Tyler, Meagan (2010) The politics of pornography and pornographication in Australia. In: Australian Political Science Association Conference 2010. Australian Political Science Association, Richmond, Vic..

Abstract

The pornographication of culture in the West is becoming an increasingly acknowledged trend in both the mass media and the academy (Attwood 2002, 2006; Maddison, 2004; McNair, 2002). For more than a decade, cultural commentators, journalists and scholars have been noting changes in the accessibility and acceptability of pornography, as well as the ways in which pornography and pornographic imagery are fragmenting and blurring into traditionally non-pornographic forms of popular culture. These trends, often referred to as the mainstreaming of porn (Dilevko & Gottlieb, 2002; Dines, 1998; McNair, 1996; Sørensen, 2003), or “porn chic” (Duits & van Zoonen, 2006; Jeffreys, 2005; McNair, 1996, 2002), take a variety of forms. The mainstreaming of pornography has been documented in areas as diverse as popular music, higher education, clothing and fashion, high art, sport and technology (Dilevko & Gottlieb, 2002; Jeffreys, 2005, p. 67-106; Levy, 2005; McNair, 1996, 2002; Maddison, 2004). At this time, however, pornographication is still relatively there are not yet any academic texts dealing specifically with pornographication in Australia. Furthermore, public discussion and media coverage of pornographication in Australia is largely obscured by debates regarding the sexualisation of children. This paper will consider the current strengths and weaknesses of the growing international academic literature on pornographication before analysing the framing of related debates in Australia through an examination of recent media coverage on pornographication and the sexualisation of children. It will be argued that the public debates on ‘sexualisation’ in Australia must be seen in the context of pornographication and should be broadened to include a discussion of potential harms to the status of women.

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