia, the most liberal state in relation to pornography, has seen escalating reports of rape since the early 1970s."[26]

The article includes a graph which shows South Australia experiencing 5 times the rape rate of Queensland because of pornography.  That is now all changing.

Queensland, thanks largely to the present ALP govt, has seen a massive increase in rape, almost as big an increase as the ACT. The Goss govt, in denying that the residents of his state, especially the women and children, deserve to be protected from the violation of pornography, continues to allow so called 'soft' pornographic publications such as Playboy, Penthouse, People etc to be freely displayed to children and sold across the Sunshine State.  His 'gay law reform' has resulted in an astronomical increase in prostitution, "More than 100 male prostitutes are working on the Gold Coast - less than two months after the State Government introduced laws to decriminalise homosexuality." [27]

Homosexual or heterosexual prostitution, pornography, and other so called "victimless" criminal activities breed violence, crime, drug abuse and disease.  It is usually the women and children in society who are victimised.

Lawmakers must begin to realise that the decisions they make today will effect future generations.  Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett says he will take no action against Melbourne's new strip clubs which feature nude table dancers because they are "mature adults ... there voluntarily. "[28]  One is forced to ask if he, as Premier, takes the same attitude to "mature adults" who "voluntarily" inject drugs into their veins or to "mature adults" who "voluntarily" decide to engage in insider stock trading.

Detective Inspector David Jeffries; with the Juvenile Aid Bureau in Brisbane is on record as saying "The molesters often use readily available, soft core material to entice little children and break down their resistance."  We have allowed 'soft' pornography to masquerade as normal for so long in the family marketplace that an entire generation of young Australians have embraced the pornographers view of women as normal.

The professional pornographers and their highly paid apologists are able to defend their position very articulately but with little basis in fact.  Their material is patently offensive, horribly degrading, progressively addictive [29] (like any other addiction the user must get a bigger 'fix' in order to obtain the desired result) and totally dehumanising.  As long as society listens to those who advocate the "no harm view" of pornography, society will continue to suffer.

Children in Australia are protected from other addictions such as gambling, nicotine and alcohol but at present they enjoy inadequate protection from the addiction of pornography.  It is past time for someone to defend the children.

The Australian Federation for the Family has outlined 10 Policy Initiatives [30] to implement if a decrease in sex crimes is deemed desirable.  These policy initiatives have been formally presented to a forum of federal Coalition Senators and MPs and we stand prepared to work with any political party to help defend the family against the ravages of pornography.  Additional work will doubtless be necessary however significant headway will be made when these simple policy initiatives are enacted.

The Victorian Government is to be commended for convening this Crime Prevention Committee.  As stated in your documents reported rape in Victoria has increased almost 8%.[31]  Why is the ACT Legislative Assembly so seemingly unconcerned by their documented rape increase of almost 200%?

The Australian public deserve answers to this and several other questions.  The ACT has the highest rate of sexual assault in Australia [32] and since it has been proven that "pornography is causally related to sexually violent behaviour"[33]  Why has no similar investigation been initiated in the ACT?

Canberra is the home of the video porn industry in Australia.  In relation to criminal sexual assault and forcing women into unwanted sex acts "commonly available, non violent pornography had a substantially greater impact than violent pornography."[34]  Why do the ACT politicians continue to ignore the massive weight of scientific evidence linking so called "non violent pornography" with rape?

Australians are at greater risk of sexual assault than people in any other developed country.[35]  Why has the porn industry been given sanctuary in the ACT?  Their X-Rated videos have not only been forbidden by law to be sold, hired or distributed in any state in Australia but they have also been inextricably linked with sex assault.

Does any connection exist between Australia's professional pornography apologists and the porn industry?  Has their research and evidence been tainted in any way by a questionable association with the pornographers?  These questions continue to linger and would cast doubt upon the integrity of any industry.

