Submission No 17 s exualisation of children and young people organisation

Background 
It is helpful to recognise that this inquiry into the sexualisation of children takes place within the 
context of a public discussion that has been ongoing over several years, at both Federal and state 
levels.
In 2006, the Australia Institute released the paper 
Corporate Paedophilia
, on the sexualisation of 
children in Australia. Community concern following this paper led to the Senate inquiry into the 
Sexualisation of Children in the Contemporary Media (2008).
Other notable discussions that relate to this issue, and have taken place in the past few years, 
including the 2011 Senate review of the National Classification Scheme and the Australian Law Reform 
Commission’s Review into Classification, Content Regulation and Convergent Media, whose report 
was handed down in 2012. The Joint Standing Committee on the Commissioner for Children and Young 
People in Western Australia also produced a report in 2014. 
It must also be noted that none of these inquiries, or reports have taken place in isolation from 
international concern about this issue. Of particular note are: the American Psychological Association 
report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualisation of Girls (2007); The UK home office report; The Baily 
Report; and the French Parliamentary report in 2012.
The repeated calls for action on this issue, by parents and children’s advocates, have for the most part 
been met with inaction. The Commonwealth Government’s response to the recommendations made 
by the Senate Inquiry into the Sexualisation of Children in the Contemporary Media (2008) was 
disappointing. The New South Wales inquiry into the Sexualisation of Children and Young People can, 
therefore, be viewed as a new opportunity to bring this issue to light, and for NSW to lead the way, 
by taking real action to address this issue.
Defining 'sexualisation' 
There are a number of alternative definitions of the term ‘sexualisation’ that have been put forward 
and it may be helpful to explore each in turn.
 
The link between the direct and indirect sexualisation of 
children is important to remember. It means that any comprehensive approach to tackling this 
problem must address not only media directed primarily at children, but also the messages that 
children imbibe from the wider teen and adult culture.