Submission
for the
Inquiry into Domestic Violence and Gender Inequality
to the
Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee
PO Box 6100 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Telephone: (02) 6277 3439 Facsimile: (02) 6277 5809 Email: [email protected] Website: www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Current_Inquiries
by
FamilyVoice Australia
4th floor, 68 Grenfell St, Adelaide SA 5000 Telephone: 1300 365 965 Facsimile: 08 8223 5850 Email: [email protected] Website: www.fava.org.au
30 March 2016 Table of Contents
1. Introduction ...... 1
2. Terms of Reference ...... 1
3. Gender inequality in the prevalence of domestic violence ...... 1 3.1. Prevalence of domestic violence ...... 1 3.2. Factors contributing to domestic violence ...... 3
4. Gender stereotypes in domestic violence, including messages conveyed to children ... 4 4.1. Gender stereotypes ...... 5 4.2. The marketing of toys and other products ...... 8 4.3. Education ...... 10 4.4. Entertainment ...... 11
5. Government initiatives in addressing the underlying causes of domestic violence ..... 16
6. Conclusion ...... 17
7. Endnotes ...... 18
1. Introduction
On 25 November 2015, the matter of domestic violence and gender inequality was referred to the Finance and Public Administration References Committee for inquiry and report by 24 August 2016.
FamilyVoice Australia is a national Christian voice – promoting true family values for the benefit of all Australians. Our vision is to see strong families at the heart of a healthy society: where marriage is honoured, human life is respected, families can flourish, Australia’s Christian heritage is valued, and fundamental freedoms are enjoyed.
We work with people from all mainstream Christian denominations. We engage with parliamentarians of all political persuasions and are independent of all political parties. We have full-time FamilyVoice representatives in all states.
FamilyVoice has had a longstanding interest in advocating policies which support the family.
The closing date for submissions is Thursday, 31 March 2016.
2. Terms of Reference
The Inquiry’s terms of reference are as follows:
Domestic violence and gender inequality, with particular reference to: a) the role of gender inequality in all spheres of life in contributing to the prevalence of domestic violence; b) the role of gender stereotypes in contributing to cultural conditions which support domestic violence, including, but not limited to, messages conveyed to children and young people in: i. the marketing of toys and other products, ii. education, and iii. entertainment; c) the role of government initiatives at every level in addressing the underlying causes of domestic violence, including the commitments under, or related to, the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children; and d) any other related matters.
3. Gender inequality in the prevalence of domestic violence
The first term of reference of this inquiry is “the role of gender inequality in all spheres of life in contributing to the prevalence of domestic violence”.
3.1. Prevalence of domestic violence
Before considering the role of gender in domestic violence, it is important to review available evidence on the prevalence of domestic violence.
FamilyVoice Submission to the Senate inquiry into Domestic Violence and Gender Inequality 1 The Committee should recognise that domestic violence occurs in a wide variety of situations and involves men, women and children as perpetrators and men, women and children as victims.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics 2005 Personal Safety Survey reports the following data:1
• 73,800 women (77.7%) and 21,200 men (22.3%) were physically assaulted in the previous 12 months by a current or previous partner;2
• 125,100 women (67.3%) experienced physical assault by a male perpetrator in a home in the previous 12 months while 60,900 men (32.7%) experienced physical assault by a female perpetrator in a home in the previous 12 months;3
• Since the age of 15, 105,600 women (69.6%) had experienced physical assault by a current male partner and 46,200 men (30.4%) had experienced physical assault by a current female partner;4
• Since the age of 15, 674,700 women (72.2%) had experienced physical assault by a previous male partner and 259,300 men (27.7%) had experienced physical assault by a previous female partner;5 and
• Children of 463,300 women (84.3%) witnessed their mother being subjected to violence by a partner and children of 86,500 men (15.7%) witnessed their father being subjected to violence by a partner.6
Overall, while domestic violence commonly involves a female victim and a male perpetrator, nearly one in three victims of domestic violence is a male victim of a female perpetrator. In over one in six cases it is “men and their children” who need protection from a female perpetrator.
David Fergusson and his colleagues have reported on an in-depth analysis of women’s and men’s experience of domestic violence at age 25 as part of the Christchurch longitudinal study.7
Their findings include:
• 37.4% of women reported that they perpetrated acts of domestic violence compared to 30.9% of men;
• 3.9% of women were injured as a result of domestic violence compared to 3.3% of men;
• 2.5% of women reported being fearful as a result of partner violence compared to 0.3% of men;
• Women were more likely than men to initiate physical assault;
• Overall adverse mental health outcomes (depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation) are as frequent for men as for women, although women are more likely than men to suffer depression and anxiety;
In many cases there was mutual violence leading Fergusson and his colleagues to observe that “commonly occurring domestic violence may be better conceptualized as an issue relating to violent partnerships rather than violent individuals”.
FamilyVoice Submission to the Senate inquiry into Domestic Violence and Gender Inequality 2 In considering the policy implications of this study the authors note: The present study has a number of implications for policies relating to domestic violence. First and foremost, the results provide a further challenge to the dominant view that domestic violence is a “women’s issue” and arises predominantly from assaults by male perpetrators on female victims. What the findings suggest is that among young adult populations, men and women are equally violent to intimate partners on the basis of reports of both victimization and perpetration for the range of domestic violence examined within this study. Furthermore, the spectrum of violence committed by men and women seems to be similar and there is evidence suggesting that both men and women engage in serious acts of physical violence against their partners. Finally, the consequences of domestic violence in terms of injury and psychological effects were similar for both men and women.
In 2007-08, of a national total of 78 intimate-partner homicides, 18 victims were male (23%).8 In 2006-08 one in three (32.3%) victims of intimate partner homicide was male.9
Another form of domestic violence receiving increasing recognition and attention is adolescent violence towards parents. The Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse published a report on this subject in 2004, which said: There are few overseas and no Australian statistics on the prevalence of adolescent violence against parents. Shame and guilt are singled out as the main reasons for parents’ unwillingness to report their children’s violence...10
The Women’s and Children’s Health Network make a similar observation: Violence towards parents or other family members by young people is more common than many people think. It’s not often talked about because parents can feel embarrassed, scared or alone.11
In the light of this data, it is inappropriate to focus solely on domestic violence committed by men. This runs the risk of obscuring the reality of domestic violence perpetrated by women and making male victims of domestic violence invisible or more likely to be overlooked. Both men and women are victims of domestic violence. Both men and women are perpetrators of domestic violence. Perpetuating and entrenching a one-sided, gendered, discriminatory account of domestic violence will not help reduce domestic violence or assist government agencies to respond adequately to all victims of domestic violence regardless of the sex of the victim or of the perpetrator.