Questions must also be asked about the desensitising effect pornography has had on the members of the Commonwealth Office of Film and Literature Classification. Australia's Chief Censor, Mr John Dickie, is exhibiting evidence of serious desensitisation.  A brief look at material that has been approved by him as "unrestricted" indicates that either Mr Dickie has suffered massive psychological desensitisation from repeated exposure to violent and pornographic imagery or, the official board that determines what all of us can see, hear and read are derelict in their duty, if their duty is to protect (censor) the public from harmful material.

According to Mr Dickie, "While sex and coarse language fades quickly from memory, violence lingers."[36] Dr Judith Reisman, PhD, director of The Institute for Media Education in the US warns us about John Dickie's ridiculous remark.

"Such a remark, representing the board or its leadership, is manifestly unscientific, unprofessional and dangerous, considering the knowledge required by those censoring the nation's media.  FACT: sex and coarse language do not "fade quickly" from memory.  On the contrary, memory is 'coarsened' by continued exposure to coarse language and sexual stimuli.  Memory permanently files all high stimuli experience.  Barring neurological impairment, sex is a high stimuli experience.  Anything which shocks or is vividly new will excite the emotions and will be filed in memory.  It is precisely the memory acquisition process which eventually desensitises receivers regarding what is coarse or sexual.  By definition, Mr Dickie and the board are desensitised to sexual or coarse stimuli due to exposure."[37]

Tasmanian Publications Classification Board Chairman, Mr John Upcher, also gives cause for great concern.  In denying the necessity to protect his board members from the harm caused by repeated exposure to violent and pornographic imagery, Mr Upcher says, "I am confident that members of the board are intelligent enough to protect themselves..."[38]  One would wonder if Mr Upcher considers his fellow board members intelligent enough to ignore the laws of gravity as well.

The Tasmanian Classification of Publications Act reads that if a publication "describes, depicts, expresses or otherwise deals with matters of sex..." then such a publication must, by law, be restricted.[39]  The Tasmanian Publications Classification Board refuses to restrict the American version of Playboy magazine.  Have Mr Upcher and his board become so desensitised by pornography that they cannot see that Playboy magazine "describes, depicts, expresses or otherwise deals with matters of sex", or is there some other reason for them to defend Playboy?

Mr Dickie's statement as Chief Commonwealth Censor that "sex fades quickly from memory" and Mr Upcher's failure as Tasmania's Classification Board Chairman to restrict Playboy and their apparent ignorance of the harm caused by repeatedly viewing violent and pornographic imagery stand as classic examples of the urgent need for additional safeguards to be implemented for the good of all Australian families.

Term limits should be immediately introduced and greater care taken to protect our nation's censors from further neurological impairment.  Questions must be asked.

How long have our board members been repeatedly exposed to violent and pornographic imagery?  As Tasmanian Board members take no protective measures to guard against psychological desensitisation, what steps, if any, are taken by the Commonwealth Board and any other state boards?  What process is used to reverse the proven effect of the desensitisation [40] that existing board members have assuredly undergone?  Are these board members academically or scientifically qualified for their important positions or are they political appointments?

These and other questions remain to be answered.

However, the Victorian Government can further the protection afforded to all of its inhabitants by continuing with the legislative measures begun by Hon Jan Wade when she was Shadow Attorney General.[41]  Now, as Attorney General, she has passed her Bill through both Houses of Victorian parliament to ensure "that publications which are unsuitable for children could not be displayed in areas open to children."[42]

Although Mrs Wade was blocked by the Kirner ALP govt in her first attempt to place sensible restrictions on objectionable pornographic material [43] she has now succeeded in removing pornography from children's access in Victoria and is to be greatly commended for her responsible legislative move.

The parliaments of Western Australia, Tasmania, and New South Wales have joined Victoria by introducing various pieces of legislation that mandate simple restrictions on so called "soft porn" magazines.  These magazines will no longer be placed in the same category as Mickey Mouse comic books.  Children and those who are offended by the blatant promotion of the degradation of women by having pornographic magazines displayed openly will now be protected.

