This blog was written in response to a discussion about Big Porn Inc at the Feminist Forum series held at the University of Melbourne on 13 September.

Congratulations to those involved in researching and writing Big Porn Inc: Exposing the Harms of the Global Pornography Industry edited by Melinda Tankard Reist and Abigail Bray (Spinifex). You are now able to educate readers on the ‘pornification’ of our society and you have shared information to enable the public to make informed choices regarding their use – or not – of porn.

There are some implications in the book that I would like to qualify.

One chapter of the book, ‘Pornography as Sexual Authority: How Sex Therapy Promotes the Pornification of Sexuality’ by Meagan Tyler refers to sex therapists as a single category irrespective of credibility of each individual. As a specialist counselling psychologist and an accredited sexual therapist, I am aware that so many ‘pretenders’ are calling themselves sexual therapists. Most of these pretenders are affiliated in some way with the porn industry and seek to both normalize and legitimize porn by linking it with therapeutic associations but we must not permit that to happen by allowing the pretenders legitimacy.  

I have been a sex therapist for 25 years and I have never once promoted porn! My peers and I have undertaken rigorous standards for academic preparation, supervised training and meet strict guidelines for ethical practice and professional conduct to achieve accreditation. I educate my clients to make informed choices based on their values and ethics, including their understanding of human rights issues of the porn industry. This does not apply to porn stars turned ‘therapists’. Potential clients can guarantee a therapist is accredited by confirming their credentials before they decide to book a session.

Accredited therapists undertake psychoeducation around sexuality and relationships with their clients. This facilitates clients to express their sexuality in a joyful and creative manner reflecting their cultural and physical realities, where porn use has little attraction for them. One of the issues I have with porn is that it is boring; predictable and disrespectful. Ethical sex therapists enable sexual expressions that are the antithesis of porn – never boring; never predictable and always respectful. This is what the best of us do!

Accredited sexual therapists treat both men and women who are addicted to porn but we never allow them to use their addiction as an excuse to harm others.

As a feminist and activist, I do not believe that all men are predators and all women are victims.  There are a growing percentage of men who now suffer ‘small penis syndrome’ as an outcome of pornography. It is not unusual for teenage boys to tell me that a girl refuses to have sex with them “with that penis” because their favourite porn stud has a much bigger penis. Porn has educated men that they are a life support system for a penis, that there is only one size, EXTRA LARGE and it should be hard for up to two hours and be able penetrate every orifice on both humans and animals.