Australia seems in a twitter lately over a research report that estimated a majority of the country's 16 and 17 year olds have seen, if not actively sought, cyberporn. And it probably shouldn't be surprising that the Australian press is having the proverbial field day with the issue. The latest: a columnist for The Age saying the real culprits may be Australian (and others') society's inability to idealize sexual restraint.
"[H]ow do you expect 16 and 17-year-old boys to rein in their curiosity when the media tantalises them daily with a barrage of sexual content? If commuter dads get to perve at a billboard on the West Gate Freeway with the legend 'Get horny tonight' over a nude copulating couple, what's the big deal if their sons browse through www.gethorny.com?" writes columnist Michael Cook.
And he goes on to say that mainstream media is worse than the actual porn in one sense. "... From a parent's point of view, even worse than the ready availability of pornography is the sniggering and innuendo that fill cool radio stations such as JJJ," Cook continues. "When was the last time you read a serious defence of virginity or modesty in a newspaper?"
The Australian Institute last week released a report suggesting that 84 percent of 16-17 year-old boys and 60 percent of 16-17 year-old girls had seen if not hunted out cyberporn. That report prompted Australia's prime minister to press national lawmakers to take the question more seriously. "The unmentionable fact," Cook writes, "is that Australian children live in a bubbling cauldron of sexuality stoked by the media and advertising - which no one is willing to censor.... Don't point the finger at the pornographers. Point it at the politicians, journalists and advertisers who won't deal with the problem because deep down they don't believe it's wrong."