Many of Australia's leading jurists have joined the nationwide protest against pornography.[44]

The pornographers argue that their material has no impact on anyone.  They are expecting us to believe that what people see has no bearing on attitude or behaviour.  Why do the television stations charge so much for TV advertising?  Better yet, why do the advertisers pay so much for it?  The reason is what we all intuit: what we see influences what we do, even if we only see it for a fraction of a second.

The nation of Australia has the highest sexual assault rate in the world.[45]  The ACT, our nation's capital, has the highest sexual assault rate in Australia.[46]  Australia's pornography industry in headquartered in the ACT.  There is a well documented, proven scientific link between pornography and crime and violence against women and children.  It is also well documented that a reduction in porn equals a reduction in rape.  It doesn't take a genius to see the connection.

As the influence of the international pornography industry is diminished - as we are no longer forced to undergo psychological desensitisation through unwanted exposure to blatantly pornographic displays - as the numbers of rapes and criminal sexual assaults of women and children decrease - as we enjoy the freedom to shop in the family marketplace without pornography being thrust upon us - as our civil rights to not view pornography are protected - as Victoria continues to take the lead in this 'winnable war' to protect the basic human rights of its citizenry - all of Australia will be better off.

Perhaps then we can take the small children of Australia by the hand and lead them into a future filled with hope instead of a future filled with the ever increasing perversions of the pornographers.

Prepared by Jack Sonnemann for the Australian Federation for the Family Presented to the Crime Prevention Committee, Victorian Parliament, 23 May 1994

