Australia: 'Porn Using' Employee Awarded Workers' Comp From Anti-Porn Lobby

Australia: 'Porn Using' Employee Awarded Workers' Comp From Anti-Porn Lobby

ADELAIDE, Australia — A workers' comp case recently brought forth in Australia against an anti-porn group by one of their own employees provides another bizarre example of plaintiffs deploying the debunked concept of “porn addiction” and stigmatizing language as legal strategies.

Michael Bowker, a man working as a national office manager at Family Voice Australia, a conservative Christian organization which lobbies agains pornography and other social issues, had a stroke at work in April 2016.

Bowker then sued Family Voice Australia, claiming that his workplace, where he worked for four months, had become so stressful that the situation had a direct impact on his health, leading to the stroke, reports Australia’s The Mercury newspaper.

Bowker’s peculiar argument was that because of the difficult work environment “he turned to the ‘sin’ of pornography,” which contributed to the stroke since “he felt this was in conflict with his religious beliefs and his moral standards,” the paper reported.

The South Australian Employment Tribunal, in a judgment published online, awarded Bowker two years of weekly compensation payments after finding that his stress levels “significantly contributed” to his brain hemorrhage.

The tribunal took into consideration several workplace environment factors, including “poor staff morale, long hours, workload and technological issues.”

But Tribunal Deputy President Stephen Lieschke also accepted Bowker’s claim that his “increased use of pornography in the weeks leading up to his stroke” were a response to his state of anxiety, mentioning that the South Africa-born Bowker “grew up in a seriously religious family.”

His 'Use' of Pornography

The judgment took into consideration what they called Bowker’s “use of pornography” after he claimed to have “witnessed a fatal drive-by shooting in 1993 and has, since then, ‘used’ it intermittently and struggled with it for many years.”

The stigmatizing language of “using” or “consuming” pornography, as opposed to merely “watching it,” is associated with discredited beliefs that watching sexually explicit content is in any way analogous to ingesting mind-altering substances, and that it can lead to “addiction.”

“He felt this was in conflict with his religious beliefs and his moral standards,” Deputy President Lieschke wrote in his judgment. “He believed that looking at pornography was a sin” and “he said that when he felt under pressure or stress he used pornography.”

Oddly enough, religiously motivated anti-porn crusaders Family Voice Australia had a taste of their own medicine and became entangled in a confusing chicken-and-egg argument over whether work stress caused Bowker to watch more porn, or vice versa.

Personal Subjective Stress

The religiously inspired group tried to argue that there were “other, more significant factors” than workplace stress and pointed the finger at what they called his “increasing concern over viewing pornography in the weeks leading up to the stroke.”

This concern, Family Voice Australia argued, “was highly significant for a person of such a strongly held religious belief system.”

But Deputy President Lieschke’s ruling accepted “the genuine personal subjective stress and anxiety experienced by the applicant about these work issues.”

The Mercury describes Family Voice Australia as an Adelaide group founded in the mid-1970s (and formerly known as the Festival of Light) which has militantly opposed same-sex marriage, the adoption of children by same-sex couples and the decriminalization of cannabis and of sex work.

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

UK Lawmaker Calls for Appointment of 'Porn Minister'

Baroness Gabrielle Bertin, the Conservative member of Parliament who recently convened a new anti-pornography task force, is calling for the appointment of a “minister for porn,” according to British news outlet The Guardian.

FSC Toasts Jeffrey Douglas for 30 Years of Service

n the very same evening when the adult industry was hit hard by the Supreme Court ruling supporting Texas’ controversial age verification law, HB 1181, members of the Free Speech Coalition board, staff and supporters gathered to celebrate Jeffrey Douglas’ 30 years as board chair — a fitting reflection of his reputation as an eternal optimist.

TTS Opens UK Testing Location

Talent Testing Service (TTS) has opened a new U.K. location in Ware, Hertfordshire.

FSC: Age-Verification Laws Go Into Effect South Dakota, Georgia, Wyoming on July 1

The Free Speech Coalition (FSC) has published a statement regarding new age verification laws set to go into effect tomorrow in South Dakota, Georgia, and Wyoming.

FSC Responds to Supreme Court Decision on Texas AV Law

The Free Speech Coalition (FSC) has released a statement responding to last week's Supreme Court decision on FSC v. Paxton, the Texas age verification law.

Sex Work CEO Debuts Upgraded 'GPTease' AI Assistant

Sex Work CEO has introduced the new Canvas in-chat editing feature to its AI-powered, NSFW text generator, GPTease.

UPDATED: Supreme Court Rules Against Adult Industry in Pivotal Texas AV Case

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday issued its decision in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, striking a blow against the online adult industry by ruling in support of Texas’ controversial age verification law, HB 1181.

North Carolina Passes Extreme Bill Targeting Adult Sites

The North Carolina state legislature this week ratified a bill that would impose new regulations that industry observers have warned could push adult websites and platforms to ban most adult creators and content.

Supreme Court Ruling Due Friday in FSC v. Paxton AV Case

The U.S. Supreme Court will rule on Friday in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, the adult industry trade association's challenge to Texas’ controversial age verification law, HB 1181.

Ofcom: More Porn Providers Commit to Age Assurance Measures

A number of adult content providers operating in the U.K. have confirmed that they plan to introduce age checks in compliance with the Online Safety Act by the July 25 deadline, according to U.K. media regulator Ofcom.

Show More