Porn performers are sex workers. Porn performers and digital content creators have always been part of the sex worker community, both internationally and in unceded Australia. More recently, many ‘in-person’ sex workers have also diversified into participating in digital forms of sex work, including live camming/streaming, self-produced and distributed adult content creation, and studio-produced porn. Increased accessibility and the emergence of new online platforms (e.g. OnlyFans) have provided sex workers with autonomous advertisingopportunities for in-person services, and the ability to navigate challenges including COVID-19 restrictions and the increasing precarity of the gig economy.
It is vital that consultations on pornography regulation engage meaningfully with sex workers involved in pornography production, and avoid perpetuating stigma and discrimination towards marginalised communities.
This is an Inquiry into the impacts of harmful pornography on mental, emotional, and physical health. From the outset, this framing implies:
- that there is community consensus on the definitions of ‘pornography’ and ‘harmful pornography’, and
- that ‘harmful pornography’ has direct impacts on health outcomes that can be measured and analysed.
This premise is based on anti-porn rhetoric rather than evidence. When Australian researchers interviewed an expert panel of 36 pornography researchers across a range of disciplines, none shared identical definitions of ‘pornography’. A recent analysis of 50 years of international pornography research found that most existing studies incorrectly stated or implied a causal relationship between pornography consumption and sexual consent where the data did not support such a claim.
Pornography in Australia is also strictly regulated through existing frameworks. The National Classification Scheme applies to pornography ‘publications’ (e.g. magazines and DVDs) and has been criticised for perpetuating outdated ideas of ‘obscenity’, pathologising the sexual practices and bodies of LGBTQI+ people (and by extension stigmatising LGBTQI+ people), as well as inhibiting depictions of consent negotiation and safer sex practices. The Online Content Scheme replicates the Classification Scheme’s framework, and applies to all technological communications including websites, social media, messaging apps and search engines. The Online Content Scheme is enforced by the eSafety Commissioner, who has been described as the ‘best-resourced regulator in the world.’
There is no clear agreement within academia or the broader community on what is ‘pornography’, what is ‘harmful’, or how potential impacts can be measured. Existing regulations are broad in scope, and are the subject of ongoing controversy. Without an evidence-based consensus, this Inquiry cannot create sound policy recommendations.
