RE: Steve Martin's letter (Porn bans a racial issue, Northern Territory News, September 24, 2007).
Perhaps one reason for the Federal Government's differential response to pornography on Aboriginal communities is the attitudes of many indigenous men to women. Many indigenous men consider women inferior, a situation worsened by the continuing loss of status by indigenous women. I was once told by a man bludgeoning a woman with a brick that he could kill her as she was his wife. Pornography may further inhibit empathy towards women (or men or children for that matter), it can legitimise the existing use of physical force and rape, and it may be used to groom both women and children by making certain behaviour seem acceptable, in the same way that ads for smoking or fast foods make their consumption more acceptable.
In some areas any female alone is fair game. I am a member of an indigenous clan whose women are strong and whose men generally treat them as equals. Yet even then women protect each other and their children by staying in groups, particularly in larger settlements. As most cultural tourists (and visiting birdwatchers) are women, this attitude could affect indigenous tour operations. Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow Bakewell. |
