Scholarly essays and studies
Don’t send me that pic – a 2016 report by Plan International Australia and Our Watch
New survey data published by Plan International Australia and Our Watch, in the report titled ‘Don’t send me that pic’, reveals Australian teenage girls’ perceptions about uninvited sexually explicit images, pressure to take and send sexy photographs and cyberbullying.
Alarmingly, 600 survey recipients from all states and territories report that online sexual harassment is commonplace.
London sample of the largest study ever of men who buy sex a 2011 report by Melissa Farley, Julie Bindel and Jacqueline M. Golding
Many men stated that pornography informed their decisions to request specific acts with women in prostitution and also with non-prostituting sex partners. Other interviewees stated that pornography use led to their paying for sex.
Prostitution: A Violation of Women’s Human Rights by Dorchen Leidholdt
This comprehensive essay written by human rights lawyer Dorchen Leidholdt in 1993 offers a detailed examination of the effects of prostitution on women’s most basic human rights. I include it here as all of her excellent and well-evidenced arguments are just as relevant to today’s porn industry, which is simply prostitution which is filmed. In fact, Leidholdt’s comments if anything, underestimate the damage that the ubiquitous porn / filmed prostitution industry has on the real lives of real women.
When Women Defend Pornography by Dorchen Leidholdt
This scathing, brilliant and controversial essay is a strong retort to those individuals in the pro-porn lobby who attempt to down cry those who protest against the subhuman treatment of women in porn as ‘anti-sex’ crusaders. In the process, she painstakingly deconstructs the usual pro-porn arguments of 1) Porn is sexually liberating for women. 2) Prostitution, filmed or otherwise, is a job like any other. 3) Prostitution, filmed or otherwise is a legitimate economic option which the women involved in are free to choose. 4) Prostitution, filmed or otherwise is mainly fun and enjoyable.
A gripping read by a woman who knows her field inside out and relies on hard evidence.
Brain Studies on Porn Users by Gary Wilson
This page lists all the studies assessing the brain structure and functioning of Internet porn users. To date, every study offers support for the porn addiction model. The results of these 24 studies are consistent with 150+ Internet addiction brain studies, many of which also include internet porn use. All support the premise that internet porn use can cause addiction-related brain changes as do recent neuroscience-based reviews of the literature.
Porn Harms Kids – The facts – A groundbreaking, symposium organised by Australia-first at the University of New South Wales, Feb 9, 2016
‘PORN HARMS KIDS’ is a grass-roots campaign which aims to draw attention to the issue of exposure of children and young people to pornography in Australia.
A study of the most popular porn scenes showed that 88% contained physical aggression, 94% of it directed toward women; in 95% of cases the victim was shown to respond either neutrally or with pleasure.
Articles
Growing up in pornland – Australian girls have had it with porn-conditioned boys by Melinda Tankard Reist
Sexual bullying and harassment are part of daily life for many girls. Young people are speaking out more and more about how these practices are connected to pornography — and so they should, because they have most to lose.
Pornography is molding and conditioning the sexual behaviours and attitudes of boys, and girls are being left without the resources to deal with this reality.
My own engagement with young women over the last few years in schools around Australia confirms that we are conducting a pornographic experiment on young people — an assault on their healthy sexual development.
If there are still any questions about whether porn has an impact on young people’s sexual attitudes and behaviours, perhaps it’s time to listen to young people themselves. Girls and young women describe boys pressuring them to provide acts inspired by the porn they consume routinely. Girls tell of being expected to put up with things they don’t enjoy.
The UK Porn Industry Gets Nasty by Gail Dines
This entertaining and informative read by Professor Gail Dines describes attempts by the pro-porn lobby to sabotage a meeting of international anti-porn campaigners in the UK. As the pro-porn lobby screeches about how feminists want to ‘censor’ their freedom, they themselves run around like headless chickens trying to censor the feminists’. It would be funny if it wasn’t tragic.
How online porn is warping the behaviour of boys with girls – by Allison Pearson
We need to educate and embolden our daughters to fight back against pornography, which is warping the behaviour of boys.
A GP, let’s call her Sue, said: “I’m afraid things are much worse than people suspect.” In recent years, Sue had treated growing numbers of teenage girls with internal injuries caused by frequent anal sex; not, as Sue found out, because they wanted to, or because they enjoyed it, but because a boy expected them to. “I’ll spare you the gruesome details,” said Sue, “but these girls are very young and slight and their bodies are simply not designed for that.
Children are never ‘sex workers’ — they are victims of rape and child abuse by Micheal Laxer
An article published by the United Nations in 2014 notes:
Children are more at risk of being sexually exploited or sold than ever, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography’, Najat Maalla M’jid, has warned, urging a global response to crimes that are increasing in an interconnected world.
‘Millions of girls and boys worldwide are victims of sexual exploitation, even though this issue in recent years has gained increased visibility,’ the expert said during the presentation of her final report to the UN Human Rights Council.
‘The availability of child pornography online is growing. Child victims of online sexual exploitation are younger and younger, and the images are more and more horrific,’ said Ms Maalla M’jid, whose report reflects on her six-year tenure as UN Special Rapporteur and provides an overview of the main issues and trends relating to her mandate.
A human rights scandal – by Kat Banyard
The Vice President of a group that officially advised a top UN body on its prostitution policy was jailed earlier this year for sex trafficking. So why is Amnesty International about to adopt their policy proposals?
How could this happen? How could a pimp wind up second in command at a global organisation that officially advised UN agencies on prostitution policy and that is referenced in Amnesty International’s draft policy?
Shandra Woworuntu: My life as a sex-trafficking victim – by Shandra Woworuntu
Shandra Woworuntu arrived in the US hoping to start a new career in the hotel industry. Instead, she found she had been trafficked into a world of prostitution and sexual slavery, forced drug-taking and violence. It was months before she was able to turn the tables on her persecutors.
Pleasure Unplugged 