Do you want some porn with your petrol?

An Australian Mum, Catherine Manning, founder of Say No 4 Kids, has appeared on a prime time Channel 7 current affairs show, The 7pm Project, Tuesday night (I know, I know, I wanted to post this earlier, but I wanted to get some research behind me before I started venting!) to speak about her petition to have adult magazines moved out of children’s eyeline in milk bars and service stations.

Some people are dismissing her as a wowser or a prude. I’m willing to bet those people don’t have kids. One such person who was clearly dismissive of these idea, and shame on him, was The 7pm Project’s panellist Steve Price, who was clearly dismissive of this idea and very condescending towards her. I am well aware it’s a journalist’s job to question stories, but he showed a very unprofessional personal bias, both during the interview and in the brief discussion afterwards. You can view the episode here. You want the 9 minute mark. You can contact Steve Price here... oh no, wait, seems Mr Tough Guy has no contact information anywhere on the web. I wonder why? He’s perfectly happy to dish out his opinion to all and sundry whether we want it or not, but isn’t willing to hear what we have to say in reply? Way to stand by your opinions, Mr Price.

Plus, I don’t think he was actually paying attention. Steve seemed under the impression she was worried about kids opening and reading the magazine, whereas in reality just the covers themselves are a problem. One argument made was that a seeing a woman in lingerie on the front of an adult magazine was the same as seeing a woman in a swimsuit. In other words, seeing this...

... was just the same as seeing this:

Uh-huh... right.

Apart from the fact I couldn’t agree with her more, I think she’s being pretty reasonable. She isn’t saying there’s anything wrong with selling the magazines, or adults buying them, she just wants them moved. Pretty tolerant actually, considering many child experts want them banned all together from these outlets and sold only in adult stores.

And she’s right, every time I go into a service station, there, right by the door, and usually right across from or beside the chocolate bars and lollies, are various women in various slutty poses, vacantly staring open-mouthed right at my knees. In other words, right at GG’s eyeline.

So why do we need to protect our kids from these magazines? Well, apart from the fact that the images and captions lead to some very uncomfortable questions ( “Why is that lady nudie rudie Mummy?” is one I’ve already had to deal with), they are part of an insidious sexualisation of children that is starting to permeate every aspect of popular culture these days.

In The Australia Institute’s discussion paper “Corporate Paedophilia, Sexualisation of Children in Australia” Emma Rush and Andrea La Nauze detail how the early exposure of sexual images helps in the “grooming” process paedophiles use to abuse young children, as well as the development of body image issues and eating disorders in young girls.

Various studies have also shown a link between exposure to pornographic images at a young age to paedophilia. One such study available online here.

To get more information on the group Say No 4 Kids, or to sign the petition, you can visit their website.