Pornland: Toowoomba's city-wide quest to stop porn

In October, the city of Toowoomba kicked off an unlikely campaign: to rid itself of porn.

In the regional area just over an hour out of Brisbane more than 200 men gathered outside Toowoomba City Hall to swear off porn, for good.

But in the age of the internet how on earth does a town stop porn? And in God’s name, why?

It’s clear that there’s a whole range of views about porn here - but not too many people I’ve met so far believe that porn is ruining the city.

Mayor Paul Antonio is just one of the local leaders to throw his weight behind this bold ambition to rid the city of porn once and for all.

"Well I think there is a problem everywhere, right across Australia," he says.

"This is not about Toowoomba. Neither is it about banning pornography.

"But somebody had to have the courage to step  up to the mark and suggest it's not right, over 80 percent of pornography includes violence.
Too
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"I'm making people aware that there is another option. This is about human dignity.

"I think some of the things you see on pornography, I don't know what you watch but some of the things that I've just casually glanced at are not necessarily the way I would expect a good relationship would head." 

There are at least 140 churches in the city, but the  porn debate hasn’t divided Toowoomba purely down religious lines.

There are Christians who are cool with porn and non-believers who aren’t. However, the main organisation behind the campaign is a Christian group called City Women.

"I agree that open discussions about porn with all ages of people is very important: we seek to do both," says CEO Letitia Shelton.

"I believe it (our campaign) presents the reality of what people are struggling with, we are hearing more and more stories of how porn is ruining lives, marriages, families etc.

"It's interesting that the US Army & Navy have stopped selling porn to their troops because of the negative effect that porn was having on them. 

"There seems to be overwhelming research from many areas of society now."
Ki
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One of those big areas of research is coming directly from an organisation called Fight The Drug, somewhere Letitia says has been a "main source" of information for City Women.

An American based anti-porn organisation, Fight the New Drug has millions of followers. The organisation is founded by Mormons and their head researcher is a well known anti-same sex marriage crusader.

One of those who has been deeply impacted by the local campaign in Toowoomba is 16-year-old Thomas Coyne, who is openly bisexual.

"It’s been very difficult for me to feel proud and comfortable in this city," he says.

"When I came out mum was petrified I was going to get attacked and I’ve had friends of the family not disown but certainly step back.

"Typical of the church in this city to force people to live according to their beliefs whether it’s gay marriage, porn or abortion.
Sex ed
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Kerrin is a sexologist and sex education expert who has been studying porn and its effects professionally for several years.

"Abstinence doesn't work," she says.

"We've seen it with sex education, all abstinence does is drive it underground.

"I'm concerned that it doesn't allow people to discuss their own porn use or to talk about the things that they see in porn.

"The research shows the more that you talk to young people about sex the more likely they are to negotiate healthy relationships."
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By Laura Murphy-Oates

Source: The Feed



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