Recommendation 1:
In conducting this inquiry, the Committee should recognise that men, women and children are victims of domestic violence, that men, women and children are perpetrators of domestic violence and that it is best characterised as domestic violence.
3.2. Factors contributing to domestic violence
On average, two women die every week in Australia as a result of domestic violence, and this figure is rising.12
It is not only women who suffer. Some Australian men are assaulted by female partners or by other males in a homosexual relationship. Women in lesbian relationships may also suffer. Children can
FamilyVoice Submission to the Senate inquiry into Domestic Violence and Gender Inequality 3 be victims too – like Luke Batty, who was murdered in 2014 by his father, Rosie Batty’s former partner.13
Nevertheless, most victims of domestic violence are women who are emotionally, physically or sexually abused by their male sexual partner or former partner.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott initiated an advisory panel to roll out a multi-million dollar action plan and conduct a national awareness campaign to combat domestic violence. He also promised extra funding for the phone line 1800 RESPECT to help women victims. These are positive moves.
But no one seems to be asking a key question: Why are rates of fatal violence against women increasing at the same time that murder rates in general are going down?14
At least three factors appear to be behind this increase: • fewer couples are getting married and more couples are cohabiting, even though domestic violence rates are significantly higher in de facto relationships;15 • more men are becoming addicted to freely available online hardcore pornography, which promotes the abuse and exploitation of women;16 • drug addiction – particularly drugs like crystal methamphetamine (“ice”) – is growing in a “soft on drugs” political environment.17
Since these factors may be more important than gender, they should not be neglected by the Committee.
Recommendation 2:
Strategies to address domestic violence should include the following:
• schools to teach the many advantages of committed marriage over de facto relationships, including reduced risk of domestic violence;
• internet cleanfeed options to block harmful websites including those demeaning women;
• a return to the previous “tough on drugs” policies, which saw a drop in drug abuse in Australia – compared with later years when drug abuse rates have risen.
4. Gender stereotypes in domestic violence, including messages conveyed to children
The second term of reference of this inquiry is “the role of gender stereotypes in contributing to cultural conditions which support domestic violence, including, but not limited to, messages conveyed to children and young people”.
Gender stereotypes have their origin in the sexual dimorphism of humans, including physiological, neurological and cognitive differences.
FamilyVoice Submission to the Senate inquiry into Domestic Violence and Gender Inequality 4 4.1. Gender stereotypes
4.1.1. Sexual dimorphism
The sexual dimorphism of humans evident in body size and shape: Males weigh about 15% more than females… On average, men are taller than women, by about 15 cm… On average, men have a larger waist in comparison to their hips (see waist-hip ratio) than women. Women have a larger hip section than men, an adaptation for giving birth to infants with large skulls.18
Such differences are used in forensics to determine the sex of a deceased person. The acetabulum - the socket in the pelvis, which is used to secure the head of the femur - is larger in males than in females. Another area of the body in which the difference between males and females can be identified during the examination of a skeleton is the head and skull. There are several characteristics that are visibly different in the male and female skull and they are: • The chin is squarer in the skull of a man than that of a woman, who will tend to have a slightly more pointed chin • The forehead of the male will slant backwards where again with a female it will be slightly more rounded • Males seem to have a brow ridges whereas females do not. All in all there are plenty of differences between the male and female skeleton and if the pathologist and anthropologist have a complete skeleton to work from they should be able to make a positive determination as to the sex of the deceased before they died.19
4.1.2. Neurological differences
A recent study of brain connectivity in 949 youths by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that “males had greater within-hemispheric connectivity ... whereas between-hemispheric connectivity ... predominated in females.”20
The study confirms that stark differences exist in the wiring of male and female brains: Maps of neural circuitry showed that on average women's brains were highly connected across the left and right hemispheres, in contrast to men's brains, where the connections were typically stronger between the front and back regions. Ragini Verma, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, said the greatest surprise was how much the findings supported old stereotypes, with men's brains apparently wired more for perception and co-ordinated actions, and women's for social skills and memory, making them better equipped for multitasking. "If you look at functional studies, the left of the brain is more for logical thinking, the right of the brain is for more intuitive thinking. So if there's a task that involves doing both of those things, it would seem that women are hardwired to do those better," Verma said. "Women are
FamilyVoice Submission to the Senate inquiry into Domestic Violence and Gender Inequality 5 better at intuitive thinking. Women are better at remembering things. When you talk, women are more emotionally involved – they will listen more."21
4.1.3. Cognitive differences
Most standard tests of general intelligence are constructed to ensure there are no overall differences between females and males. However, some specific tests do exhibit differences, for example: females performed better on verbal abilities while males performed better on visuospatial abilities. One female advantage is in verbal fluency where they have been found to perform better in vocabulary, reading comprehension, speech production and essay writing. Males have been specifically found to perform better on spatial visualization, spatial perception, and mental rotation.22
4.1.4. Kibbutz experience
Before considering harmful messages conveyed to children, it is crucial to understand that gender is grounded in biology. As much as some may assert that gender is a social construct, the biological reality tends to re-assert itself, as Robert Bork has highlighted: The early kibbutz movement in Israel had the same ideology as today's radical feminists: sexual equality meant sexual identity, and sexual differentiation was inequality. For a brief period, the ideologues attempted to raise children apart from their families and to raise boys and girls in ways that would destroy sex roles. The program was as extreme as the most radical feminist could want. But it collapsed within a very few years. Boys and girls returned to different sex roles. The American sociologist Melford Spiro, who studied the kibbutz, wrote that he had wanted to "observe the influence of culture on human nature or, more accurately, to discover how a new culture produces a new human nature." He "found (against my own intentions) that I was observing the influence of human nature on culture."23
Gender differences are ingrained in human biology.
4.1.5. Incidence of domestic violence in homosexual relationships
In considering “gender stereotypes”, it is worth considering instances of domestic violence within relationships involving less “traditional” gender roles.
The incidence of domestic violence in same-sex relationships is greater than that within heterosexual relationships. This undermines the assertion that traditional gender roles and “stereotypes” are responsible for domestic violence.
The Sydney Morning Herald has reported on levels of domestic violence within same-sex relationships: Domestic violence has become a "silent epidemic" in the gay and lesbian community despite being the subject of increasing scrutiny in heterosexual relationships, according to the AIDS Council of NSW. Roughly one in three lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) couples experience domestic violence.24
FamilyVoice Submission to the Senate inquiry into Domestic Violence and Gender Inequality 6 Studies have documented that the prevalence of homosexual domestic violence is actually a much greater problem than heterosexual domestic violence.
