Aussie Prof Says Porn Makes the World a Better Place

BRISBANE, Queensland—It's been seven years since two professors from the University of New South Wales and one from the Queensland University of Technology published their exhaustive study of the production and use of pornography in the "land down under," titled The Porn Report—and now, yet another Queenslander, dubbed "one of the world's foremost academic experts on pornography" by TV station 612 ABC Brisbane, has weighed in on the subject. According to Prof. Brian McNair, "There is a growing acceptance and tolerance of pornography as something ordinary people do or use," in large part because accessing sexually explicit material is easier than it's ever been. "Children as young as 8, 9 or 10 have access to pornography, hard-core explicit images of a type that could not be purchased legally, or even in sex shops in Sydney," McNair told the station's reporter Spencer Howson. "That is a qualitatively different environment than existed pre-internet, so it creates justified anxieties amongst parents about what their children are watching in their bedrooms at night. "That said, there is no evidence that today's generation of young people are behaving any differently in relation to sex, marriage, pregnancy, children or STDs than previous generations," McNair concluded. "The statistics in all of these elements are improving." McNair apparently also has a different opinion than The Porn Report's authors, who included a short description of how some adult movies are cast that was at odds with the experiences of adult performers in the U.S., though we can't speak for how things may be done differently in Australia—and McNair comes out four-square against censoring the material. "Apart from the very clear and unambiguously bad forms of pornography, I do not think it is helpful for the state to intervene and try to censor the internet for everyone," he said, possibly referring to moves by the Australian government to put further restrictions on what content its citizens may access. "Whether or not you attribute broader social harms to pornography, there is no evidence that increasing access to pornography is somehow generating more sexual abuse or violence ... or the other things that sometimes pornography is accused of. "There is evidence of greater tolerance of gay marriage, reduced tolerance of domestic violence and sexism," McNair stated, adding, "All of this has happened despite the face that we have this hugely sexualised culture." As far as McNair is concerned, if it's legal to do, it should be legal to show on DVD or the internet, and he comes out four-square against the recent restrictions put on UK-based ISPs with regard to adult material. "Anything that does not involve legally consenting adults should not be permitted; that is where the line should be between what is acceptable, what is legal and what is not," McNair told ABC. "In the UK, recent changes to the laws have made any representation of sexual violence illegal. That means that role play content becomes illegal, even though the participants are consenting adults who are getting paid for the work." Among the sexually-oriented films still banned in Australia are the uncut versions of Caligula and Pink Flamingos, as well as the French lesbian-themed film Baise-moi ("Rape me"), which is banned entirely. Pictured: Prof. Brian McNair.