Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/550022
14 THERE is never really a dull mo- ment in Malta, it seems. Even with temperatures soaring into the high 30s, and the islands plunged into an annual miasma of sopo- rific heat, controversies still seem to follow each other at a seemingly unstoppable pace. And just in case the Opposition wasn't raising enough political is- sues to keep us all busy this sum- mer, the government recently dropped a minor bombshell of its own. Out of the 'blue', as it were, it announced a reform of Malta's antiquated obscenity laws… re- sulting in the decriminalisation of pornography, and with it the pos- sible proliferation of hard-core pornography on sale 'at an outlet near you'. That, at any rate, was how the legal amendments were initially interpreted. On closer scrutiny, it turns out that the law ultimately deals with much wider and more complex issues: including the abo- lition of the last vestiges of State censorship. Yet it was this aspect of the law that clearly captured the popular imagination… prompt- ing the Malta Confederation of Women's Organisations to issue a strongly-worded statement, de- ploring the new law as a 'huge step backwards for women's rights'. "We have a problem with porn," the MCWO's chairperson Lorraine Schembri soon tells me as we meet to discuss the confederation's con- cerns with the new bill. "When it comes to pornography and prosti- tution, and human trafficking, and gentlemen's clubs: it is all consid- ered to be one, giant, multi-million dollar industry. They are all inter- linked. It's related to trafficking, drugs, to violence… and it's mainly against women." As it happens, the MCWO state- ment already made these concerns quite clear. It complained that "the porn industry seeks to make prof- it from material that is targeted mainly for male consumers, with lack of mutual pleasure and a void of crucial concepts of mutual con- sent and respect between women and men". But both the statement and Schembri's own comments seem to point towards a much broader definition of 'pornography' than is usually implied by the word. Echo- ing the MCWO's earlier position, Schembri talks of 'prostitution', 'gentlemen's clubs' and 'human trafficking' as if they were all, in fact, part of the same category. "They are," she promptly con- firms. "When you boil it all down, what you're left with is the objec- tification of women, the glorifica- tion of violence against women, and the normalising of abuse and aggression against women… and not just women; in many cases it is young people in general. Most of these start out in the industry – whichever industry we are talk- ing about – when they are really young. And that is very problem- atic, because these people will be vulnerable. There will be dif- ferent situations at home, family problems, upbringing... this draws them into the industry. Even here in Malta." At this point, however, the ques- tion of which industry we are talk- ing about does become rather im- portant. With the proliferation of gentlemen's clubs, it is clear that some aspects of the international sex trade are very much alive and kicking in this country. But Schem- bri seems to be implying the exist- ence of a local industry dedicated to the production of porn. "Are you so certain it doesn't ex- ist?" Certain? No, not at all. But I ad- mit I am now very curious. Does this industry exist? "To be honest, I can't say I've ever watched porn myself. But I hear what people say… for exam- ple, I've heard a lot of people say- ing that there is a place in Qormi where people go and, you know, film porn. A lot of people know about it…" Really? I confess that this is en- tirely new to me… She smiles. "They don't have a big sign above the door, you know. But yes, it happens in Malta too. And it's just the tip of the iceberg. We may be surprised or even shocked when we say 'even in Malta'… but from statistics it emerges that the websites most accessed in Malta are, in fact, porn sites. So why should we be shocked? Do we think that Maltese men are differ- ent from other men?" The same Internet usage sta- tistics very emphatically suggest otherwise. In 2009, it was revealed that Malta was amongst the high- est consumer of online porn of all European Union member states. 'Pornhub.com' ranked as the 21st most visited website in Malta: three positions higher than the Bank of Valletta website, four up from the University of Malta, seven places higher than news portal di-ve.com, and 16 places higher than HSBC. Lorraine Schembri is not at all surprised by these revelations. "Like I said, I am not a consumer of porn. But I've read a lot about it, and sometimes you come across it, even by accident. My background is in gender issues, sexuality and so on. And when you Google some- thing along those lines, that's the sort of site that will come up. And this is what's happening to young people today. Pornography is very easy to access online. So easy, that you can access it without even looking for it." This brings us to the MCWO's reservations concerning the re- cent legal reform, which would appear to make pornography even more accessible than it already is. Schembri however admits that many of the MCWO's initial con- cerns may have been misplaced. "After issuing that statement we had a meeting with the minister [Owen Bonnici]. There were a lot of really important points raised. As the minister said, and we agree, the original law concerning censor- ship had been passed in 1938. So there was a need to bring it in line with today's reality. The question of vilification of religion, for in- stance… we understand that a law passed in 1938 would need to be upgraded. The reality today is that not everyone in a Roman Catholic. The law has to reflect this. And as for censorship, it was a bit