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PORNOGRAPHY AND VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDRENIf the Scottish Parliament is to address violence against women effectively it must also address the issue of how women and children are portrayed in the mass media and the increasing availability and intrusion of pornographic material into the every day lives of all citizens, including children.We are all aware that over the last 10-15 years there has been an alarming increase in the number of sexist, sexualised, stereotyped images of women’s bodies in tabloid newspapers, the internet, and terrestrial and satellite television. Even more intrusively, hard-core pornographic material, which would have only been available in sex shops 15-20 years ago, is now increasingly available in local newsagents and corner shops. The covers of these magazines are visible to all, including children, and usually portray women in humiliating, degrading poses and as sexual objects readily available for men’s entertainment. The accompanying text is usually demeaning and is often sexually violent. The message of these magazines and advertisements is clear – women are available as sexual playthings for men to access wherever and whenever they like; and they are routinely portrayed either as sexually voracious or passive, submissive dolls. Many people are also concerned about the premature sexualisation of young girls and children both in pornographic material and the wider media. The very media that are most virulently opposed to paedophilia are actually contributing to it by their obsessive exploitation of sex. Our style gurus and advertisers have relentlessly sexualised children as a marketing tactic to sell products. And half the top shelf magazines in your local newsagents display girls who are either far younger than the editors claim or posed to look like children. So what is the link between this kind of material and violence against women and children? Sexualised, pornographic images of women and children are in themselves harmful, often involving trafficking, intimidation and violence against those directly involved. It also reinforces some men’s assumptions that they can access women and children’s bodies either by payment or by force. Don’t take my word for it. Look at the extensive body of internationally based academic research which highlights the harm of pornography. Read the work of Ray Wyre who has worked with sex offenders in the UK over the past twenty years. Hear his evidence of the role that pornography has played in the crimes of sex offenders. Read how pornography is implicated at every stage in child sexual abuse. Why do we seem to be so reluctant to address this issue? In my view this reluctance is similar to the decades of silence surrounding the harm of smoking – to challenge the harm of pornography also means having to challenge powerful vested interests. It was known as far back as 1950 that smoking caused lung cancer. However the powerful tobacco industry successfully stifled these findings for many years, recognising that tackling the effect of smoking meant threatening their profits. Similarly today the pornography industry, a multi billion-dollar global industry, which generates annually more profit than the film, and music industry combined, is doing all it can to ignore or undermine the growing body of evidence that their products exploit and harm women and children. Another tactic is to attempt to denigrate those who criticise or challenge what they do. The growth and acceptance of this type of material in our communities and every day lives has now got us to the point that anybody raising objections to pornography is now labelled as prudish, anti sex or anti fun. This is a very successful way of stifling any debate which might threaten the industry and its profits. We must challenge this silence. We must challenge the harm of pornography and the myth that to do so is to be somehow repressive or anti sex. In fact to the contrary, organisations in Scotland that are foremost in highlighting the harm of pornography are also those which are calling for more frank discussions about sexuality between adults and young people and an expanded sex education programmes for all children. They look to the model of sex education in Holland where they have the lowest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe. Is it not time that we started to question the recent growth of lap dancing facilities, the expansion of licensed sex shops in Scotland and the overall message of pornography that women and children are sexually available for the entertainment of men and that force is a legitimate way of getting what one wants? Is it not a national scandal that while there is currently a year on year rise in the incidence of reported rapes in Scotland, the successful conviction rate for rapists remains at only 6%. Indeed given that it is widely accepted that only one in ten rapes is reported this conviction rate suggests that currently for every thousand rapes carried out in Scotland only six men are likely to be convicted. The incidence of rape is directly related to the sex industry. Inter state research carried out throughout fifty states in America has found a highly significant correlation between the rate of reported rape and the amount of pornography in circulation - every 2% increase in the circulation of pornography was linked to a 1% increase in the rate of reported rapes. (Baron and Strauss). Nearer home, since the growth of lap dancing clubs and street prostitution in the Tottenham Court Road area of Camden, London, the incidence of reported rape has increased by 50% - Camden’s rate is now three times the national average. One Edinburgh neighbourhood has now eight lap dancing facilities within a short distance of each other. In the twelve weeks between 1st April and 30th June this year seventy-four rapes were reported to the Lothian and Borders police. Fourteen of these victims were under sixteen years of age. The seventy-four reported rapes represented a significantly higher report rate than the same period last year. This is the first generation of youngsters who will grow up in a culture in which pornography is so readily available. Even if they don’t try to find pornography it will most certainly find them – through the internet. The possible consequences of growing up in this atmosphere in which pornography is presented and sold as so-called sex education or healthy sex are just beginning to be appreciated. In France this year, concerns that French children’s attitudes to sex are being warped by early exposure to pornography were exacerbated when eight adolescent boys were charged with the gang rape of a 15 year-old classmate. Whilst one boy confessed to the rape the others clearly did not understand or accept that they had raped. The Prosecutor involved in the case commented: "It’s quite extraordinary. Clearly, in their minds, it’s as if what happened was some kind of virtual game. They seem to have no idea of the gravity of the acts they are accused of.” So what should the Scottish Parliament, which states it is committed to equality between the sexes, do to address this issue? I was pleased to see that the Communities Minister, Ms Margaret Curran, several months ago renewed this commitment. However, if this policy is to mean anything at all it must take seriously the realities and effects of pornography and the wider sex industry. Firstly, let me make it clear that I am not advocating censorship. Such action simply would not work and only serve to further stimulate interest in pornography, particularly among the young, or drive it underground. What a responsible parliament should now do is begin to question the values and attitudes surrounding pornography and the sex industry. We need to begin to turn around attitudes to pornography in a similar way as we have to smoking, drink driving and other harmful activities. The Parliament is well placed to take a lead in this. We also need to expand and examine sex education programmes for children and we need to encourage adults and parents to overcome their personal embarrassment and take more responsibility for discussing sex and relationships with young people. Some of those who object to sex education programmes for children do so on the basis that they are protecting youngsters. In fact the very opposite is true. Today all too many children will get their sex education from internet porn, magazines and videos. Even if they do not seek this information out on the net, sadly, as I have said, it will find them. So for the youngsters who have had little or no sex education, pornography has become as often or not their sole source of information. Recently we were interviewed by a young female researcher for a television programme on the subject of teenagers and pornography. She had just spent several weeks talking to teenagers throughout the country about pornography and was utterly taken aback at the teenagers knowledge and complete unquestioning acceptance of hard core pornography and some of its messages – for example, she was reliably informed by the boys that all girls are in fact bisexual, currently a common fantasy in much pornographic material. So to recap, if the parliament is truly serious about tackling violence against women and children in all its ugly manifestations then we need to tackle the issue of the harm of pornography as a matter of urgency. We need to address the issue of the expansion of lap dancing clubs in our communities, the growth of licensed sex shops often in inner city areas where there is a large population of young children, the sale and display of hard core pornographic magazines within local corner shops – within 500 yards of this parliament there are at least three shops selling material which I guarantee most MSP’s would find deeply offensive. We also need to begin a campaign to highlight the harm of this material and to question the values and attitudes which underpin this material – values which undermine any attempts to work towards achieving equality between the sexes and sound, fulfilling, sexual relationships. Skinner, J (2003) |
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