A pornographic photo-sharing website targeting young women from Illawarra schools is “a predictable expression of porn culture”, University of Wollongong researcher Associate Professor Michael Flood says.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The sociologist – whose work focuses on men’s social and sexual lives, as well as pornography and domestic violence – said he believed the chat forum, which features thousands of photos of non-consenting young women, was “a predictable and unsurprising example of the ways in which boys and young men are taught routinely to see girls and women as sexual objects”.
Users of the site request and swap pictures of girls by name, and ask for photos of girls from particular schools, suburbs and regions.
Professor Flood said the language on the site – where users say they have “hunted” certain pictures and label them “wins” – was representative of a culture where young men gain status through sexual prowess.
“Historically young men have bonded through stories of sexual conquest, and my own research among young men in Australia found that some young men get status from their peers from having sex with a particularly attractive or unattainable girl,” Dr Flood said.
“This is just an extension of that, where young men are getting status by sharing images.”
Professor Flood said the disturbing website was also shaped by widespread sexism, which could manifest in boys pressuring girls into sex, being mean to them at school or sharing nude photos online. He believes these underlying attitudes were similar to those of perpetrators of domestic violence.
“Some boys and men are quite happy to treat girls and women in hostile and derogatory and demeaning ways,” he said.
“I think a 16-year-old boy who is prepared to share an image he knows is taken without that girl’s consent and which he knows sharing will be harmful and humiliating for her is more likely to be prepared to be physically abusive, verbally abusive or to pressure or coerce a girl into sex.”
As for comments saying women who didn’t want photos shared shouldn’t have taken or shared them, Dr Flood said this was “standard victim blaming”.
”Some of these pictures are taken without the girls’ or young women’s consent, while some were presumably taken with their knowledge, but that doesn’t remove their right to shape who that image is shared with,” he said.
”It’s clearly unethical, and illegal if they are under 18, to share those images without their knowledge. I think we need to get away from victim blaming and ask ‘why is it that some men and boys think it’s ok to do this?’.”
“There are also cultural reasons why women and girls take pictures of themselves, or agree to have pictures or video taken, and to some extent that’s a reflection of porn culture as well because they feel intense pressure to make sexual objects of themselves to please boyfriends or be seen as attractive to boys.”
Professor Flood said he believed parents, schools and the wider community had a responsibility to address the “widespread problem” or porn culture.
“Parents of sons need to be talking to their sons about respecting girls and women, about not taking or sharing images without consent and fostering in boys and young men and healthy respect for girls and women,” he said.
“So, by all means desire girls and women, have girlfriends and seek sex – the problem is not with sex, the problem is with coercion and abuse.”
“We should be fostering healthy sexual lives among young people, so that’s not about shutting down conversations it’s about having better conversations with young women and young men.”
He also said schools needed to teach strong sexuality and “respectful relationships” curriculum from primary school, while the community as a whole needed to cultural address problems with how boys and men treated girls and women.
Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