Colleen Stiles-Shields and Richard A. Carroll conducted a review of studies on same-sex domestic violence in their paper “Same-Sex Domestic Violence: Prevalence, Unique Aspects, and Clinical Implications.”25 Of those reviewed, the Messinger (2011) study had the largest sample26 and Stiles- Shields and Carroll summarise that study’s findings: Regardless of sex, SSDV [Same-sex Domestic Violence] is twice as prevalent than [sic] OSDV [Opposite-sex Domestic Violence]27
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey” found that homosexuals disproportionately suffer and inflict domestic violence. It reported: • Forty-four percent of lesbian women, 61% of bisexual women, and 35% of heterosexual women experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime. • Twenty-six percent of gay men, 37% of bisexual men, and 29% of heterosexual men experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime. • Approximately 1 in 5 bisexual women (22%) and nearly 1 in 10 heterosexual women (9%) have been raped by an intimate partner in their lifetime.28
According to the survey, “nearly 1 in 3 bisexual women (37%) and 1 in 7 heterosexual women (16%) were injured as a result of rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner.”29 And “four in 10 gay men (40%), nearly half of bisexual men (47%), and 1 in 5 heterosexual men (21%) have experienced SV [sexual violence] other than rape in their lifetime.”30
And figures for homosexual domestic violence may be higher than actually reported: "There can be a fear of making the community look bad," said [mental health counselor with the Violence Recovery Program in Boston, Jessica] Newman. "Some people might have a real and legitimate fear of being looked down on, or not finding services through the police, judicial system, or a shelter. People don't want that negative image of the community out there."31
For this reason “[t]ypical framing of partner abuse as a heterosexual issue – with men abusing women – does a disservice to victims in abusive homosexual relationships.”32
4.1.6. Incidence of domestic violence in heterosexual relationships
The incidence of domestic violence within heterosexual relationships depends on whether the couple is married or not. Rates of domestic violence are much greater in non-married heterosexual couples than married heterosexual couples.
The Heritage Foundation analysed 10 years of findings from the National Crime Victimization Survey and discovered that: Married women with children suffer far less abuse than single mothers. In fact, the rate of spousal, boyfriend, or domestic partner abuse is twice as high among mothers who have never been married as it is among mothers who have ever married (including those separated or divorced).33
FamilyVoice Submission to the Senate inquiry into Domestic Violence and Gender Inequality 7 Psychologist and survey researcher Nicholas Zill analysed recent US national data and found that “children of divorced and never-married parents are far more likely to have been exposed to domestic violence than children in married two-parent families.”34
A US Department of Justice Intimate Partner Violence report which looked at data from 1993-2010 found that married women suffered the lowest amount of domestic violence.35 The report noted that in “2010, the rate of intimate partner violence for married females (2.0 victimizations per 1,000 females age 12 or older) was about four times less than the rates for never married females.”36
Research conducted by the sociologist Linda Waite at the University of Chicago on the link between intimate partner violence and relationship status found that: after controlling for education, race, age, and gender, people who live together are still three times more likely to report violent arguments than married people.37
Clearly, such “gender stereotypes” are not a cause of domestic violence. Rather, a key contributor to instances of domestic violence is the tragedy of children being sexualised from a young age – as outlined in following sections.
Recommendation 3:
In conducting this inquiry, The Committee should recognise that gender stereotypes are an expression of biological reality and are not in themselves a cause of domestic violence.
4.2. The marketing of toys and other products
Cultural conditions contributing to the scourge of domestic violence are not so-called “gender stereotypes” or “gender inequality”, but rather that children are being encouraged to be overtly sexual from a young age. Toys and other products are contributing to a “pornified” culture where boys are conditioned to sexually abuse girls, and girls are conditioned to comply with boys’ sexual demands – leading to a culture of domestic violence.
As the following examples across the fields of marketing, education and entertainment demonstrate, children are being saturated with sexual content. This sexual imagery has a dehumanising effect and contributes to a culture in which others are viewed as mere objects to be used and abused for gratification.
Toys
The racy nature of Bratz dolls contributes to the sexualisation of young girls.38 One parent described the experience of her daughter receiving such a doll as a present at a birthday party: When it came to the present-opening, the little girl wriggled excitedly in her seat as my daughter unwrapped her gift. For a moment, I stared at it and wondered if there was a new doll on the block called ‘Hooker Barbie’. The doe-eyed, midriff-baring doll was dressed in cheap pink-and-black lingerie and looked as if she should be dancing round a pole. "It’s one of the BratzBabyz!" the little girl burst out. "She’s called Sugar and I want to be just like her!"39
FamilyVoice Submission to the Senate inquiry into Domestic Violence and Gender Inequality 8 Clothing
Inappropriate clothing is marketed to children from a young age. For example, high-cut shorts, see- through tops, bikinis for girls as young as four, and bras for girls as young as two. 40,41,42,43,44
Even baby clothing is not immune from sexual content. For example, Cotton On fashion stores featured baby clothing with slogans such as: • The condom broke • Pardon my nipple breath • I'm living proof my mum is easy • I'm a tits man • Mummy likes it on top • Wipe my butt sucker • I like big boobs and I cannot lie • So hot right now • I'm bringing sexy back • Practice safe sucks45
Apparently unfazed, Cotton On Group marketing manager Emily Checinski said: The slogan products aren't for everyone, but there's definitely a place in our society for provocative humour that pushes the boundaries…46
Body products
National cosmetics company LUSH featured a poster in its stores showing a rear view of four naked women. One complainant stated: It was placed at a child’s eye level in a shopping centre. It shows naked women touching other naked women and it is shown in a public place… I was unable to shield my children from exposure to this advert as it was on a poster in the centre aisle of the shopping centre. When I contacted Lush, they said that the women in the photo consented so it was OK — I’m sorry but I never consented for myself or my children to be exposed to nudity on our weekly shopping trip!”47
The Advertising Standards Board found against the advertisement and it was subsequently pulled down, but it should never have been permitted to go up in the first place.48
Photography
In 2013, a Wollongong psychologist complained about a poster at a ModelKids booth in a Westfield shopping centre which he said sexualised children. The poster featured a topless boy with low riding shorts and a girl with a bare midriff.49 The psychologist said: These are children that are adopting an adult posture that is normally seen or understood as being sexual…
FamilyVoice Submission to the Senate inquiry into Domestic Violence and Gender Inequality 9 Why is there a need for an organisation to select this type of image? They could have picked another image with kids who are normally dressed, happy-go-lucky, and that would have been perfectly acceptable.50
Camper vans
Wicked Campers has featured sexual advertising on its vans. One of the worst examples is the slogan: “…In every princess there is a little slut who wants to try it just once…”51
Sydney mother Paula Orbea, who started a petition against the advertisement, said: I just feel like it's wallpapering our lives, this idea, this obsession with sex, and creating a sex- obsessed male and a victim female, a hyper-sexualised 'asking for it' female. 52
The Advertising Standards Board has condemned several Wicked Campers slogans, but is powerless to enforce its rulings.
