Page 3438 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 18 September 1991
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Queensland has the lowest number of sexual assault cases in the country. That is clearly wrong, and Mr Stevenson knows that it is wrong, but he continually purveys it to the public. They believe him, as they should. Why should they not?
Secondly, people say that it is immaterial that the number of sexual assault cases has doubled; they say that they have doubled because of the availability of video and film material. The Australian Institute of Criminology on a number of occasions has quite clearly debunked that theory. Just for the record, I want to incorporate the information in my address today. According to the Australian Institute of Criminology, the reasons for the increase in reported sexual abuse cases include the success of the women's movement in persuading women and men that sexual offences are crimes of assault and ought to be dealt with by the courts. In the past there has been a reluctance to do this, a feeling of shame, a belief that it is the victim's fault. It never is.
There have been dramatic legislative changes right throughout the country, which greatly increase the scope of laws concerning sexual offences. In the past there had to be a very serious and violent attack before it would be dealt with by the courts. With liberalisation and the success of the women's movement in raising the profile of these offences over the years, the legislative changes have greatly increased the number of actions that can be regarded as offences.
Thirdly, demographic changes in our society since the 1970s have resulted in greatly increased numbers of people in their late teens and early twenties. They are the ages at which people are most likely to commit sexual offences, particularly rape. The Australian Institute of Criminology has said that sex attacks are simply not linked to erotica. Indeed, there seems to be evidence to suggest that the ready availability of sexually explicit material has meant that the rate of sexual attack on women has declined. As to the connection between the availability of pornographic material and the incidence of rape, there is a cultural factor involved. It is very rarely linked, or simply is not linked, with the availability of pornographic material.
In the United States, where there are severe restrictions on the availability of pornography in the general community, the rate of rape is 34.5 per 100,000 population, whereas Japan has a rape rate of 2.4 per 100,000 population. Japan has a great availability throughout the community of what we would regard as general pornographic X-rated material. Indeed, it is considered to be almost part of the Japanese culture. People who have complained here would get a heck of a shock if they walked around the Ginza in Tokyo and saw what was available to the population at large. I wanted to refute the argument that the availability of X-rated material somehow is linked to violence and sexual assault cases, particularly against women.
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