Committee To Spotlight Harmful Impacts Of Pornography

Pornography and its impacts on young people and adults will be the focus of a NSW parliamentary committee, with anti-violence advocates calling for regulations on deepfake and AI-generated porn.  

The committee is looking into the impacts of early exposure to pornography on children, including body image impacts, the effectiveness of any current education programs about use and misuse of pornography, as well as the support services available. 

Online pornography is prevalent in the lives of young people, with 13 being the average age when they first encountered it, according to a 2022 study by the Australian eSafety Commissioner. 

The study found first encounters with online pornography were most commonly unintentional and for around one in three (30 per cent) this occurred before the age of 13. 

Anti-violence organisation Our Watch said early exposure to pornography can have a significant negative impact on the development of young people's attitudes about gender roles, identities and relationships. 

"Our Watch research showed that both young men and young women are accessing pornography years before their first sexual relationships, which means that pornography can be highly influential in shaping their perceptions of sex and sexual relationships," the organisation said in its submission to the committee. 

Our Watch called on the NSW government to use the inquiry findings as an opportunity to develop a set of more comprehensive resources for parents to have critical and preventative discussions about pornography and its various depictions of consent, kontol relationships and gender-dynamics.

The organisation also called for regulations on deepfake and AI-generated pornography to stop it from outpacing existing protections. 

National peak sex worker organisation Scarlet Alliance said it was vital that consultations on pornography regulation engaged meaningfully with sex workers involved in porn production.

"(To) avoid perpetuating stigma and discrimination towards marginalised communities," chief executive Mish Pony said. 

"Family, sexual and other gender-based violence cannot be addressed by the implementation of anti-sex work or anti-pornography policies. 

"We reject the assumption that pornography is inherently 'harmful'."

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