Why didn’t someone in the bar have the decency to choose something else for public display? Photo: Region.
Walking down the street in a busy inner-south shopping centre last week, I was pretty shocked to see a large sign outside a local bar advertising the cocktail of the week.
A ‘pornstar martini’.
Obviously, lurid (and stupid) cocktail names are nothing new. But surely that should be inside the bar on the menu, rather than a busy corner frequented by children from at least three local schools?
Increasingly, though, that’s not the case. Pornography is presented as a glamorous part of the mainstream, no matter what age you are.
Let me be clear about this: in the ACT, we’ve been pioneers in making sex work of all kinds safe, clearly delineating where it can happen and ensuring those workers are protected from exploitation and abuse.
I’m not talking about what happens behind closed doors in Fyshwick where people mind their own business.
My problem is with what activist (and Canberra local) Melinda Tankard Reist of Collective Shout calls the “pornification” of our culture: the increasing normalisation of pornography and consequent access to it at younger and younger ages.
In shopping arcades, lingerie shops openly reference bondage themes in their window displays. Swimwear advertising aimed at teenage girls depicts them with legs spread, faces averted.
In the UK, students are campaigning to ban the use of school uniforms in adult entertainment. They argue the sexualisation of school uniforms directly correlates with harassment of children in the street. More than 30 per cent of girls report receiving unwanted sexual attention while wearing their school uniforms.
The problem isn’t that sexual content exists, it’s that we’ve allowed it to be mainstreamed via social media and advertising, creating a world where content made by and designed for consenting adults is becoming the first experience many young people have.
That’s deeply problematic. There is rising concern about sexual choking, a practice almost unheard of outside adult films 20 years ago. Choking is always unsafe and potentially fatal, but up to 60 per cent of teenage girls now report being choked during sexual activity.
Mild to moderate pressure can cause unconsciousness, stroke or brain injury, but sexual choking has become so normalised that many teenagers expect it to happen without consent.
Charities working with teenage girls, like Canberra’s Fearless Women, report rapidly rising rates of intense anxiety among girls who feel pressured to participate in sexual activity they may not want or feel ready for. These expectations are only enhanced by “manosphere” content suggesting real men are aggressive about getting what they want sexually and boys are wimps if they don’t take charge.
We’ve worked hard to educate children clearly about sex, breaking down shame about our bodies and how they function, and that’s a good thing. The old world where people grew up in ignorance was often deeply harmful.
But commercial pornography should not be setting the norm for teenagers and young people. These performances have nothing to do with the intimacy, uncertainty, tenderness and shared exploration that should characterise first sexual relationships.
Just as sex workers deserve safe working conditions, children also deserve protection from a commercial sexual culture they aren’t ready for.
In Australia, we’re taking on the challenge of engagement-driven algorithms and tackling children’s access to social media. But this isn’t just the government’s role to manage.
Commercial marketers can and should think more deeply about mainstreaming pornographic references for products aimed at young people. Keeping children safe and healthy is everyone’s responsibility.
A street sign and a silly name for a cocktail might seem minor. But I wondered why someone in the bar didn’t have the decency to choose something else instead for public display – and perhaps think about protecting their own children as they did so.
Genevieve Jacobs is the CEO of Hands Across Canberra, the ACT’s community foundation.
