The ministry was responding to a request from the Government and Administration Select Committee for a written submission on a petition it is considering which was presented in June 2017 by Family First's Bob McCoskrie.

The petition containing 22,334 signatures requests "that an expert panel be appointed to investigate the public health effects and societal harms of pornography to both children and adults, and to make policy recommendations to Parliament."

The Ministry has now submitted a research proposal for the consideration of the cross-government Sexual Violence Prevention Advisory Board.

The Ministry's Service Commission acting director, Keriana Brooking, says it wants to understand the scope and amount of pornography usage by New Zealanders, as well as the issues encountered by schools, young people and health providers.

In its submission, the Ministry states that violence towards women and girls is depicted in 80% of online content.

"This has a variety of harmful impacts on children and young people's sexual expectations, attitudes and behaviour.

"European research showed an association between regular viewing of pornography and initiation of sexual violence."

Australian gender and violence research Associate Professor, Michael Flood, has been recently been quoted as saying "If we're genuinely concerned about sexual harassment and abuse, whether at work or on campus or in school, then we have to address pornography."

The ministry in its submission, however, pointed out that Flood has also said that simplistic deterministic claims about the effects of viewing pornography were unhelpful.

He said the effect varies depending on the amount and nature of pornography used, and characteristics of the viewer.

Flood said a broader focus on social and public health effects of pornography would be more useful.

Source

• tvnz.co.nz
• echildhood.org
• familyfirst.org.nz
• radionz.co.nz
• familyfirst.org.nz
• Image: familyfirst

Sexually explicit material is no longer on the fringes of our culture; it's in the mainstream.

Yet while the ‘dirty secret' about porn is well and truly out, Christians still haven't made much of a dent in the problem. In fact, porn use is rife among Christians and Christian leaders.

In putting this article together I conducted a simple online survey of British Christians (see the box for more details) and, even knowing what we do about the prolificacy of porn, the results make for surprising reading.

The survey suggests that more than half of Christian men and around a fifth of Christian women in the UK are using porn on a regular or semi-regular basis.

Pornography isn't just something unpleasant going on in the world; it's right at the heart of our churches.

Why, when the Church has apparently woken up to its porn problem, is its use even more prolific than we perhaps imagined? What has enabled this? Is it time to respond in ways other than the existing, and seemingly flawed ones?

To answer these questions, let's take a step back and look at how society's relationship with adult material has shifted in recent years.

Blurred Lines

The lines between pornographic and mainstream culture have become increasingly blurry; a slow creep in a more ‘liberated' direction seems to have reached a tipping point.

When poorly written publishing phenomenon Fifty Shades of Grey (Random House) made the transition from Kindle to paperback in 2012, pre-existing shame barriers simply disappeared.

People were happy to discuss how much they enjoyed the sexually explicit book. They were proud to sit and read a copy on the train.

Without any announcement, the boundaries of acceptability had shifted. I recently noticed a dad reading a copy as he sat poolside at our children's swimming lesson. Continue reading

• Martin Saunders is Youthscape Store's director of creative development, which means he spends his time devising new youth work resources, training and events.

Cameron has set out a number of proposals, including one that would see every Internet user forced to opt in if they want to access online porn.

"We feel these are important steps in assisting parents to keep their children safe online, which should be complemented with education on online safety," Caritas said.

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