SPCS

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTION OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS INC.

Rapist ignored victim’s pleas to spare her and her unborn baby

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A Wellington woman tried to explain to a brutal rapist that she could be pregnant with her first child and begged him not to hurt her.

It did not matter to Bailey Meredith, 17, who violated her over and over during an attack on the Hutt River riverbank on June 11 before beating her unconscious.

She had been out walking when he had grabbed her from behind, ordering her to her knees before saying he intended to rape her….

The judge jailed Meredith for eight years but did not impose a minimum non-parole period.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/72183813/rapist-ignored-victims-pleas-to-spare-her-and-her-unborn-baby

Porn ‘education’ fuels filming of rape of drunk girls by teenage boys

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The actions of the Roast Busters, a group of teenagers who film their sexual exploits with drunk girls and post the footage online are “absolutely rape”, [Dr Kim McGregor], the director of Rape Prevention Education says. [Read more…]

Teenage boys are getting ‘sex education through porn’ focused on violence against women

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‘SEX EDUCATION THROUGH PORN’

Rape Prevention Education works with 40 Auckland schools to promote safe and respectful physical contact through its Body Safe programme, and has encountered some worrying attitudes, she said.

Teenage boys are getting sex education through porn, most of which is heavily focused on violence against women, she said.

And many think it’s fine to have sex with teens who are under-age. In one school recently, when asked to say whether it was OK or not OK for a 14 year old to willingly have sex with a teacher, many thought it was OK, she said. “There’s a big lack of information about the age of consent.” [Read more…]

Children’s Television watching linked to criminal activity by researchers

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Children who spend hours watching television after school are more likely to become criminals, researchers say.

A University of Otago study found the risk of having a criminal conviction by early adulthood increased by about 30 per cent with every hour children and teens spent watching TV on an average weeknight, co-author Associate Professor Bob Hancox said.

See: Fairfax NZ News Report by Bronwyn Torrie: http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/8320462/TV-watching-linked-to-criminal-activity

Watching more television in childhood was also associated with aggressive personality traits, an increased tendency to experience negative emotions, and an increased risk of antisocial personality disorder in adulthood.

“While we’re not saying that television causes all antisocial behaviour, our findings do suggest that reducing TV viewing could go some way towards reducing rates of antisocial behaviour in society,” said Dr Hancox, of the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children watch no more than one to two hours of quality television programming each day.

University of Canterbury sociology professor Greg Newbold said bad parenting, rather than excessive television watching, caused children to become criminals.

“The primary factor, I think, will be the fact that kids who are allowed to watch lots and lots of television have parents who do not play a very active role in their lives. Bad parenting and television are linked and criminality is a consequence of that.”

The study, Childhood and adolescent television viewing and antisocial behaviour in early adulthood, was published in the United States journal Pediatrics yesterday.

The research is another strand of the longitudinal study into a group of about 1000 children born in Dunedin in 1972-73. Every two years between the ages of 5 and 15, they were asked how much television they watched. They were then tracked until they were 26.

It is believed to be the first “real-life” study following television viewing throughout childhood, and then looking at a range of antisocial outcomes.

Study co-author Lindsay Robertson said children who watched more television were not antisocial in their younger years. “Rather, children who watched a lot of television were likely to go on to manifest antisocial behaviour and personality traits.”

This was not explained by socio-economic status, IQ, antisocial behaviour in early childhood, or lack of parental control.

As an observational study, it cannot prove that watching too much television caused the antisocial outcomes, but the findings are consistent with other research and provide further evidence that excessive television viewing can have long-term consequences for behaviour, Ms Robertson said.

Dr Hancox said a limitation of the study was the lack of information on the type of programmes the children had watched. “We can’t tell if it was a particular type of programme or just the fact they were watching TV at all.”

The question was whether the content contributed to violent and antisocial behaviour later in life, or whether the amount of time spent watching television meant children did not develop pro-social behaviour and life skills, he said.

But there was enough evidence to come to a conclusion backed by other studies.

“Children who watch violent TV behave in a violent way afterwards and people who watch a lot of TV are more likely to have bad behaviour later in life.”

SCREEN SHOTS

Excessive television viewing in younger years is associated with increased antisocial behaviour in adulthood.

The link between television viewing and antisocial behaviour in adulthood was similar for boys and girls.

However, antisocial outcomes were less common in women.

The connection between television viewing and violent convictions were not significant after controlling for other factors.

Source: Fairfax NZ News

See: http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/8320462/TV-watching-linked-to-criminal-activity

‘Sexting’ growing issue for Kiwi teens

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An increasing number of New Zealand teenagers are seeking help when relationship breakups lead to “sexting” material going viral.

Cybersafety organisation Netsafe is reporting a rise in incidents where videos and photographs containing personal sexual content are sent into cyberspace after a relationship breakup, including “handfuls” of teenagers each month.

It aligns with new research that found sexting was increasing among 14 to 19-year-old American teenagers, indicating a higher prevalence of sexual activity in their offline lives.

Researchers at the University of Texas medical branch found that nearly 30 per cent of US teenagers had sent nude photos via email or text, and 57 per cent had been asked to.

Netsafe executive director Martin Cocker said New Zealand’s statistics would be similar, with sexting usually starting when teenagers became sexually active.

“It is certainly going on.”

A “handful” of the sexting cases reported to Netsafe each month involved teenagers and were usually reported when a relationship had gone bad, and sexual material taken or received during the relationship was distributed among a wider audience.

“It is not so much the creation that’s the issue, it’s the later distribution of it. Unfortunately that happens a lot.”

Netsafe offered advice and support. But most often the distributed files could not be entirely deleted from cyberspace, he said.

The Law Commission has sought public opinion on potential digital issues. It received more than 70 submissions and was preparing a final report and recommendations for the Government by the end of the year.

–Fairfax NZ News and Reuters

The Dominion Post, Thursday, 5 July, 2012, p. A5.

Jody O’Callaghan and Reuters

Stuff

News Link: http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/7222873/Sexting-growing-issue-for-Kiwi-teens