Love and Sex in an Age of Pornography :A broadcast documentary film that is part of a multifaceted violence prevention project

Summary

While new technologies create exciting possibilities for effecting change on some of the world's most pressing problems, they are also being harnessed to reinforce and propagate inequality, violence and hate. SBCC seeking to advance SDG principles has some powerful competition when racist memes, misogynistic trolling and the live-streaming of murder are part of the new technologically created media environment. This includes much mainstream pornography which commonly depicts aggression towards women and is consumed at staggering rates all around the globe. Readily available and aggressively marketed online, porn's reach into the lives of young and old alike has grown at a speed far beyond the response capacities of education, regulatory or legislative systems. But how can SBCC efforts hope to address such a sensitive and divisive issue? Love and Sex in an Age of Pornography is a broadcast documentary film produced as part of a sophisticated, multifaceted violence prevention project aimed at building understanding about pornography's nature, prevalence, and impacts on young people. Love and Sex tells stories from both sides of the screen: porn industry professionals share gritty, behind the scenes details, and young people speak with unflinching honesty and realism about the role of pornography in their lives. Its narrative approach was designed to engage audiences who do not share a critique of porn. Love and Sex provides an example of how film can be used to engage broad audiences on a sensitive issue, and complement and support other SBCC methodologies as part of a multi-strategy approach.

Background/Objectives

For young people growing up online, porn has become the default sexuality educator, with serious implications for their capacity to develop relationships and sexuality that are safe, respectful, mutual and consenting. There is growing concern internationally that pornography's influence is contributing to conditions that cultivate sexual assault. Young people need support to navigate this new reality. Yet many adults in their lives are unaware of the issues or feel unequipped to respond. Love and Sex, and the broader project of which it is part, seeks to challenge viewers' thinking, and build understanding and conversations about pornography's impacts on young people.

Results/Lessons Learned

Love and Sex has been broadcast in 14 countries and is circulated internationally through a commercial distributor, public screenings, online streaming in educational institutions, online rent and purchase, and DVD sales. It is used to promote critical thinking and discussion in schools and universities. To coincide with the film's premiere broadcast, articles about porn's impacts on young people, with links to the film, were published in mainstream media. Love and Sex is a response to the dual challenges of how to effectively engage audiences on such a sensitive, divisive issue, and how to convey something of porn's high level of gendered aggression without simply showing porn. This narrative-based film is complemented by the project's other documentary, The Porn Factor, a presenter-led movie offering a more overt, thesis-driven approach to the issues. While both films address the same issues, their differing approaches are designed to engage diverse viewers.

Discussion/Implications For The Field

Documentary is a powerful medium for engaging broad audiences. When well informed by research and based on a sound conceptual framework, film has the potential to play an important role in social change, particularly when it is part of a multifaceted project targeting diverse audiences and settings. Love and Sex takes a creative approach to engaging potentially sceptical, or even hostile audiences on a confronting and sensitive emerging issue. It is easily distributed and complements other project components. There is potential for the film's format and content to be adapted for use in different cultural contexts through cross-cultural collaboration.

Abstract submitted by:

Maree Crabbe - Reality & Risk

David Corlett - Reality & Risk