Footnotes

1. Australian Federal Police Annual Report 1991 1992, Canberra Times, 25 Nov 92. 1
2. Annual Report of the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions, 1992 1993, Gold Coast Bulletin, 19 Sept 93
3. Australian Bureau of Statistics 10 year survey of more than 52,000 people, Weekend Australian 30 Apr 11 May 94
4. Statistical Yearbook of Sweden 1992
5. "R" and "X" Rated Materials and the Harm Factor, by Dr J Reisman PhD, presented to the Australian Senate Select Committee on Community Standards Relevant to the supply of services Utililizing Telecommunications Technologies, 7 April 1992.
6. male intergenerational Intimacy. published in the Journal of m Homo sexuality (1990) New York, Harrington Park, as quoted in "R" and "X" Rat Materials and the Ha  Factor,
7. Ibid
8. See Assault on Schoolgirls, documenting "pseudo child" imagery in mainline Australian pornographic magazines, published in Pornography   A Research Case for Harm submitted to Lyons, Forum, Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices, Brisbane 16 May 1994, for a more detailed analysis of children depicted in mainstream pornography see 1% es of Children Crime and Violence in Play y, Penthouse and Hustler. United States Department of Justice , Project No 84 JN AX K007 published in Nov 1987. Summary available in Australia through the Australian Federation for the Family, PO Box 106, Canterbury, Victoria 3126.
9. Statistical Yearbook of Denmark 1988
10. Crimes Against Women, D Russell, MS Magazine 1977
11. Washington Post 20 April 1992.
12. Articles by ‘criminologist and author'. Paul R Wilson have appeared in May 1990, June 1990 and February 1993 issues of Australian Penthouse. These articles were brought to our attention, there could be many, many more.
13. Personal correspondence from former It Darrell Pope. Complete copy of his letter is attached to this submission.
14. Courier Mail 25 August 1990
15. Ibid
16. The Man They Called A Monster by Prof Paul Wilson.
17. Townsville Bulletin, 8 October 92.
18. Does Pornography Cause Crime! published in Free Speech, Vol 1, No. 2 by the Free Speech Committee, pp 5,6.
19. Flesh and Blood, published in the New Scientist, 5 May 1990, pp 19   23.
20. International Journal of Criminology and Penology, Vol. 5, 1977, pp 129   157.
21. Toward an Explanation of the Decrease in Registered Sex Crimes in Copenhagen, Published in the Technology Report of the Commission of Obscenity and Pornography, Vol VII Washington DC, US Govt Printing Office, 1971.
22. Victorian Parli ament mouse of Assembly Mansard, 20 September 1990, there has been a change in the way the statistics are gathered and prepared. For instance, so-called crimes that are regarded as major crimes... are no Longer categorised by the government as such. Even more offensive is the fact that sexual penetrati on of a chitd is no l onger regarded by the government as a major cri me." Pat McNamara. Leader of the National Party, p 19.
23. Pornography and Sexual Violence, Dr Marlene Goldsmith, MLC, Quadrant, Nov 93, pp 26   31.
24. Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, Final Report, US Dept of Justice, July, 1986.
25. Oklahoma County District Attorney Robert Macy, testimony before US Senate Judiciary Committee quoted in Pornography and sexual Violence, Quadrant, Nov, 1993.
26. New Scientist. 5 May. 1990.
27. Courier Mail, 10 January, 1991.
28. Australian, 14 January, 1994.
29. Pornography’s Effects on Adults and Children, Dr Victor Cline documents addiction as the the first stage of the Four¬Factor Syndrome common to nearly all sex offenders. Published by the National Obscenity law Centre, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, USA, 1994, p 3.
30. 10 Policy initiatives from the Australian Federation for the Family, included in this submission, and originally presented to the Lyons Form, Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices, Brisbane, 16 May 1994, P. 5.
31. Victorian Police Annual Report 1992 1993.
32. Australian Bureau of Statistics, front page Weekend Australian, 30 April/1 May, 1994.
33. Dr Don Thompsom, Victorian Criminal Justice Symposium m Pornography, 16 march, 1991.
34. Fraser Commission on Pornography and Prostitution, Canada, published in Pornography: Research Advances and Policy Considerations, Lawrence Earlbaum Assoc, Hillsdale NJ 1989, m 147 151.
35. International Crime Survey, the Home, Office in London, April, 1994.
36. The Australian, 3 November, 1992.
37. X & R Rated Material s as Subversive and Heterophobic Propaganda. undermining Marriage, Family and Nation. presented by Dr J Reisman to th a Australian Senate Select Subcommittee on Community Standards Relevant to the Supply of Services Utilising Telecommunications Technologies, 23 February, 1994. See also Pornography in Neighbourhood Convenience Stores: Neurochemical Effects on Women, Ontario Human Rights Commission, 1993, Dr J Reisman included in the submission to the Australian Senate Select Subcommittee.
38. Tasmanian Department of Justice, Publications Classification Board Chairman John Upcher, letter to Mr Jack Sonn ema nn, 2 August, 1993.
39. Tasmanian Classification of Publications Act, no. 107, 1984, Part ill, Section 2, subsec t ion (a). page 8.
40. Scientific studies have been conducted to Show that those who have been massively exposed to pornography with massive exposure being less that 5 hours over 6 weeks will have a less compassionate view of rape victim.  The trivialisation of rape occurs in both male and female users of porn in a very brief time. New Scientist, 5 May, 1990.
41. Melbourne's Herald Sun, 6 May, 1992.
42. Letter from then Shadow Attorney General Mrs Jan Wade to Jack Sonnemann, 26 May, 1992.
43. The AGE, 21 April, 1993.
44. The Sun Herald, 22 December, 1991
45. Criminal Victimisation in the Industrialised World, Dutch Ministry of justice, 1993; Without Consent, European Community (EC) survey of 14 countries documented m ABC TV, September 1992, and Sun Herald, 30 August, 1992; international crime Survey, the Home Office in London, April, 1984; and other international studies.
46. Australian Federal Police Annual Report 1991 1992, Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Australian. 30 May/1 Apr 94; ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Annual Report 1992 1993