Censorship of Sexually Explicit Materials: What Do Consumers of Pornography Have to Say?

Abstract

This article attempts to bring a new set of voices into public debates about censorship in Australia — those of consumers of pornography. Forty-six consumers — chosen to provide the most diverse range of voices across gender, age, sexuality, income, place of residence and state/territory — were interviewed in detail. Interviewees consistently distinguished between beneficial and harmful pornography. The main issue was consent, with child pornography, bestiality and violent pornography being singled out for condemnation. The interviewees noted that public debates about pornography in Australia tend to favour conservative religious positions. All interviewees agreed that censorship was necessary; they particularly focused on the need to keep sexually explicit materials away from children. They evinced a strong distrust of politicians and bureaucrats, and mostly presented a classical liberal line. Several of the consumers had children of their own: all of these interviewees argued that their children should not see sexually explicit material and had strategies in place to ensure that their own did not.