Late-Night Porn on Public TV Spurs Christian Protests in S. Africa

By Ethan Cole, Christian Post Reporter Saturday, July 14, 2007

Groups of pro-family Christians outraged over the presence of late-night porn on public television held a protest outside the TV station's studios Saturday, arguing that pornography fuels sexual abuse.

Christian Action Network – a conservative umbrella organization mobilizing Christians to protest against pornography, abortion, and same-sex union in the country – demonstrated and prayed outside the e-TV studios in Cape Town Saturday morning.

Members of Africa Christian Action, Christians for Truth and several other mission organizations and churches demanded the network remove pornography from its programming, pointing to clinics which link child sex abuse cases to pornography.

"We have had e-nough! Porn on free-to-air national TV is outrageous," said Taryn Hodgson, international coordinator of the Christian Action Network, in a statement.

"There are many parentless homes in South Africa and many homes where children are not supervised as to what TV they are watching. R18 restrictions are not enough to prevent children from watching these films."

Hodgson lifted up testimonies from local children counselors from Safeline and Teddy Bear Clinic which have counseled children who were sexually abused by other children.

"They say that many of the children they have counseled say they have watched the Emanuelle porn films on e-TV," said Hodgson.

E-Tv, however, denied the link between pornography and sexual abuse. A letter from e-TV's regulatory affairs executive officer Olefile Bop Tshweu read:

"We submit that in broadcasting these films the timeslot is appropriate, the warnings are adequate, the content does not breach the Code and there is no evidence that these films contribute to sexual crimes."

Therapeutic manager Shaheda Omar at Teddy Bear Clinic in Johannesburg, however, claimed in her report that she found that absent parents and "unmet emotional needs" had turned television into a "surrogate care-giver" with disastrous consequences. Her research showed that while some children say they wanted to emulate love scenes in soap operas such as the Bold and the Beautiful, others said they have been inspired by late night porn on e-TV.

Omar had interviewed 100 child sex offenders and their mothers from across the social spectrum for her doctoral research project at Johannesburg University.

"I cannot believe that e-TV feels no sense of social responsibility for the harm they are causing," said Hodgson. "Considering that South Africa has some of the highest rape statistics in the world and one of the highest HIV prevalence rates, can e-TV (and other broadcasters) afford to be contributing to these disastrous statistics through the negative sexual grooming of children and adults in this nation?"

The Christian Acton Network plans to urge advertisers who are currently advertising during these pornographic films on e-TV to discontinue advertising.

"Pornography degrades and exploits people made in the image of God," concluded Hodgson. "Pornography is the theory, rape is the practice."

South Africa has one of the most liberal governments in the world. Last year, South Africa became the first country in Africa and only the fifth in the world to legalize same sex "marriages." The bill was highly opposed by many Christian and conservative groups in and outside of the country. Abortion is also legal under South African law.

Christian groups are planning to hold protests outside the e-TV studios in Durban and Bloemfontein in the month of July.