World Sex Sells News

In a recent interview, Reem Alsalem, the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, claimed that both prostitution and pornography represent serious human rights violations, not legitimate employment opportunities.

The anti-sex work campaigner was discussing her 2024 Prostitution and violence against women and girls report. She said:

In my report, I demonstrated that prostitution is a system of exploitation and violence against women and girls. It is very gendered; it predominantly affects females, and it is perpetrated by males.

Alsalem is an independent campaigner, not a UN staff member. Her role entails reporting on the successes and failures of governments, businesses, militaries, and other entities in addressing violence against women and girls.

Alsalem notably refused to use the expression sex work in her report. The rport said:

The term wrongly depicts prostitution as an activity as worthy and dignified as any other work. It fails to take into account the serious human rights violations that characterize the prostitution system and 'gaslights' victims and their experiences.

According to Alsalem, pornography operates the exact same way as prostitution and is considered as filmed prostitution. She said:

It has the same perpetrators of violence, the same exploitation, the same consequences in terms of all forms of violence inflicted on women and girls, in terms of being exploited by pimps, in terms of also having immense harmful impact on all society, including, I would say, men and boys, [and] younger girls, and harmful to gender equality overall in society.

Alsalem claimed that the vast majority of pornography is grotesque, degrading, and violent, lacking safeguards such as age verification and measures to prevent trafficking. Despite this, it is deliberately marketed to young women and girls as a lucrative and glamorous pursuit. She said:

Normalizing consuming pornography has become an issue that is an epidemic as well, on global proportions.

A bill sponsored by Thailand's recently banned Move Forward Party to legalise the adult entertainment industry and its products, including pornographic materials and sex toys, failed to clear its first reading in the House.

The bill was proposed by Bangkok MP Taopiphop Limjittrakorn early last month to amend Section 287 of the Criminal Code, which bans all types of adult materials, including pornographic images and sex toys.

Speaking in favour of the amendment, Move Forward MPs argued that banning the adult entertainment industry was akin to restricting people's freedom to choose their profession.

Sorapa Sriprat, a party MP for Saraburi, said that maintaining the current law means the country fails to accept reality and is a society built on hypocrisy. He argued the ban on sex toys forces some individuals to seek alternative ways to manage their sexual desires, which can sometimes lead to sexual violence.

Duangrit Benjathikulchairungruang, a list-MP for the United Thai Nation Party, part of the military controlled coalition government, argued the amendment could cause more harm than good if it fails to provide adequate legal protection for individuals vulnerable to sexual abuse.

The Australian government has recently released a report into Australia's national classification regulation, which is likely to have a significant impact on the laws regarding pornography across the nation.

Currently Australia does allow for the classification of hardcore porn as X18+ for video and Category 2 Restricted for magazines. However its has more restrictions in play than most of the free world. One particular restriction that was discussed in the report is that fetish material is banned outright and that dramatic violence is also banned outright even if it is nothing to do with the sex content. (Eg a pirate film with sword fights above deck and totally separate sexual exploits below deck).

Even if a pornographic publication or film is able to get classified in Australia, there are significant restrictions on where that media can be sold or exhibited.

Category 1 (softcore) and Category 2 (hardcore) restricted publications are able to be sold in all States and Territories except for Queensland, but must only be sold in age-restricted sections of premises, in packaging which conceals their content.

X 18+ classified films can only be sold or exhibited in the ACT or the Northern Territory. It is therefore a criminal offence to sell or exhibit X 18+ films throughout most of Australia.  

The recently released report into national classification regulation suggests a number of key reforms when it comes to pornography. This includes:

• The removal of prohibitions on "fetishes" in Category 2 (restricted) publications and X 18+ films as long as they are not illegal .
• The removal of prohibitions on violence in sexually explicit films, if the violence is not related to sexual activity.
• Limits the need to classify sexually explicit films to films which are professionally produced, directed at an Australian audience and distributed for commercial purposes. This means that many "amateur" forms of pornography no longer need to be classified.

Any such reform to Australia's classification guidelines will require cooperation and agreement from each State and Territory and is likely to be a gradual process.