THAILAND: Calls for "war on porn"
The government must declare war on pornographic Internet sites and comics being sold outside schools, leading politicians say
Bangkok Post
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Veerasak Kowsurat, chairman of the House committee on women, children and the elderly, said the government must enlarge its network to combat the proliferation of pornography, to which children have easy access.
He said the recent discovery of media channels, especially underground Internet sites, with content which encourages sexual assaults was alarming.
Mr. Veerasak said figures he obtained in 1995 when he was the prime minister's deputy secretary-general showed that more than 20,000 cases of sexual abuse were committed by children and youths in that year.
The number has risen in the past four years.
Research in the US found that 10,000 new websites were registered worldwide every day, he said. Two-thirds of them deal with the sex trade.
Mr. Veerasak said sexual violence was being marketed online, depicting lurid and extremely degrading live pictures of rapes and orgies, with victims sometimes being people with disabilities.
Some cyber games also taught players to be violent, breeding a new generation of criminals.
Japanese comics promoting rape and sexual violations had been translated into Thai and sold at cheap prices to children, Mr. Veerasak said.
The translations also made the cartoons, which often elude parents' attention, more profane. He said the comics were available at around 35 baht each outside kindergartens and primary schools. Inside were images of primary school pupils raping female classmates.
Mr. Veerasak alleged that a large distribution company was responsible for the bulk-sale of the comics.
"It is something we must weed out. [The pornographic materials] are metaphorically laced with poison. If we can't get rid of this, we can forget about fighting the war on any other front," the deputy Chart Thai Party leader said.
Pornographic images were also available for downloading on mobile phones for a fee, he said. He had alerted the Consumers' Protection Board and the Special Branch Police about this.
There are now more than eight billion websites around the world catergorised as sex-oriented, Mr Veerasak said.
Some innocent-looking magazines commonly found in beauty salons actually devoted a whole page to advertising aphrodisiacs.
Mr. Veerasak said he would propose a law prohibiting the personal and commercial possession of sexually provocative materials and objects. Offenders would be subject to asset seizure under the anti-money laundering law.
Senator Montri Sinthavichai, who is also secretary of the Child Protection Foundation, said media channels which commercialised any depiction of sexual acts must be rooted out.
He said the anti-pornography campaign tended to target children, when the issue had widespread adverse effects on people of all ages. Adults' behaviour related to sexual indiscretions was under-researched.
He said universities and schools were not dependable as they failed to provide counselling for students seeking advice on sex issues. Pornographic materials were not only arousing but they were also creating young rapists, Mr. Montri said. Legal punishments against producers and retailers must be toughened, he said.
Portal • Forum • Blogs • Album • Calendar • Chat• Forum Tour • Our Friends
