As a part of regular trips to Australia, Darryl and Mary have been visiting organisations doing similar work to The Reward Foundation. On this trip we have met with three such organisations. The second group of organisations Team TRF made contact with are led by Liz Walker. To address the issue of how porn harms kids Liz has created:
- eChildhood, is a grass-roots campaign. It aims to draw attention to the issue of exposure of children and young people to pornography in Australia
- Youth Wellbeing Project. This provides relationships and sexuality education. It focuses on enhancing children and young people’s protective behaviours
- Liz Walker Presents, where she makes herself available as a sexuality educator and communicator
Liz Walker’s story
As a mother of three children and a former porn addict herself, Liz brings a lot of coal-face experience to her work. She has experienced how porn harms kids. Liz was exposed to printed pornography at the tender age of six while sitting on a school bus. She quickly became obsessed with it. During her teen years Liz complicated the porn addiction with alcohol and drugs. This led to a lot of unhappiness and churn in her relationships. It was only after she got married did she manage to shake off her addictions. In 2010 Liz began to study to become a sex educator to help others avoid similar pain.
Liz has produced a range of useful materials for schools. She is currently developing materials for parents as a part of the Culture Reframed project. Culture Reframed is an education project that seeks to prevent, resist and heal the harms of violent mainstream pornography and hyper-sexualised pop culture.
The Reward Foundation is a part of the wider coalition to help raise awareness of porn harms as a public health issue. Liz was very interested in The Reward Foundation’s brain-based educational approach. We are hoping to share resources and support one another’s initiatives to help raise awareness of porn harms and effective approaches to recovery.
