Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I begin by congratulating Senator Flynn on her ongoing major impact as a Member of this House and on our nation. This is very fine legislation to bring forward. The information we got brought me to looking at the Luxembourg guidelines and into an area of beginning to perhaps have the words needed to articulate many things around this that are very wise. The opening of the press release that came with the Luxembourg guidelines when they were announced states: "Words matter because they affect how we conceptualise problems, prioritise issues, and forge responses." That is wonderful. In the same press release, the UN Special Rapporteur on Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography stated:

In the fight against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children, terminology is not just a matter of semantics: it determines the effectivity of responses. The Luxembourg Guidelines will contribute not only to protecting children, but also in ending the impunity for these heinous crimes ...

It is really important, therefore, that we evolve our legislation as quickly as possible in order to ensure that we are up to date in our concepts and that we are ensuring we are capturing all that is happening, literally, to children and drawing a line between what is legal and illegal and lawful and unlawful.I have a concern regarding the point at which sexual exploitation can be said to begin. This Bill should give us an opportunity to commence a national conversation on that. We have a concept in our minds about pornography and child pornography and how heinous that is. Having worked in criminal law I have seen some horrific cases. We also need a wider debate on when the exploitation of children begins. Hyper-sexualisation of children is constant in our society. An excellent paper by the Generation for Rights Over the World, GROW, deals with this hyper-sexualisation of children. We have to consider the exposure to pornography and the normalisation of pornography, and the fact that there are damaging acts that occur between allegedly consenting adults. We know that children cannot consent so there is a very clear line there. A national conversation is needed on what is all right. Children, girls in particular, aged 12, 13 and 14 are put under pressure to engage in sexual acts. They end up being photographed and there are consequences that flow from that. Highly sexualised dolls in fishnet stockings are being marketed to six-year-olds. Parents give them to their children - I have seen them come into my own house - because the child is part of the latest LOL trend, or whatever trend. That removes something of the very clear boundary between childhood and adulthood, between what we are consenting to and what the maturity level is. According to the GROW report:

We have seen that the hypersexualisation of [children] is a recent social phenomenon, but one that has intensified very quickly in Western countries, particularly through social networks, the film industry and pornography. The sexism of these practices is also undeniable. The law often remains powerless against this phenomenon, which particularly affects the new generations. Series, films, reality shows, advertisements [there is a constant barrage of advertisements on children's TV programmes], magazines, music, toys, etc., are ... all excessively sexualised.

In considering what I would say today, I considered the possibility of being a fuddy-duddy and of not being a trendy mom in raising this. I look at it through the eyes of a six-year-old and think of the exposure these children have. Our language matters. The point at which sexual exploitation is beginning is something we need to have a very hard conversation on. As a society, we need to reflect on what is tolerated. This GROW report states:

The hypersexualisation of girls is a form of violence against children: a physical violence of course, but also a symbolic (objectification of women's bodies), an economic (exploitation, transformation into a sexual object) and even a political (lack of government intervention to limit these excesses of [the commercialisation and targeting of childhood]) one.

We need to regularise the toy industry to ensure we do not have this hyper-sexualisation. I commend this excellent Bill. I am delighted that we are supporting it. In the context of the consultations with the Attorney General, we need to start considering where exploitation actually begins, and whether it begins with this hyper-sexualisation of children, especially young girls.