Family Policy Institute calls for adult porn clampdown

‘Child pornography bust prove sexual crimes against women and children are out of control’

The Family Policy Institute (FPI) today called on the Government to take urgent action to stop the free flow and and dissemination of adult pornography in South Africa, stating that it is spread via the same channels used to distribute child pornography.

The arrest this week of a school principal, teachers, a doctor, an attorney and a businessman for the manufacture and dissemination of child pornography proves that the Government’s liberal attitude to the unrestricted availability of pornography has created a crisis, says FTP in a statement.

The statement continues: “Research indicates that sexual predators use adult pornography to groom their child victims. Adult pornography is widely available and accessible to minor children in South Africa. Children as young as 10 are downloading sexually explicit images to their cell phones. Some are also producing pornographic videos of themselves and sharing it with friends.

- Advertisement -

“Family Policy Institute calls on government to urgently introduce internet filters at tier-one level to block pornography from entering the country. We also call on government to urgently amend the Broadcasting Act to prohibit the broadcast of pornography on South African television to protect vulnerable children from exposure.

“The soaring rates of rapes and sexual abuse of women and children in South Africa indicate that government has failed its constitutional obligation to protect vulnerable women and children in society. Incidences of sexual depravity appear to escalating in the country. Babies as young as 4 months old and elderly women aged 70 to 100 years old are brutally raped in a nation that claims to be a leader in advancing women’s rights.

“Incredibly, within this environment of increasingly bizarre and brutal sexual crimes against women, children and the aged, a government agency gives a failing pay-channel the green light to broadcast hard-core pornography on television. Evidence shows that minor children are often exposed to hard-core sexually explicit images as a result of adult negligence. Should Top TV launch its proposed porn channels on South African television, child exposure to pornography will no doubt escalate.

- Advertisement -

“Research shows the wide availability of pornography in society is destructive and harmful to women and children. This is evidenced by the fact that South Africa is currently regarded as the rape capital of the world. More than 64 000 women are raped annually in SA. In addition, reports indicate that more than 25 000 children are sexually abused every year in SA.

“Child pornography is no different to adult pornography. They both mercilessly exploit vulnerable women and children for the sexual gratification of men and more importantly, for profit. Pornography must be totally prohibited in a country where sexual crimes against women, children and the aged are out of control. The smut merchants who produce and disseminate pornography do not discriminate. Men, women and children are all fair game in this nefarious industry that thrives on human misery and exploitation.”