archaic to stick to a 1938 law. We've pro- gressed a bit since then…" The new bill also addresses issues that had previously been over- looked. "On the issue of revenge porn, for instance. Previously there was no law at all, as until recently this sort of thing never really hap- pened. These are three issues that we are in favour of…" If I've understood correctly, the MCWO has no objection to the amendments concerning vilifica- tion of religion and censorship of the arts… and it also welcomes the new laws concerning revenge porn… "Yes," she nods. "And there are other things that needed to be clarified. During the meeting, we were given assurances that 'noth- ing would be changed' with regard to, for instance, the legal broad- casting of pornography on locally licensed channels. The situation with the Broadcasting Authority would remain the same, we were told, because they are regulated by European law. Those regulations will not be affected by the amend- ments." Hang on a minute, though: 'Euro- pean law' does not forbid pornog- raphy on TV. The Maltese BA may not licence local porn channels, but other European regulators – act- ing under the same EU legislation – can and do. It is perfectly legal (within restrictions) to show porn on TV in France, Germany, Hun- gary, the Czech Republic, etc… "That's true of Malta as well," she counters. "Pornography is shown on TV. But only through satellite. The Broadcasting Authority has no remit over satellite transmis- sion. But they will not issue licenc- es to, for instance, Melita and Go to show porn." Yes, but that's a decision taken by the local BA. It has nothing to do with EU law… "Maybe, but from our point of view, we were very satisfied that, contrary to what was reported – i.e., that now, there was going to be a seal of approval for pornography in Malta – the situation as far as the BA is concerned will remain as is." At the same time, however, the new laws will also remove existing restrictions on sex shops, which by definition are outlets licensed to sell and distribute pornography. There are limitations: 'extreme pornography' – including necro- philia, bestiality, non-consensual sex and excessive violence, etc – remains illegal. But anything out- side that definition will be able to be sold legally over the counter at a licensed shop. So why can't a television station get a licence to broadcast por- nography, when the same thing is already for sale in the street? Isn't there a contradiction there? "No. Because the BA, as a regula- tor, has no remit over DVDs sold in a shop. It never had a remit to begin with…" Yes, but the impression one gets is that the MCWO seems to be sat- isfied merely because pornography will not be shown legally on TV. And even then, only on cable tel- evision (satellite being largely un- regulated). Yet the overwhelming majority of porn consumers access porn over the Internet. And with the new law, they might even be able to buy it from shops. So isn't the MCWO satisfied with very lit- tle? Schembri here explains that part of the issue concerns the message sent out by government. "As it was initially reported, the impression was that the BA would be giving the go-ahead for pornography to be shown locally. For us, this was a problem. If the government per- mits the local broadcasting regula- tor to issue licences, it would mean that the government itself is ad- vocating the proliferation of porn. That's how we see it…" And yet, the same government has just given the go-ahead for porn shops to open legally. So isn't it sending out that message any- way? "Until we had a meeting with the minister to clarify this, that was our impression too. But after the meeting we are satisfied that the minister shares our concerns, and that the purpose of the law was to provide more protection…" How so? "At the moment, people can go into a bookshop, and there will be magazines like 'Playboy' for sale. They have to be sealed in plastic, but they are still visible on book- shelves. For me, 'Playboy' and similar magazines fall under the label of 'porn'. So as things stand today, a person – or even a young child – might be offended by view- ing this material in a shop. But with the new law, any outlet selling pornographic material has to have a separate section just for that… with a warning to advise clients beforehand. This already offers more protection than the situation at present…" But this only raises questions about the MCWO's definition of 'pornography'. Not many peo- ple would consider 'Playboy' to fit the description. Even the legal definition provided in the new law specifies that 'porn' has to include graphic representation of sexual activity. 'Playboy' limits itself to nudity, which is not quite the same thing… "For me, whether you classify it as 'porn' or not… we see beyond the definitions. It's all part of the subjugation of women. How wom- en are exploited as objectified as products for male consumers…" But couldn't the same be said for a lot of perfectly legal things like advertising, which sometimes very blatantly exploits the female body to sell all sorts of unrelated prod- ucts? "Yes. But who says that's OK? We have objections to that, too. Why should you use a half-naked wom- an to sell a car?" The question, however, is wheth- er such advertising – and we can extend the argument to music videos, which the MCWO also singled out in its statement – con- stitutes 'pornography', according to Schembri's definition. It seems to fit the same general template as Playboy… "No. On top of the exploitation, pornography also involves the humiliation and degrading of the Interview By Raphael Vassallo maltatoday, SUNDAY, 2 AUGUST 2015 Pornography, we have As things stand, the sad truth is that pornography is probably the main sex educator of our children today SEX EDUCATION