A feisty Australian porn lobbyist, Fiona Patten, the executive director of the Eros Foundation, has hit out at the double standards obtaining in her country over the sale of X-rated videos.
Speaking at the launch of Sexpo at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, she pointed out that four million videos were sold each year in Victoria and estimated that 25 per cent of Victorians were watching them.If state governments were serious about the issue they would ban the possession of X-rated films altogether.
"What other product is illegal to sell but legal to buy," she wanted to know.
"But we have national policies on X-rated films, we have a national classification code so why don't the states come into line with that national code?
"Nationally, both Labor and Liberal have fairly progressive policies on censorship - we have bipartisan support for the X classification at a federal level.
"In the Senate we are supporting the Greens and the Democrats because they have policies to say they will work with state governments to get the federal scheme introduced."
Piracy of X-rated films is another bugbear with the industry, with Ms Patten estimating that up 70 per cent of DVDs sold have been pirated.
She said piracy could be wiped out overnight if adult stores were licensed and it was ensured that federally classified material was sold.
"It's getting politicians to say that word - sex - they get really nervous," she said.
"But we see it as a crackdown, controlling the industry."
Sexpo itself has grown from a humble start in 1996 where it attracted 32,000 people to this week's exhibition when 70,000 people will come through the turnstiles.
One of the characters at this year's show is Tim Patch, also known as, Pricasso, who uses his penis to paint portraits.
What started out as a party trick has now expanded into a well-paying job and today he exhibited one of his works, a portrait of the country’s leading politicians, including Prime Minister John Howard and Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd.
Source-Medindia
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