Editorial: Impacts of pornography still lingers

News that another organisation in the country has linked sexual-related crimes to pornography is an indication that something needs to be done before it gets out of hand even further.

It validates the Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection Lynda Tabuya’s campaign to ban or regulate access to pornographic sites in Fiji.

In 2019, Fiji was ranked 4th in the world for the countries which searches for ‘Porn Online’. Shocking to the say the least, given our population.

And while this link between pornography and sex crimes are anecdotal it does not mean that it is not entirely true. There needs to be statistics to back it up.

Inspire Pacific, a non-government organisation (NGO), has been actively working with the Fiji Juvenile Rehabilitation and Development Centre.

There, it found two cases linked to teens committing sexual violence crimes because of watching pornography.

The organisation’s team leader, Qasevakatini Korovulavula, says at that young age there is a danger that these teenage boys are beginning to view women in a different light.

He adds that a lot needs to be done and we must find solutions to address this growing concern.

Letitia Shelton, the founder of ‘Fiji Free from Porn’, has been advocating on this for years adding that we will never see an end to rape and abuse without dealing with pornography.

While the belief is that everything starts from home, the issue of pornography must be discussed at a higher level.

Ms Tabuya had alluded to the ‘Fight The New Drug (FTND)’, a US-based anti-pornography organisation, that describes pornography as analogous to a drug and argues that it is a public health crisis.

In July, Ms Tabuya said: “The effects of pornography on the human brain are the same as cocaine.

Thus, the reference of calling it the new drug.

She said countries in the Middle East, Europe, Asia like Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines and Thailand, and India had banned pornography outright.

According to news organisation, Politico, in July the French Parliament unanimously agreed to introduce a nationwide age verification system for pornography websites.

This was months after President Emmanuel Macron pledged to protect children against such content.

Whether the total ban on access to pornography will start to have some positive impact on sexual-related crimes remains to be seen.

But there we have it. As a nation that is so infinitely aligned with moral values and religion, the options of banning porn or otherwise regulating are available.

And it is on the onus of the authorities to act on it.

Meanwhile, there were 33 people charged with a total of 73 counts of sexual offences in August.

The counts for sexual offences were rape, which was 56, abduction with intent to commit rape was one, indecent assault at five and sexual assault at 11.

Of the 33 accused persons, four were juveniles.

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