Petition calling for porn inquiry sent to Parliament

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A petition calling on an expert panel to investigate the public health effects and societal harms of pornography was presented to Parliament on April 12.

The petition received 22,334 written signatures in just two months and was received by MPs from all the major parties.

The petition states: “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 response to our petition has been phenomenal, but indicative of the community concern over this issue,” said Bob McCoskrie, national director of Family First NZ who is sponsoring the petition.

“Society is starting to catch up with the science on the harms of pornography. The research is there. It’s time we examined it and took appropriate action — and that will be the role of an independent expert panel,” said Mr McCoskrie.

“There has been an important national conversation around consent and ‘rape culture’. At the same time, there is increasing consumption and availability of online pornography and sexual violence. It’s time we connected the dots.”

Mr McCoskrie pointed to research showing that children who are exposed to pornography develop skewed ideas about sex and sexuality, which lead to negative stereotypes of women, sexual activity at a young age, and increased aggression in boys.

It is also shown that pornography places unacceptable pressure on young girls which can lead to eating disorders, body dissatisfaction, low self-esteem, depression, and other harms.

“The research also is discovering the highly addictive nature of pornography — termed by some as ‘the new drug’. These studies all highlight the extent to which porn is not a private matter to be ignored by the Government. It is a public health crisis which needs to be confronted,” Mr McCoskrie said.

“If we want to tackle sexual violence, we must first admit the role that pornography plays and the harm that it does to attitudes and actions,” he added.

The petition is an official petition to Parliament, which requires a petition form and signatures, and not an online one which can utilise signatories from all over the world to boost numbers.

This has made the speed and numbers on the petition even more extraordinary, a Family First statement noted. The official website is www.porninquiry.nz

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NZ Catholic Staff

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  1. John says

    The following are the words of a well known American.
    “We’ve got to teach our youngsters what family means, what giving to our community means, what raising good children means. We’ve got to restore a sense of shame to our society. Nothing seems to shame or outrage us anymore. We look at our television sets and see all kinds of trash, and we allow it to come into our homes. We’re not ashamed of it anymore”.
    The loss of shame is the direct result of television.

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