By Melissa Grant
CARDINIA mother Catherine Manning has launched an online petition in a bid to get racy magazines out of youngsters’ eyesight.
She is hoping 5000-plus people will sign on at www.sayno4kids.com to pressure the Australian Government to censor adult sexualised imagery by making it harder for children and young teens to view and access them.
Mrs Manning wrote to the Gazette in May, citing concerns about two racy magazines kept at eye level at the Cardinia General Store.
She said the magazines, which were sold uncovered, had progressively become more explicit but had escaped the same censorship as less offensive magazines such as FHM and Ralph.
“It’s like the law hasn’t responded quickly enough to protect children from inappropriate material and parents have had enough,” she said.
“Years ago the covers were relatively tame I guess and they were always out of view of children but it’s just slowly crept into the mainstream.
“Now it’s right there in front of kids.”
Mrs Manning emphasised the petition was to get adult magazines out of the sight of youngsters rather than ban them.
“We’re not prudes, we’re not wowsers –you can label us whatever you want, but at the end of the day it’s about the children,” she said.
“When you present kids with adult sexualised imagery it’s a totally differently ball game, no pun intended.
“Cigarettes have gone behind the counter, so why not porn?”
So far, more than 400 people have gotten behind the sayno4kids campaign.
Mrs Manning will present the petition to the Standing Committee of the Attorneys General (SCAG), which oversees the National Classification Scheme for film and video and for printed material, when it meets for a Ministerial Conference in November to review censorship laws.
“I do feel confident that we can change the way it’s (adult images) displayed and I think we have to,” she said.
