What we do
Navigating relationships and sexuality and the influences that shape them can be challenging for anyone. For autistic young people, this can be even more challenging.
Porn Is Not the Norm is an initiative that aims to prevent pornography’s harms to autistic young people by equipping them and their parents, carers, teachers and workers to understand pornography’s prevalence and impacts, and how they can safely navigate healthy and respectful relationships and sexuality in this context.
Porn Is Not the Norm has brought together expertise about pornography and autism to deliver various education events and create a series of resources, including education materials for parents and carers, professional learning for teachers and other professionals, and education resources for use with autistic young people. Many of our resources include videos produced from our interviews with autistic young people, experts and professionals from the international pornography industry, to help explore the issues.
Who we are
Porn Is Not the Norm has been developed by a group of individuals and organisations who recognised the need for resources about pornography that are tailored for autistic young people and their communities – and then worked together to identify how we could contribute to addressing this gap.
Delivery of Porn Is Not the Norm is being led by Maree Crabbe, of It’s time we talked, with significant input from Dr Wenn Lawson, Jodi Rodgers of Birds and Bees, and other members of the autistic and autism communities. Porn Is Not the Norm is being delivered by disability service provider, Interchange Outer East.
Associate Professor Wenn Lawson is an Australian autistic academic, researcher, poet & author with qualifications in Psychology and Social Work. He is a family man with autistic children & grandchildren. In 2021 Wenn won the Lesley Hall Award for Lifetime Achievement with the Disability Leadership Institute. Wenn is passionate about autism across the life span and is a keen bird watcher.
Maree Crabbe is Director of the Australian violence prevention initiative, It’s time we talked. She is an educator, author and filmmaker who is passionate about gender-based violence prevention, and about supporting parents, schools, communities and government to address pornography’s influence on young people. You can learn more about Maree by visiting her website.
Jodi Rodgers is a qualified sexologist, counsellor and special education teacher, with 30 years’ experience in the education, disability and sexuality fields. Jodi was featured as the relationship counsellor on the award-winning TV show “Love on the Spectrum” and is a published author. She is passionate that all people have the right to access services that are inclusive of individualistic communication and learning styles. You can learn more about Jodi by visiting her website, Birds and Bees.
Interchange Outer East (IOE) is the official disability service provider partner for the Porn Is Not the Norm project. For over 35 years IOE has been delivering disability support that focuses not only on the person with a disability but every family member. Their programs and services support people with disabilities and their families, primarily across Melbourne’s outer eastern and surrounding regions. You can learn more about Interchange Outer East by visiting their website.
BACKGROUND
Porn Is Not the Norm was developed through the initiative of Jack Mulholland from Maroondah City Council and Maree Crabbe. In 2016 they convened a small group of individuals and organisations to discuss pornography’s impacts on autistic young people and the lack of existing resources tailored to suit their needs.
In the years that followed a project team assembled to undertake research, deliver a series of educational events for parents, carers and professionals who work with autistic young people, and develop a multi-strategy initiative titled Porn Is Not the Norm. In 2020 the project received funding from Westpac Foundation with support from our disability service provider partners at Interchange Outer East. We are proud of our project team, and their diverse and complementary expertise, which you can learn more about below.
Jack Mulholland from
Maroondah City Council
Jackie Bateman from
Kids First Australia
Jodi Rodgers from
Birds and Bees
Leigh Bartlett from
BATForce
Maree Crabbe from
Its time we talked
Sarah McGregor from
SECASA
Sarah Wilson from
Interchange Outer East
