I apologise for the shocking title but this was the name of a talk that I heard this afternoon that looked at how pornography, the objectification of women and the sexualisation of girls harms us as individuals and as a society.Melinda Tankard Reist of the Women's Forum Australia came to Moore College to speak on this disturbing subject. From Bratz dolls to sexualised clothing for children to the mainstream advertising of sex services to internet porn, there is no doubt that we are rapidly becoming immune to the reality and the enormity of this issue.
Melinda went through some shocking statistics about the rapidly lowering age of sex offenders, the amount of money spent in Australia on pornography, the availability of porn to adults and children and the impact of that porn on sexual relationships and expectations.
Young girls (ie as young as primary school age!) are reading magazines (Girlfriend and Dolly are mainstream) that tell them how to perform sexual acts, and suggest that they need to be flirtatious and sexualised in their behaviour and their dress. In the meantime, the statistics indicate that young boys are far more able to access porn - and are watching it regularly!
These things distort the views of both girls and boys about what is 'normal' and OK in relationships with each other. To think that it is not impacting on kids is to be living in a dream world.
My question to parents who are reading is, do you know what your children are reading and viewing on the internet?? What are you (and I) doing to fight against the trend of sexualising children's toys, clothes and advertising materials? What are we doing to protect ourselves as well?
For the women out there, can I strongly recommend joining the Women's Forum Australia, an organisation that is aimed at speaking up against these and other issues related to women in Australia. They are an organisation that is not afraid to speak out and challenge advertising standards and other things that might not always win them any friends. We can be doing something to fight this trend in Australia - and this is one way of acting.