Recommendation 4:
Strategies need to be developed for protecting children from premature sexualisation and cultural influences that treat others as mere objects to be used and abused for gratification.
4.3. Education
School programs need to be reviewed to ensure that they do not contribute to the sexualisation of children. The Safe Schools Coalition Australia program is a recent example of inadequate vetting.
Safe Schools Coalition Australia Program
One of the most disturbing aspects of the Safe Schools Coalition “anti-bullying” program now being implemented in more than 500 schools across Australia was its promotion of the website Minus18, with links to pornographic websites and advice to students on how to override internet filters.53,54
Queensland federal MP George Christensen detailed these – and other – concerns in his speech to the House of Representatives on 25 February 2016, where he said (in part): Mr CHRISTENSEN (Dawson—The Nationals Deputy Whip) (16:54): I rise as a voice for the thousands of parents who have been shocked when they discovered how the ironically named Safe Schools program is indoctrinating their children. When those parents consider just how unsafe this program is, they will wonder why the federal government is allowing it to be implemented in schools, much less spending $8 million of taxpayer money to fund it. The things that the Safe Schools Coalition Australia are recommending to school students include pornographic web content, sex shops, adult online communities and sex clubs. The Safe Schools 'All of Us' teaching resource directs students to the LGBT organisation Twenty10. On 19 January this year, Twenty10 hosted a hands-on workshop for youth on sex toys and sadomasochistic practices. ‘All of Us’ also directs students to the website of the LGBT youth organisation Minus18, which produced most of the Safe Schools resources. Minus18 advised the students on chest binding, penis tucking, sex toys and sex advice such as 'penis-in-vagina sex is not the only sex and certainly not the ultimate sex'. Minus18 links to The Tool Shed—an online pornographic sex shop offering a range of sex toys, sadomasochistic items and pornography. Minus18 recommends Scarleteen—a teen sex advice
FamilyVoice Submission to the Senate inquiry into Domestic Violence and Gender Inequality 10 site that promotes group sex, sex toys and sadomasochism. Minus18 is an event partner with Melbourne gay bar the GH Hotel, which features erotic homosexual entertainment… These links to sexually explicit web content and external organisations of an adult or erotic nature raise serious concerns about child safety. Further, Safe Schools provides instructions to children on how to hide their internet browsing history. It advises them to ask for restricted websites that are blocked at school—and would be blocked at home—to be unblocked by their teachers without parental knowledge. If parents knew their children were being exposed to this type of material, they would probably not let them go to school…55
In March 2016, federal education minister Simon Birmingham announced some changes to the program. While these changes are welcome, the program remains fundamentally flawed. Its promotion as an “anti-bullying” program has been recently called into question.
On 13 June 2014 program co-founder Roz Ward admitted that (emphasis added): Safe Schools Coalition is about supporting gender and sexual diversity. Not about celebrating diversity. Not about stopping bullying. About gender and sexual diversity. About same-sex attractive. About being transgender. About being lesbian, gay, bisexual – say the words – transgender, intersex. Not just “Be nice to everyone. Everyone’s great.”56
Rather than preventing bullying, the “Safe Schools” program has triggered bullying of peaceful students who are reluctant to participate in the program’s political activities. The mother of a student at a Safe Schools Coalition Australia school wrote about her concerns in 2015: The Safe Schools Coalition Australia program has been a cause of stress, anxiety and tears for my child – who strongly agrees with the anti-bullying message, but does not support all values endorsed by and associated with the LGBTIQ (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Intersex Queer) movement. Students who take issue with some aspects of the program are themselves feeling bullied and are being told they are ignorant and homophobic.57
Recommendation 5:
The Australian Government should cancel taxpayer funding for the Safe Schools Coalition program and invest in genuine anti-bullying alternatives.
4.4. Entertainment
Children are being bombarded with sexual content across a number of popular entertainment media including television, the internet, movies and social media.
Pornography
Pornography objectifies women. It “demeans and cheapens them, because it sells a fantasy where men are always in control and get what they want.”58 The exposure of boys to pornography has resulted in warped sexual expectations. As anti-sexualisation campaigner Melinda Tankard Reist has stated: Our boys are looking at porn not only before they've had sex, before they've even had their first kiss and they think what they're seeing is normal. ...
FamilyVoice Submission to the Senate inquiry into Domestic Violence and Gender Inequality 11 ... Girls tell us that boys expect them to provide what's known as PSE, the porn star experience. Boys expect that girls will provide for them everything they've seen in pornography and that the girls want that.59
One 18 year old boy speaking of the impact of pornography on him put it bluntly: I'd watched so much porn, I thought, "All chicks dig this, all chicks want this done to them, all chicks want it up here, all chicks love it there." So I tried all this stuff and, yeah, it turned out bad. 60
Allison Pearson, a columnist for The Telegraph in London, has written in her column that: 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 she wanted to, or because she enjoyed it – on the contrary – but because a boy expected her 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.” Her patients were deeply ashamed at presenting with such injuries. They had lied to their mums about it and felt they couldn’t confide in anyone else, which only added to their distress. When Sue questioned them further, they said they were humiliated by the experience, but they had simply not felt they could say no. Anal sex was standard among teenagers now, even though the girls knew that it hurt.61
Psychologist Russell Pratt has highlighted the pressure faced by girls to comply with porn-inspired sexual demands: Anal sex is requested routinely by young men. Young women feel that they have to oblige.62
One study found that porn use by either partner made teen girls five times more likely to engage in group sex.63
The Daily Mail reported on a former “softcore” pornography editor Martin Daubney’s interviews with youths about porn: A group of 13- to 14-year-olds told him they had all seen anal porn – and virtually all had witnessed bestiality. "Letting our children consume [porn] freely via the internet is like leaving heroin lying around the house," Daubney told the Daily Mail. Daubney recoiled when a 19-year-old told him, "I can't hold down a relationship for longer than three weeks. I want porn sex with real girls, but sex with them just isn't as good as the porn."64
Professor Gail Dines – author of Pornland: how porn has hijacked our sexuality – found that: When you interview young women about their experiences of sex, you see an increased level of violence: rough, violent sex. That is directly because of porn, as young boys are getting their sexual cues from men in porn who are acting as if they're sexual psychopaths. Pornography is sexually traumatising an entire generation of boys.65
RMIT University research fellow Dr Meagan Tyler has stated:
FamilyVoice Submission to the Senate inquiry into Domestic Violence and Gender Inequality 12 We also know that porn from the mid-to-late 1990s has become a lot more hardcore. We’re seeing the mainstreaming of choking, which a lot of young women complain about.66
Disturbingly, one study found that more than four in ten girls between the ages of 13 and 17 had been coerced into sex.68
Boys at a Sydney school suffered sexual abuse at the hands of a number of other year one students. 69,70 Year one students at the school had previously viewed inappropriate material on their tablets during class. 71
The Daily Telegraph reported that: The scandal only came to light when a tearful six-year-old victim went home and told his mum what was happening.
