Page 2983 - Week 13 - Thursday, 23 November 1989
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APPENDIX 3
(Incorporated in Hansard on 21 November 1989 at page 2738)
Shop. Distributive & Allied, Employees Association -
REGISTERED OFFICE: NINTH FLOOR, 53 QUEEN STREET, MELBOURNE. 3000 TELEPHONE 0141500
NATIONAL PRESIDENT NATIONAL SECRETARY
J.B. Maher J. de Bruyn
3rd November 1988.
Dear Parliamentarian,
VIDEO MATERIALS
Please find attached the decision of the National Council - the largest union in Australia.
You will note that, contrary to impressions you may have gained
from the press, the Union is fully aware cf the nature and content
of videos which bear the X classification.
Although physically not violent or coercive, this material, according to evidence cited by the joint Select Committee on video Materials, engenders in the habitual viewer "a sexually calloused and manipulative orientation towards women" depicting women in general as being highly promiscuous and available.
We agree with the observations made by Dr. J. Zubrzycki, Emeritus Professor (Sociology) at the ANU, that pornography functions quite similarly to anti-semitic or racist propaganda: it serves as a tool of anti-female propaganda. The intent of all three is to distort the image of a group or class of people, to deny the fullness of their humanity and to depict them as objects for exploitation.
Most of our Members are women. This is union business. We ask that
urgent action be taken to ensure that "X"-rate videos and their
"R equivalents be made prohibited imports an placed in the
refused category. The Labor Council of New South Wales has expressed
its support for this action.
The argument that these videos have been now available for some four years and that a ban will create a black market will not wash. This argument is being advanced by those who refused to accept the recommendation of the Senate Select Committee four years ago requesting the Federal Government to place a moratorium on the sale and hire of these videos. It should also tie recalled that most of these come from the United States where pornographic video production companies are substantially in the hands of organised crime.
Yours faithfully,
J. DE BRUYN
NATIONAL SECRETARY-TREASURER
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