The internet, smartphones and social media mean that extensive sharing of private images without consent is far easier than in the past. And the severity of the harm victims suffer is far greater.
The term ‘child pornography’ is not only inaccurate, it is also potentially damaging.
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The continued use by politicians and the media of the term “child pornography” minimises the offence’s seriousness. They are online child abuse material.
Susan Hopkins, University of Southern Queensland and Jenny Ostini, University of Southern Queensland
Magazines like Zoo not only reproduce and legitimise sexist and predatory views of sexual violence and gender roles. They also make such attitudes seem normal and acceptable.
The original Lenna test image from the University of Southern California Signal and Image Processing Institute.
SIPI Image Database
Teenagers see and use porn – rather than bury our head in the sand let’s help them to discuss and understand its effects.
A Danish professor has called on schools to screen pornography so students are prepared to see it in the real world. Is a classroom really the place though?
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This Valentine’s Day, why not ditch the roses and celebrate by watching some sexual violence? That’s a more honest marketing pitch for the Fifty Shades of Grey film. It’s astonishing that, in 2015, sexual…
The imminent release of Fifty Shades of Grey has already provoked widespread protest, although the protesters have not actually seen it. The Guardian recently proclaimed: “This is not a porn film.” But…
See no evil, speak no evil is next year’s Keep Calm and Carry On.
Julian Tysoe
India’s government has displeased many internet users by blocking access to some major websites at the start of the new year. A total of 32 sites were blocked, although sanctions have been lifted from…
Some 63% of men and 20% women had looked at pornography in the past year in Australia.
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When 56-year-old Madonna posed topless for Interview magazine this month the public reaction was a stifled yawn. Her erotic exposé was the latest in a recent swathe of celebrities stripping off. In November…
Impossibly racy in 1808 Goya’s La Maja Desnuda is tame by today’s standards - our regulations need to keep in step with the times.
Francisco Goya/Museo Nacional del Prado
A legislative provision that has just come into force bans certain acts in online pornography produced in the UK, with the effect of bringing video-on-demand services into line with the British Board of…
Interim Director, UWA Public Policy Institute; Associate Professor & Programme Co-ordinator (Masters of Public Policy), The University of Western Australia