Shockingly this was all happening in the toilets and out-of-bounds parts of the school’s outdoor play area at its Summer Hill campus.72
Also in 2015, The Australian reported that “a four-year-old boy has required a chaperone to stop him assaulting other children in ‘sex games’ at a South Australian kindergarten.”73
The boys had taken their abusive lead from pornography. As shocking as this, it is not surprising. As the Australia Institute noted in its “Youth and Pornography in Australia: Evidence on the extent of exposure and likely effects” report: In experimental studies, adults show significant strengthening of attitudes supportive of sexual aggression following exposure to pornography.74
Another study found that fourteen per cent of boys use porn daily and 20 per cent of boys in their late teens are dependent on it.75,76
Sexting The ready availability of technologies such as mobile phones that function as cameras, and the internet, have created a situation in which sexual images and messages can be more rapidly and widely disseminated. Applications such as Snapchat, which enable an image to be seen by the recipient for only a few seconds before it is deleted, further encourage the behaviour.
Highlighting the prevalence of sexting, a Canadian study found that: Almost one in ten… students said they had sent a sext of themselves, while about one in four said they had received a sext. Boys were twice as likely to be sent a sext than girls. The numbers were higher among the oldest Grade 11 students in the study, with almost one in five saying they had sent a sext and one in three saying they had been sent one.77
Adolescents may give little thought to the consequences of creating and sharing a naked picture of themselves with another person. The consequences include the ease with which such an image may
FamilyVoice Submission to the Senate inquiry into Domestic Violence and Gender Inequality 13 be widely distributed to others and the permanence of the image that cannot be recalled and deleted.
Film
Films such as Fifty Shades of Grey are contributing to a highly sexualised culture. The film has been slammed as it “[p]romotes torture as sexually gratifying, graphic nudity, encourages stalking and abuse of power, promotes female inequality, glamorises and legitimises violence against women.”78
Speaking about the film’s impact and sexually explicit material more generally, comedian Russell Brand said: … Soft cultural smog like 'Fifty Shades of Grey' is making it impossible for us to relate to our own sexuality, our own psychology and our own spirituality, because this powerful primal resource, whenever it's plugged in, it's jarring and distracting… Living in the culture now where there's just icebergs of filth floating through every house on Wi-Fi, it's inconceivable what it must be like to be a young adolescent boy now with this kind of access to porn. It must be dizzying and exciting but corrupting in a way that we can't even think about…79
Television
A report from the Parents Television Council (PTC) in the US found that underage female characters feature in almost double the amount of dramatised sexual activity compared with adult characters in television shows popular with 12 – 17 year olds.80
PTC president Tim Winter stated: The results from this report show Tinseltown's eagerness to not only objectify and fetishise young girls, but to sexualise them in such a way that real teens are led to believe their sole value comes from their sexuality… Storylines on the most popular shows among teens are sending the message to our daughters that being sexualised isn't just acceptable, it should be sought after. 81
One episode of Glee, which was broadcast on Channel 10, featured a homosexual couple and a heterosexual couple – both of high school age in the series – losing their virginity.82
PTC has also criticised Glee actresses Lea Michele and Dianna Agron's “quasi-pornographic poses” for a GQ magazine shoot which had high school-like clothing and sets.83
Child beauty pageant reality TV show Toddlers & Tiaras, which is broadcast on Foxtel, featured a 3-year-old girl dressed in attire strikingly similar to that worn by Julia Robert’s prostitute character in the film Pretty Woman.84
In a most disturbing example of the child sexualisation on television, Angry Boys, a joint production between the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and HBO, featured a young girl drinking from a penis-shaped water bottle.85,86
Musical performances
Children are often exposed to sexual content at their idols’ music concerts. A Miley Cyrus performance in Western Australia was reported as follows:
FamilyVoice Submission to the Senate inquiry into Domestic Violence and Gender Inequality 14 Cyrus - famous for the sweet schoolgirl persona of Hannah Montana - cut a totally different figure on stage at Burswood on Saturday night, dressed in tiny leather hot pants, a sparkling bra and boot-suspenders attached to her shorts. Cyrus's dance moves, complete with crotch-grabbing and sexy hair-flicking, surprised some, given the age of many of the 18-year-old's singer's fans.87
Her performance in Sydney was similarly racy.88
A previous Lady Gaga performance was so racy and inappropriate that there were calls for a classification system for concerts.91
Music clips
Many music clips are sexual in nature, but some are worse than others. They highlight the need for action to address the situation.
The clip for the 2015 song Booty by Jennifer Lopez, featuring Australia’s Iggy Azalea, has the two stars dancing scantily-clad and rubbing their backsides against one another. 92 It has been described as “a puerile, porn-inspired dance.”93
Miley Cyrus swings naked on a wrecking ball in her music clip for the song of the same name (“Wrecking Ball”).94
Speaking on the culture of the music industry, singer Charlotte Church has stated that: What this industry seems to want of its women increasingly is sex objects that appear childlike. Take your clothes off, show you're an adult.97 …Whilst I can't defer all the blame away from myself, I was barely out of my teenage years, and the consequence of this portrayal of me is that now I am frequently abused on social media… Now I find it difficult to promote my music where it would be best suited. 98
Smartphone applications
Smartphone app Star Girl which was rated for four year olds has been criticised for “promoting “gold digging”, bondage-inspired lingerie and flirting for rewards at nightclubs.”99
FamilyVoice Submission to the Senate inquiry into Domestic Violence and Gender Inequality 15 Recommendation 6
The Australian Government should (a) cancel taxpayer funding of any organisation or agency that promotes premature sexualisation of children and (b) require Internet Service Providers to restrict online access by children to material that would be restricted in other formats, such as print, film or DVD.
