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.