Australia's 'small breast' ban

Australia has vowed to fight child exploitation — but is stamping out images of "small-breasted" women really the right way to do it?

Small breasts.
(Image credit: Corbis)

Australia's government is "banning" adult publications and films featuring women with "small breasts," says Aussie activist Fiona Patten, on the grounds that such images encourage pedophilia. Patton, leader of the anti-censorship Australian Sex Party, is taking issue with a 2005 ruling which specified that even depictions of women who are over 18 but "appear to be" underage may be judged "illegal." Is this alleged practice a strategic way to fight child pornography, or — as Patten maintains — an absurd reaction to a perfectly normal female body type?

How could censoring small breasts curb kiddie porn? This "is a terrible idea for many reasons," says Maureen O'Connor in Gawker. Not only would such a ban do nothing to "reduce smut," censoring images of "small breasts" only codifies "an arbitrary set of female sexual ideals."

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