5. Government initiatives in addressing the underlying causes of domestic violence
The terms of reference refer specifically to the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children, which is a government program funded by the federal Department of Social Services.100
As mentioned in section 3.1 above, the evidence is that domestic violence is not confined to male aggression against women. Nearly one in three victims of domestic violence is a male victim of a female perpetrator. In many cases the violence is mutual, which led researcher David Fergusson and his colleagues in the Christchurch longitudinal study to conclude that “commonly occurring domestic violence may be better conceptualized as an issue relating to violent partnerships rather than violent individuals”.101
The National Plan is unhelpfully dismissive of violence against men perpetrated by women: While a small proportion of men are victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, the majority of people who experience this kind of violence are women in a home, at the hands of men they know.102
This dismissal of one in three victims of domestic violence as “a small proportion” is offensive to men. The recent report of the murder of David Edwards by his wife highlighted the difficulties faced by men: Male domestic violence victims can’t get help even when their lives are at risk, says brother of lawyer killed by his wife • Sharon Edwards, 42, jailed for life this week for killing husband David, 51 • Mr Edwards' brother, Peter, 50, said double standards made him vulnerable • Men often struggle to stand up for themselves and are ashamed of abuse • Nineteen men are murdered by their partners or ex-partners each year103
The National Plan asserts that: Evidence shows that key predictors of violence against women relate to how individuals, communities and society as a whole view the roles of men and women. Some of the strongest predictors for holding violence‐supportive attitudes at the individual level are low levels of support for gender equality and following traditional gender stereotypes.104
However, the basis for this assertion is far from clear. The reference in the National Plan is to the 2009 VicHealth, National survey on community attitudes to violence against women 2009.105 Yet the VicHealth survey provided little evidence of a correlation between traditional gender roles and violent attitudes. Rather, the assertion relies heavily on feminist ideology, which is intrinsically hostile to men.
FamilyVoice Submission to the Senate inquiry into Domestic Violence and Gender Inequality 16 Columnist Bettina Arndt recently observed that: More than 1700 articles in peer-reviewed journals conclude domestic violence is not a gender issue; both women and men are actively involved in most violence in the home; women often initiate violence, and it isn’t simply self-defence.106
Martin Fiebert of the Department of Psychology, California State University has assembled a bibliography of 286 scholarly investigations demonstrating that women are as physically aggressive, or more aggressive, than men in their relationships with their spouses or male partners.107 The aggregate sample size in the reviewed studies exceeds 371,600.
Recommendation 7:
The National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children should be renamed the National Plan to Reduce Domestic Violence and re-written to encompass all forms of domestic violence and recognise that men, women and children can be both perpetrators and victims.
6. Conclusion
Cultural conditions contribute to the incidence of domestic violence. However, claims that domestic violence is caused by “gender stereotypes” or “gender inequality” are driven more by feminist ideology than evidence.
More likely factors leading to increasing domestic violence are: • fewer couples marrying and more living in de facto relationships, which are more likely to be violent; • more men becoming addicted to online pornography, which promotes the abuse and exploitation of women; • growing abuse of drugs such as “ice” that are associated with violent behaviour.
Of particular concern are the cultural influences that are sexualising children at a young age. These have a dehumanising effect, highlighted most disturbingly by the new phenomenon of child-on-child sexual abuse.
The government-funded National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children inappropriately omits consideration of male victims of violence perpetrated by women. It should be renamed the National Plan to Reduce Domestic Violence and re written to encompass all forms of domestic violence and recognise that men, women and children can be both perpetrators and victims.
FamilyVoice Submission to the Senate inquiry into Domestic Violence and Gender Inequality 17 7. Endnotes
1. Personal Safety Survey Australia 2005, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Cat. No. 4906.0, Reissued 21 August 2006: http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/056A404DAA576AE6CA2571D00080E985/$File/49 060_2005%20(reissue).pdf
2. Ibid., p 9.
3. Ibid., p 10.
4. Ibid., p 30.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid., p 40.
7. Fergusson DM, Horwood LJ, Ridder EM., “Partner violence and mental health outcomes in a New Zealand birth cohort”, Journal of Marriage and the Family, 2005, 67, pp 1103-1119: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bpl/jomf/2005/00000067/00000005/art00001
8. Virueda, M and Payne, J, Homicide in Australia: 2007-08 national homicide monitoring program annual report, Australian Institute of Criminology, 2010, Table 10, p 20: http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/8/9/D/%7B89DEDC2D-3349-457C-9B3A-9AD9DAFA7256%7Dmr13_003.pdf
9. Dearden, J, and Jones, W, Homicide in Australia: 2006-07 national homicide monitoring program annual report, Australian Institute of Criminology, 2008, p 57: http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/F/F/B/%7BFFB9E49F-160F-43FC-B98D-6BC510DC2AFD%7Dmr01.pdf
10. Natasha Bobic, Adolescent Violence Towards Parents, Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse Topic Paper, 2004: http://www.adfvc.unsw.edu.au/PDF%20files/adolescent_violence.pdf
11. “Violence towards parents by young people”, Women’s and Children’s Health Network: http://www.cyh.com.au/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetails.aspx?p=114&np=99&id=1729 (accessed 29 May 2015).
12. Michael Jensen, “I oppose same-sex marriage (and no, I'm not a bigot)”, The Drum, 29 May 2015: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-28/jensen-i-oppose-same-sex-marriage-and-no-im-not-a- bigot/6502850 (accessed 29 May 2015).
13. “Luke Batty murder of rarest kind: inquest”, News.com.au, 5 December 2014: http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/luke-batty-murder-of-rarest-kind-inquest/story-e6frfku9- 1227146378986 (accessed 29 May 2015).
14. Lucia Osborne-Crowley, “Two women are now killed by domestic violence every week. The time for discussion is over. It's time to act.”, Women’s Agenda, 19 February 2015: http://www.womensagenda.com.au/talking-about/top-stories/two-women-are-now-killed-by-domestic- violence-every-week-the-time-for-discussion-is-over-it-s-time-to-act/201502185319#.VWe7lk37670 (accessed 29 May 2015).
15. Douglas A. Brownridge, “Elevated Risk for Violence Against Cohabiting Women: A Comparison of Three Nationally Representative Surveys of Canada”, Violence Against Women, 14(7) July 2008, pp 809-832: https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/Abstract.aspx?id=245443 (accessed 29 May 2015).
16. Emma Partridge, “Porn and domestic violence: NSW Police says respect for women from young men crucial”, Sydney Morning Herald, 7 December 2014: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/porn-and-domestic-
FamilyVoice Submission to the Senate inquiry into Domestic Violence and Gender Inequality 18
violence-nsw-police-says-respect-for-women-from-young-men-crucial-20141207-1205hy.html (accessed 29 May 2015).
17. Joe Hildebrand, ”Ice epidemic could bring nation to its knees, warns NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione”, The Daily Telegraph, 31 March 2015: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ice-epidemic-could-bring- nation-to-its-knees-warns-nsw-police-commissioner-andrew-scipione/story-e6freuy9-1227285222295 (accessed 29 May 2015).
