We don't want Debbie to do Melbourne

Dr Kerrie Allen

The Herald Sun, Tuesday 15th February

Debbie DeSanto, the star of Debbie Does Dallas, was 19 when she debuted in the film. At 26 she was dead from a drug overdose.

She said of porn: "The only reason I went in the first place was because I needed the money."

Like DeSanto, research indicates the porn industry preys on abused and vulnerable women who are desperate and have no idea of their dignity or what healthy loving relationships are.

One researcher writes: "All of these young women have profoundly sad backgrounds, child sexual abuse, physical or emotional abuse, family breakdown."

The Three Amigos production Debbie Does Dallas, The Musical opens this week in Melbourne.

It's based upon the 1970's porn film where high school girl Debbie (Bambi Woods - born Debbie DeSanto) and her friends sell their bodies for sex acts to raise money to become Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.

Even though there are no sex scenes, isn't turning a porn film into a musical trying to tell us that porn and prostitution are OK and cause no harm?

Is it OK for teenage girls (and women) to be sexually exploited by porn?

Commentaries on the musical delight in the teenage girls' naivety with regard to sex, and claim it's about a girl who grows up and becomes a woman.

How many mothers and fathers in Australia would like to associate porn with part of their daughters growing up and becoming women?

Linda Lovelace, forced by her husband who acted as her pimp, entered porn in 1969 aged 20.

She later spoke out against it stating: "You are watching me being raped."

So what are the musical and it's producers advocating in their product? Aren't they ignoring the rape of DeSanto and millions of women and girls who are sexually exploited every day by a brutal industry that sees them as nothing more than objects?

When Lovelace died, this is what one porn publisher said about her: "Good riddance to trash, to a wonderful larynx, she was a piece of s..., she was a hooker, a scumbag."

Another review of the musical says it's about girls offering small sacrifices - such as losing their virginity.

What is this saying about the dignity of our daughters? Is safe sex for teenage's only about using condoms with many partners?

What about encouraging them to maintain their virginity, or like Debbie and her friends, being used by many?

The musical's producers say it's a send-up of the original porno. Since when has exploitation been humorous?

How harmless really are the songs: The Dildo rage, and I wanna do Debbie?

The sex industry is nothing to be joked away: women are at great risk of STD's from multiple partners, and their bodies are abused through torturous acts and drugs taken to cope with hating themselves and losing self-respect.

And what does abuse do to one's self esteem? A former psychiatric nurse reports survivors (of prostitution and pornography) frequently need mental health care for posttraumatic stress disorder. Depression, brain damage, psychosis, and suicide are common. But isn't it harmless fun? No. Porn presents a fantasy of women; they're fair game, are willing try anything, enjoy being dominated.

US prostitution researcher Joe Parker writes of men who watch porn: They want to play super stud, they can be a legend in their own minds."

Research has found porn leads to increased rapes, and pedophile assaults on children.

It tells women that men are only after sex and are incapable of loving, respectful, monogamous relationships.

It tells young girls that sexiness gets them noticed (but doesn't tell them lust is no substitute for love or respect), and leaves children changed, damaged and confused.

What is acceptable touching? Should I be ashamed of virginity? It sexual violence normal?

It's no surprise research indicates no person's understanding of sexuality or experience of relationships can remain unaffected by porn.

Say no to this musical, and say yes to upholding human dignity and respect, for helping teenagers know about true love, for keeping intimate relationships free from the scum of porn, and for helping the most vulnerable.