Parents are being urged to make their voices heard at a New South Wales parliamentary inquiry into the damaging effects of pornography on the mental, emotional and physical health of children and young people.
The inquiry will also report on the production and dissemination of deepfake or AI-generated pornography, impacts on minority groups and the effectiveness of current restrictions on access to pornography.
In 2023 an eSafety Commissioner report found that 75 per cent of 16-18 year olds surveyed in Australia had seen online pornography, nearly one third of them before the age of 13.
Further, it found that common, readily-accessible forms of pornography often contain depictions of sexual violence and degrading sexual scripts about women.
Committee member Liberal MLC Susan Carter told The Catholic Weekly the inquiry was a “great opportunity” to advocate for possible solutions and welcomed personal stories.
“I am keen for as many people as possible to know about this inquiry, and have their voices heard,” she said.
“It is a sobering statistic that the average age of exposure to pornography for males is 11, and this must have a negative impact on the ability to form meaningful and respectful relationships,” she said.
“Violent pornography is recognised as a clear driver of violence against women.”
Advocates have welcomed the inquiry including Melinda Tankard Reist, director of Collective Shout, who said pornography is “deforming the developing sexual templates of our young people.”
“It is giving children and young people harmful ideas about bodies, relationships and sexuality and we’re seeing a rise of peer-on-peer sexual assault at rates never before seen,” she said.
“Adolescent Australian males are now committing the largest rates of sex offending in general, and they are now the largest cohort of sex offenders against children.
“Much of the blame can be laid at the global predatory porn industry, which is preying on boys and grooming them to think that sexual violence is normal.
“I’m in schools most days in this country and the stories girls tell me, even in primary school grades five and six, about harmful sexual behaviours are getting worse by the day.
“We need to see as many submissions as possible, particularly from parents. On our website we have many parents tell their stories of devastation caused by their children’s early exposure to pornography.”
Catherine Garrett-Jones, executive director of the Council of Catholic School Parents NSW/ACT, said Catholic school parents had expressed “growing concerns” about the impact of teenage exposure to pornography as they navigate adolescence.
She said more than 600 parents and carers registered to attend a webinar it hosted last year titled “Online relationships and consent: sending nudes and sexting.”
“We are concerned [exposure to pornography] only exacerbates already-held concerns about consent issues and how this exposure affects the capacity of our young people to engage in healthy relationships that are safe, trusting and respectful,” she said.
NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley announced the inquiry early in August saying a generation of young men are growing up with “unprecedented access to the online world, and this includes early and easy access to pornography, with harmful depictions of the treatment of women.”
Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Jodie Harrison said the “scourge” of domestic violence and sexual assault must be addressed from every angle including the “normalisation of misogyny and violence online.”
Submissions can be made at the NSW Parliament website.