18. "Sex differences in human physiology", Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_differences_in_human_physiology
19. Jack Claridge, "Determining Sex", Explore Forensics, 24 February 2016, http://www.exploreforensics.co.uk/determining-sex.html
20. Madhura Ingalhalikara, et al., "Sex differences in the structural connectome of the human brain", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 1 November 2013, http://www.pnas.org/content/111/2/823
21. Ian Sample, "Male and female brains wired differently, scans reveal", The Guardian Australian Edition, 3 December 2013, https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/02/men-women-brains-wired-differently
22. "Sex differences in psychology", Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_differences_in_psychology
23. Robert Bork, “Slouching Towards Gomorrah”, Harper Perennial, Chapter 11
24. Bellinda Kontominas, "Domestic violence a 'silent epidemic' in gay relationships", Sydney Morning Herald, 30 May 2015, http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/domestic-violence-a-silent-epidemic-in-gay-relationships- 20150415-1mm4hg.html
25. Colleen Stiles-Shields & Richard A. Carroll (2015), “Same-Sex Domestic Violence: Prevalence, Unique Aspects, and Clinical Implications, Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 41:6, 636-648
26. Messinger, A M, (2011), “Invisible victims: Same-sex IPV in the National Violence Against Women Survey”, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 26, 2228-2243
27. Colleen Stiles-Shields & Richard A. Carroll (2015), “Same-Sex Domestic Violence: Prevalence, Unique Aspects, and Clinical Implications, Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 41:6, 639
28. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, “The National Intimate & Partner Sexual Violence Survey”, 2010, http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/cdc_nisvs_victimization_final-a.pdf
29. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, “The National Intimate & Partner Sexual Violence Survey”, 2010, http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/cdc_nisvs_victimization_final-a.pdf
30. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, “The National Intimate & Partner Sexual Violence Survey”, 2010, http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/cdc_nisvs_victimization_final-a.pdf
31. Maya Shwayder, "A Same-Sex Domestic Violence Epidemic Is Silent", The Atlantic, 5 November 2013, http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/11/a-same-sex-domestic-violence-epidemic-is- silent/281131/ ,
32. Maya Shwayder, "A Same-Sex Domestic Violence Epidemic Is Silent", The Atlantic, 5 November 2013, http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/11/a-same-sex-domestic-violence-epidemic-is- silent/281131/
33. Robert Rector, Patrick F. Fagan, Ph.D. and Kirk A. Johnson, Ph.D., "Marriage: Still the Safest Place For Women and Children", Heritage Foundation, 9 March 2004, http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2004/03/marriage-still-the-safest-place-for-women-and-children
FamilyVoice Submission to the Senate inquiry into Domestic Violence and Gender Inequality 19
34. Nicholas Zill, "Kids of Single Parents More Likely to Witness Domestic Violence", Family Studies: The Blog of the Institute for Family Studies, 5 January 2015, http://family-studies.org/children-in-single-parent- families-are-more-likely-to-witness-domestic-violence/
35. Shannan Catalano, Ph.D., "Intimate Partner Violence, 1993–2010", US Department of Justice, 29 September 2015, page 6, http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/ipv9310.pdf
36. Shannan Catalano, Ph.D., "Intimate Partner Violence, 1993–2010", US Department of Justice, 29 September 2015, page 6, http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/ipv9310.pdf
37. W. Bradford Wilcox, "Marriage alone doesn’t do it. But intact families are certainly a factor", 13 June 2014, http://www.nationalreview.com/article/380285/protecting-women-and-girls-w-bradford-wilcox
38. Bratz dolls, Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field- keywords=bratz+dolls
39. "Over-sexed and over here: The 'tarty' Bratz Doll", Daily Mail Australia, 20 October 2006, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-411266/Over-sexed-The-tarty-Bratz-Doll.html
40. "Target faces backlash over 'inappropriate' girls clothing", Lateline, ABC, 14 August 2012, http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2012/s3567965.htm
41. "Retailer criticised for portraying kids as adults", ABC News, 6 October 2010, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-10-06/retailer-criticised-for-portraying-kids-as-adults/2288008
42. "Best & Less to remove bras for toddlers from stores", Collective Shout, 17 April 2013, http://www.collectiveshout.org/best_less_to_remove_bras_for_toddlers_from_stores
43. James Robertson, "Gwyneth Paltrow accused of sexualising young girls after promoting controversial bikini range for kids", 23 April 2013, http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/gwyneth-paltrow-accused- sexualising-young-1848832
44. Keith Kendrick, "Liz Hurley Slammed Over Leopard Print Bikinis For Girls Under 8", Huffington Post, 14 August 2014, http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/08/14/liz-hurley-slammed-over-leopard-print-bikinis-for- girls-under-8_n_7330274.html
45. "Cotton On's risque kids' T-shirt slogans under attack", News.com.au, 22 July 2009, http://www.news.com.au/news/cotton-ons-risque-kids-t-shirt-slogans-under-attack/story-fna7dq6e- 1225752921501
46. "Cotton On's risque kids' T-shirt slogans under attack", News.com.au, 22 July 2009, http://www.news.com.au/news/cotton-ons-risque-kids-t-shirt-slogans-under-attack/story-fna7dq6e- 1225752921501
47. "Lush cosmetics pulls ‘pornographic’ advert from stores", News.com.au, 12 October 2015, http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/lush-cosmetics-pulls-pornographic-advert-from-stores/story- fnkgdftz-1227566619365
48. "Lush cosmetics pulls ‘pornographic’ advert from stores", News.com.au, 12 October 2015, http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/lush-cosmetics-pulls-pornographic-advert-from-stores/story- fnkgdftz-1227566619365
49. "Wollongong psychologist's poster complaint", Illawarra Mercury, 5 October 2013, http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/1821310/wollongong-psychologists-poster-complaint/#slide=1
50. "Wollongong psychologist's poster complaint", Illawarra Mercury, 5 October 2013, http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/1821310/wollongong-psychologists-poster-complaint/#slide=1
FamilyVoice Submission to the Senate inquiry into Domestic Violence and Gender Inequality 20
51. "Australia's Wicked campervan company under fire for 'misogynistic, sexist' slogans", ABC News, 14 July 2014, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-13/wicked-campers-under-fire-for-sexist-slogans/5592984
52. "Australia's Wicked campervan company under fire for 'misogynistic, sexist' slogans", ABC News, 14 July 2014, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-13/wicked-campers-under-fire-for-sexist-slogans/5592984
53. Safe Schools Coalition Australia website, http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/
54. Minus18 website, https://minus18.org.au/
55. George Christensen, "Safe Schools Program", Hansard, House of Representatives, 25 February 2016, p 81
56. "Safe Schools not about bullying - Roz Ward", 13 June 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egefPQOppl4
