Tuesday, 10 July 2007
Media Release 10.07.07
Former National Party Leader Ignores Real Causes of Child Sex Abuse
Calls by former National Party leader, John Anderson, for a ban on all X rated (non violent erotic) films and all Restricted books and magazines in Australia as a way of protecting children from sexual violence, showed a limited understanding of child sex abuse, the Eros Association said today.
Mr Anderson said that there was ?overwhelming evidence? showing that there were links between porn and sexual violence but then cited none.
Eros CEO Fiona Patten said that one of the definitive studies on ?pornography effects? had been done by the Australian Institute of Criminology in 1988 (Trends and Issues #9) with a world sweep of all research concluding that:
?In voicing this concern over the possible harmful effects of sexually violent material, we would urge that such material be clearly differentiated from non-violent sexual material, suggested to be less of a threat or no threat to the community in quoted research. Such a differentiation allows in the minds of legislators, policy makers and the community, of material with a possible potential to cause harm.?
Ms Patten said that now Mr Anderson was out of the limelight it was clear he had become more involved in his religion and she called on him to use his energies to rid the church of child sex offenders rather than worry about adult?s entertainment choices. ? There are now over 500 church clergy in Australia who have been convicted of a child sex assault (www.deception.com.au; http://brokenrites.alphalink.com.au/nletter/bccrime.html) while there has only ever been one person from the adult retail industry similarly convicted?, she said. ?If he is worried about what is causing child sexual abuse in the community he should be looking at the role of alcohol, parenting skills and even religion. He has ignored the plight of children sexually abused by his own kind in the church, to make a cheap political point about porn?.
Ms Patten said that religious calls to ban pornography (X and some R rated films; Category 1 and 2 Restricted publications and some MA Rated computer games) were not supported by the majority of the population (86% support: AC Neilson poll 2006) and could set Australia on a path to extremely conservative attitudes to sex as in Iran and China. To reduce any misuse of adult non-violent material, Australian state governments should regulate and license the sale of it and increase penalties for selling illegal and violent sexual material.
Media contact: Fiona Patten: 06 285 2477
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