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Family Update is the regular publication of the Australian Family Association.

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Family Update - April-May 2007 Vol.22 No.1 2007

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Things Worth Fighting For

Even in these first few months of 2007 it is apparent
that the AFA faces many challenges. Euthanasia
legislation has been tabled in the South Australian
and Federal Parliament and is a real possibility in
Victoria. The push for legal and social recognition of
homosexual relationships and of same sex partners
as co-parents is ongoing in State and Federal
Parliaments and at the Municipal level. Governments
are continually lobbied to adopt policies that
facilitate increased workforce participation for men
and women with parenting responsibilities while the
child-care industry vigorously promotes itself as the
best “provider” of “early childhood development”.

With these challenges also come opportunities
especially in view of the upcoming Federal Election
in November.

The National Executive of the AFA has met to
decide on the best focus of resources in response to
the range of excellent proposals raised at the August
National Conference. In the context of an election
year, the areas of focus were identified as:

• The promotion of strategies to filter pornography
from Internet service provision.
• Challenging harm minimisation approaches to
drug addiction.
• Public policy acknowledgment that the needs
of infants and young children especially, but
also older children and adolescents, are best
met in the context of loving family care. We will
work to achieve public policy change to better
enable families’ real choice to work out an
appropriate level of workforce participation that
does not compromise the care of their children.

• Reform of advertising standards to address the
serious problem of premature sexualization
of children and adolescents. We will work to
achieve reform that delivers accountable and
transparent regulation. We need complaints
mechanisms that give substantial weight to
the effects of advertising on the social and
psychological development of children and
young people and enables review processes for
bureau decisions.
Pornography regulation and online
filtering

Since late last year, the AFA has been fighting to
keep current regulations in place for pornographic
films. The next stage in this fight will take us to
the Federal Court to argue against Adultshop.com’s
attack on the X Classification.

The impact of pornography in our society is of
course a continuing concern. The campaign to
achieve proper regulation of access to Internet porn
and the protection of children and adolescents
continues. A trial of Internet filtering is due to
commence in the next couple of months and has
now been widened to include some Internet Service
Providers in NSW and Victoria as well as Tasmania.
Various approaches continue to be investigated to
create a much safer online experience for children
and adolescents. The AFA will be discussing the
issue at the upcoming World Congress of Familles
in Warsaw, Poland in May 2007.
Currently, the Federal Government has been slow
to deliver on the online child protection strategies
that were announced by Minister Helen Coonan
last year.

Advertising standards and the sexualization of children

The consumption and promotion of pornography
on the Internet and through the “adult industry” is
having corrosive effects on our society, through its
impact on men’s perceptions of women’s sexuality,
on relationships and also on children. More and
more we can see that the porn genre is seeping
into our streets through increasingly lax advertising
standards for both the adult industry and also for
other mainstream products ranging from fashion and
beverages through to medical and cosmetic services.
The ongoing Lee Jeans billboard campaign is the
work of a US photographer commissioned because
of his notoriety and his predilection for sexually
explicit, pornographic and offensive photography.
The pornographic stereotyping and characterisations
that are the stuff of “raunch culture” are increasingly
evident in music videos targeted at children and
adolescents and in the marketing strategies for toys
such as the Bratz doll range and children’s clothing.
It is very likely that a community backlash is developing against
the increasingly offensive and excessive liberties of marketers.
Concerns are being raised across the political spectrum.
Recent advertising for Dolce and Gabbana depicting what
looked like the beginnings of a gang rape has only just
been cancelled in Italy. Initially the fashion company resisted

protests from community groups and governments
members from across the political spectrum. The
textile workers union also called for a boycott. The
company originally sought to defend their “artistic”
ad claiming, “We were looking to recreate a game
of seduction in the campaign and highlight the
beauty of our collections”.

Dolce and Gabanna have been vigorously pushing
advertising standards boundaries in Europe and the
UK for some time and have a reputation for using
risque, porn referenced and sexually suggestive
ads especially targeted at the youth and gay markets.
A recent series of advertisements have been banned in
the UK for glamourising violence and the use of knives.
In Australia, our Advertising Standards Bureau, has
frequently rejected complaints about the sexually
suggestive and porn referenced campaigns like
that of Lee Jeans. Once a complaint has been
dealt with, the Bureau is empowered to refuse any
further consideration of the advertisement for 4
years. Little consideration has been evidenced of
concerns raised about the effect of advertising on
the premature sexualisation of children.
The Australia Institute took on the issue and
explored the impacts on children and adolescents
of this type of advertising. In addition they also
sought to explore the possible problems created by
what it saw as the more subtly sexualised images of
children in the advertising of a range of mainstream
retailers like David Jones. Rather than engaging
in community debate about what is a very serious
issue and giving consideration to the possible effects
of their marketing strategies, David Jones instead
has taken legal action under the Trade Practices Act
against the Institute.
In Australia we can only expect matters to get worse
unless community feeling about the matter can be
harnessed in an effective campaign. Hence it is
hoped that during this election year, the AFA will
be able to lobby both the Liberal and Labor Parties to get serious
about proper regulation of adverting standards. It is hoped
that the inclusion of stronger public interest considerations
could be introduced into the regulatory framework and that
explicit protections will be put in place to protect children
and adolescents from injurious or excessively manipulative
marketing pressures.

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