57. Roslyn Phillips, "The school bullying problem", VoxBrief, February 2016.
58. Martin Daubney, "The lads' mag I edited turned a generation on to porn - and now I'm a father I bitterly regret it: A remarkable confession from the longest-serving editor of Loaded", DailyMail, 9 June 2012, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2156593/The-lads-mag-I-edited-turned-generation-porn--Im-father- I-bitterly-regret-A-remarkable-confession-longest-serving-editor-Loaded.html#ixzz3uutKm132
59. "Porn's distortions need addressing at school, educators argue", 7.30 Report, ABC, 4 June 2015, http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2015/s4249183.htm
60. "Porn's distortions need addressing at school, educators argue", 7.30 Report, ABC, 4 June 2015, http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2015/s4249183.htm
61. Allison Pearson, "Pornography has changed the landscape of adolescence beyond all recognition", The Telegraph, 22 April 2015, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/mother-tongue/11554595/Pornography-has- changed-the-landscape-of-adolescence-beyond-all-recognition.html
62. "Porn's distortions need addressing at school, educators argue", 7.30 Report, ABC, 4 June 2015, http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2015/s4249183.htm
63. Ben Johnson, "Porn use makes teen girls five times more likely to have group sex: study", Lifesite News, 22 December 2011, https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/porn-use-makes-teen-girls-five-times-more-likely-to- have-group-sex-study
64. Ben Johnson, "20% of boys in late teens ‘dependent on porn,’ UK study finds", Lifesite News, 1 October 2013, https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/20-of-boys-in-late-teens-dependent-on-porn-uk-study- finds
65. Martin Daubney, "Experiment that convinced me online porn is the most pernicious threat facing children today: By ex-lads' mag editor MARTIN DAUBNEY", Daily Mail Australia, 26 September 2013, www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2432591/Porn-pernicious-threat-facing-children-today-By-ex-lads-mag- editor-MARTIN-DAUBNEY.html#ixzz3r8WaKQdv
66. Rohan Smith, "‘Boner Garage’ posts a window into the world of sexualised young women online", News.com.au, 2 June 2015, http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/boner-garage-posts-a-window- into-the-world-of-sexualised-young-women-online/story-fnet0gt3-1227378480882
67. Rohan Smith, "‘Boner Garage’ posts a window into the world of sexualised young women online", News.com.au, 2 June 2015, http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/boner-garage-posts-a-window- into-the-world-of-sexualised-young-women-online/story-fnet0gt3-1227378480882
FamilyVoice Submission to the Senate inquiry into Domestic Violence and Gender Inequality 21
68. Allison Pearson, "Pornography has changed the landscape of adolescence beyond all recognition", The Telegraph, 22 April 2015, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/mother-tongue/11554595/Pornography-has- changed-the-landscape-of-adolescence-beyond-all-recognition.html
69. Matthew Benns, “Trinity Grammar School rocked by sexual abuse scandal involving Year 1 students”, The Daily Telegraph, 15 January 2016, http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/trinity-grammar-school- rocked-by-sexual-abuse-scandal-involving-year-1-students/news-story/aca544b46d61a6462cbb3f2062354d23
70. Elize Strydom, “Trinity Grammar School: Parents informed of reports of inappropriate sexualised behaviour in Year 1”, ABC News, 17 January 2016, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-16/trinity-grammar- parents-told-of-inappropriate-sexual-behaviour/7093272
71. Matthew Benns, “Trinity Grammar School rocked by sexual abuse scandal involving Year 1 students”, The Daily Telegraph, 15 January 2016, http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/trinity-grammar-school- rocked-by-sexual-abuse-scandal-involving-year-1-students/news-story/aca544b46d61a6462cbb3f2062354d23
72. Matthew Benns, “Trinity Grammar School rocked by sexual abuse scandal involving Year 1 students”, The Daily Telegraph, 15 January 2016, http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/trinity-grammar-school- rocked-by-sexual-abuse-scandal-involving-year-1-students/news-story/aca544b46d61a6462cbb3f2062354d23
73. Natasha Bita, "Porn ‘turning kids into predators'", The Australian, 29 February 2016, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/porn-turning-kids-into-predators/news- story/7f665119f267490ab3c2595bd329e9b1?utm_content=SocialFlow&utm_campaign=EditorialSF&utm_sour ce=TheAustralian&utm_medium=Twitter
74. Michael Flood & Clive Hamilton, "Youth and Pornography in Australia: Evidence on the extent of exposure and likely effects", The Australia Institute, February 2003, page 10, http://www.tai.org.au/node/915
75. Michael Oliveira, "'Concerning pattern' of teen boys regularly viewing online porn: study", CTV News, 29 May 2014, http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/concerning-pattern-of-teen-boys-regularly-viewing-online-porn- study-1.1843443
76. Ben Johnson, "20% of boys in late teens ‘dependent on porn,’ UK study finds", LifeSite News, 1 October 2013, https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/20-of-boys-in-late-teens-dependent-on-porn-uk-study-finds
77. "'Concerning pattern' of teen boys regularly viewing online porn: study", CTV News, 29 May 2014, http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/concerning-pattern-of-teen-boys-regularly-viewing-online-porn-study- 1.1843443
78. “Fifty Shades of Grey slammed by anti-porn group who says it glamorises violence against women”, Sydney Morning Herald, 14 January 2015, www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/fifty-shades-of-grey- slammed-by-antiporn-group-who-says-it-glamorises-violence-against-women-20150114- 12nnhn.html#ixzz3q1ElokTy
79. “Russell Brand laments 'icebergs of filth' facing teens”, Daily Mercury, 26 February 2015, www.dailymercury.com.au/news/russell-brand-laments-icebergs-filth-facing-teens/2557036/
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FamilyVoice Submission to the Senate inquiry into Domestic Violence and Gender Inequality 22
82. Hollie McKay, "Straight, Gay Couples Lose Virginity on 'Glee' Episode, Spark Controversy", Fox News, 8 November 2011, http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/11/08/straight-gay-couples-lose-virginity-on- glee-episode-spark-controversy/
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84. “This 3-Year-Old From 'Toddlers And Tiaras' Is Dressed A Lot Like A Prostitute”, Business Insider Australia, 13 September 2011, http://www.businessinsider.com.au/this-3-year-old-from-todlers-and-tiaras-is- dressed-a-lot-like-a-prostitute-2011-9
85. “About the Series”, Angry Boys, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, http://www.abc.net.au/tv/angryboys/about.htm
86. “Right Wing Group Slams HBO's Angry Boys for 'Sexualising children' with girl sucking on penis cup”, Radar Online, 12 April 2012, http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2012/04/angry-boys-right-wing-group-slams- hbo-sexualizing-children/
87. "Miley Cyrus shocks Burswood concert teens with raunchy show", PerthNow, 3 July 2011, http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/miley-cyrus-concert-shock/story-fn6mh6b5-1226086594775
88. "Miley Cyrus dresses as a naughty Tweety Bird and gives fans a lot of (butt) cheek in Sydney", News.com.au, 17 October 2014, http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/music/miley-cyrus-dresses-as-a- naughty-tweety-bird-and-gives-fans-a-lot-of-butt-cheek-in-sydney/story-e6frfn29-1227094423000
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