CJ Morgan, the Howard government launched Net Alert (http://www.netalert.gov.au/) in 2007. Parents could download a filter for free (the program was halted by the Rudd government in December 2008 without reason). The government also sent out a glossy pamphlet regarding online safety and had adverts on TV. Surely you must have been aware of this.

Back to Abigail's piece, I'm stuffed if I can find any links to Passed Out Pussy on Porn Hub. I searched for about 10 minutes, and then gave up. I did find a cached version of the website, and there are no children in the pictures. I find it amazingly deceitful to claim these pictures (while they are rather deprived and awful) are child sexual abuse material just because some of the actors may look like they’re 16 or 17. That’s what I love about people like Abigail. If you can’t find evidence for your wild allegations, change the definition and parameters until it you find that evidence. Also good work picking a site that’s now dead.

Ninaf,

once again the site does not have minors, clearly states that only adults are employed, and NO EVIDENCE has been produced to the contrary. I'm sorry if you are unable to distinguish between fiction and non fiction, but that is your own problem to deal with.

There is no verifiable academic evidence for a causal link between pornography and any behaviour. None anywhere, and having seen the quality of work by Bray I feel safe indeed in assuming that she will be unable to produce any evidence.

So, in short, you are calling for action on a misidentified problem, with no proven causal effect, by the use of a solution which also has no published proof of efficacy. Also, as I said previously, such material will be available in print media, regardless of Internet Censorship.

I'll be sticking to logic and evidence rather than your calls for panicked action.

Elka,

the most vitriol I have seen here has issued from yourself. The discussion here has been about the Academic quality of work and dubious nature of “facts” presented by someone trying to represent themselves as an Academic. Good luck with your attempts to sway opinion with the use of name calling and disparaging an entire gender, it hasn't worked for Conroy, but do as you please.

Chris Abood,

parents are already aware that pornography is available on the Internet and take appropriate measures. Recent surveying by the ACMA found that the majority of Australian parents are currently happy with their Internet experience.

R0bert,

yes, I did take liberties in quotes I attributed to you, sorry. But, I was having difficulty working within the number of words allowed in the forum, and trying to distinguish what the actual quote was that Bray was testing.

Judging from this short test by Bray, the academic quality of her major work should be interesting to see indeed. I also have to wonder as to the reason for her lack of participation here. If she can't deal with the criticism of the ordinary public I don't see how she will deal with peer review.

The Womp, thanks. I'd like to see who the various voices are and the context of the claims (if they are legitimate).

The only causal links that I've seen are indications of trends in reductions of sexual assault by teenage boys corresponding to internet takeup. I did see some material calling that finding into question a while ago but I've not quite worked out if it was a genuine concern over the methodology or just someone not liking the findings.

I don't get why people like the kind of porn described but then I don't get the endless fasination with celebrities in some quarters either. Both are normally harmless but can be damaging when someone does not keep it in context.

R0bert

The thing is though, it really doesn't matter. The internet was originally designed to be an information distribution system to survive any kind of attack on it. Hence its incipient resistance to censorship. Even hard-core China regularly backs down (green dam for example). So what if ISPs started filtering search results. I couldn't care less. A quick re-route through a free VPN would annul any such filter in about 3 seconds flat. For example.
Moral outrage and regulation? State censorship and control of fantasy? Really, who gives a hoot. Short of shutting the whole thing down (and interestingly, even North Korea can't quite seem to do that) there is just no way to stop the flow of traffic happening. Not even having mentioned what 60% of net traffic is these days and what no filter could even hope to impede: BitTorrent. Let people like the good doctor bray. The internet is indestructible.

R0bert

<< The only causal links that I've seen are indications of trends in reductions of sexual assault by teenage boys corresponding to internet takeup. >>

Yes, I have read about that on a couple of sites, I think that one was on the BBC. What I find counter-intuitive about the claims, maybe you have some views on this, is how does watching women/girls being raped (whether faked or not I am not pursuing) but sex where the male is clearly dominant, how this reduces sexual assualts in the real world. I puzzle over this and can't help but find it disturbing that watching people in humiliating sex (and I know the same applies to same-sex acts), but in an effort to keep it simple, I wish to know why so many males enjoy sex where women are clearly presented as little more than objects. It is not just about visuals, because then just the observation of the sex act itself would be sufficient, but there is a huge market for this type of sex.

Before I am cast as a feminazi for daring to ask, I would appreciate some thought as to why some males find this entertaining and how this reduces sexual assault.

Fractelle,

'I would appreciate some thought as to why some males find this entertaining and how this reduces sexual assault.'

See if you behaved like that all the time, nobody would call you a feminazi. Good question.

'how this reduces sexual assaults in the real world.'

I'm not convinced it does. But I'm also not convinced it encourages sexual assaults either. (which would be the feminist line I'd imagine). It's a fantasy. Men are probably about as likely to act it out as the many women who fantasise about being raped.

'I wish to know why so many males enjoy sex where women are clearly presented as little more than objects.'

In general they aren't. Although it is faked, the penthouse type porn always put details about the woman and her fantasies. So there is a desire to know her mind, even if only in terms of her kinky sexual desires.

In terms of the rape porn, well, I cant see how it could turn anyone on. But a theory I have come up with, that I know you'll hate and reject, goes something like this...

As the expectation of men has changed over the years, it's become increasingly implied that men's sexual desire is dirty, and that unless there are candles and romantic music attached the man is 'objectifying' the woman. There was the stage of the SNAG, etc where men were encouraged to be more 'sensitive', and just raw-ly lusting over a woman was considered disrespectful in some way. Any aggression in the bedroom was made taboo by the threat of feminist extrapolation to rape.

It's almost like an overcompensation, or a reflex for men to enjoy rough lustful sex, with no guilt that they are the 'abuser', or the 'pervert'.

So in some respects it's an anti-PC thing like 'The Footy Show'. The weird thing is there's probably heaps of women with a metrosexual guy who wished he wasn't so sensitive and that he'd put her on her knees and give her a good rough shagging, rather than 'make love' by candle light all the time.

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