I am a mother who was this time last year groomed by a peadophile because he wanted my daughter. I “met” this person online and built up a relationship online with him. One night we were talking and he asked if I would like to see pictures. Of course I would, this man has 2 little girls similer age of my daughter (well he told me he did). I open the email and there are the most disgusting pictures I have ever seen. I didnt know what to do, who to tell about this and my first thought was I am going to be in trouble because I now have child porn on my computer! I rang the police and explained what happened and 2 uniforms turned up here joking about this because they had never heard of a mum being sent child porn. They soon stopped when they seen these pictures and were straight on the phone to detectives who were here within a few hourse.

One of the detectives was part of the JERT team and even she said that there pictures were among the worse she has seen.

Apparently this practice is not as uncommon as I thouhgt. These people will do anything to get what they want and as far as Im concerned after what Ive been through, I will support anything to stop this even if it is joining a facebook group.

This post was mentioned on Twitter by MelTankardReist: New blog post up: Facebook Slut Page Removed: but bullies still active http://bit.ly/b166A8 via @AddToAny #FB #VAW…

Thanks for being someone.

So when you say things like “this issue is becoming increasingly imbedded into our societies” and “issues such as the oversexulization of our children and do more to effectively address this problem” and “the consumer can boycott products that sexulize our children”, well, alarm bells start ringing.

There is no link between paedophilia and the creation and distribution of child porn and companies who market boganware like bras for tweens or whatever. These are two separate issues. One is a serious issue that requires full funding of specialist units within police departments, the other is an issue with the media in general and some companies who sell these products. I believe the second has absolutely no relation to the first. I also believe that to a degree the eye has been taken off the ball (deliberately or otherwise) and somehow over the last decade or so the parameters of what is child porn have expanded, seemingly for no other reason other than to create a new set of criminals.

First example is the Henson affair. Despite the whole nonsense over it, the “worst” image was rated PG by the classification board. And we now have new laws in NSW where artists will have to submit their work to the classification board if it contains nude children.

Second, the Biggles9 case. Chris Illingworth, a 60 year old from QLD, was charged with publishing child abuse material after he republished a viral video of a man twirling a baby around. Never mind that this video had been screened on various news shows across the world. Never mind the fact that the classification board later rated the video MA15+ and case was rightly dropped.

In both cases, children were not harmed. In both cases those accused had not harmed children. In both cases valuable police time and resources were wasted on what were essentially nonsense charges.

So my problem is; a) people are already aware of the problems of child porn. It regularly features in the news and current affairs shows I really don’t know how anyone could not know about it. b) Widening the definition of child porn and abuse material only nets innocent people for no real reason. c) because of the widening of the parameters of what is child porn, this takes away police resources and time away from finding actual child abusers. Only the police can track paedophiles down, citizens shouldn’t play vigilante.

“You want to help children? Ask the government to fund the AFP properly. Become a police officer, psychologist or councilor so you can work with damaged children and help them comes to terms with what has happened to them.”

Exactly. I don’t think asking people to sign a petition, light candles or click
‘join’ on a facebook page is enough. All are good things, but before the average jo can become a psychologist or counselor with a particular interest in this area, they need to be aware that this is a problem in the first place.

Every person that joins highlights the problem to their extension of friends via FB news feeds. Potentially this exposes the problem to thousands who may not normally see how this issue is becoming increasingly imbedded into our societies.

Re stats. I agree with you it is not appropriate to paint a delusional picture but unfortunately my information is also what the UN reference. You sound like you care about this issue as much as I do. I’ll allow Abigail to outline this information further.

You’ll note on my page I was looking for people *ready* to fight child pornography. I hope to encourage creative initiatives, not do something as exclusive as prescribing a letter for lobbying. For example, an artist can create a expo to highlight the problem and raise monies, a chef can organise a dinner, a youth worker can become more aware of connecting issues such as the oversexulization of our children and do more to effectively address this problem. A law expert can offer legal advice to those in this arena, a radio announcer can broadcast a show, a comedian can use humour to highlight important truths to their audience, a barista can put a fundraising tin out besides their till, a drama group can run a play, the consumer can boycott products that sexulize our children. You get the point. Often when we ask for a signature on a petition people can assume that’s enough. It’s not.

Unfortunately leaving this issue solely up to the police isn’t enough. As highlighted in the report Melinda L posted, they need our help.

Please don’t feel you have to join ‘3 billion people to fight child porn’ in order to fight child porn or child abuse in general. The group is not about promoting fear, it’s about promoting action. The group is a gateway for awareness, motivation and change. I have no ulterior motives. I am not a prescriptive organization, a politician, or an answer. I am simply someone who cares calling on others to care.

Calling on the power of the human spirit will far out way the power of CP distribution.

As I said before, crime is handled by police officers and specialised units with police organisations, not citizens. There is nothing that I, you or anyone else can do from stopping a child being molested by their uncle, a family friend or even their father. Nothing. We don’t have magic powers to stop this. Unless you can enlighten me as to how ordinary citizens can control others so they don’t commit these crimes, or how by gaining 3 billion Facebook members the crime will be magically eradicated from the face of the Earth.

It actually says she wants people “ready to fight child porn.” That could entail any number of things in terms of campaign strategies, it’s up to her. If people want to be involved, they’ll join. If they don’t want to, they won’t. *So don’t.*

“Child sexual abuse is bad enough without resorting to lying about it. Looking at Anita’s Facebook group, I’m not even sure of what she hopes to achieve.”

And you said:

“……..chronically underfunded Online Child Sexual Exploitation Team”

“You want to help children? Ask the government to fund the AFP properly. Become a police officer, psychologist or councillor so you can work with damaged children and help them comes to terms with what has happened to them.”

That might be exactly what Anita wants her group to lobby for. Many people create groups in order to connect with and educate people too. You have been unfairly critical and very presumptuous.