Men and women are being encouraged to join a march to raise awareness of the links between pornography and sexual violence against women and children, held at the same time as the controversial Boobs on Bikes parade.
Auckland Women's Centre and Stop Demand Foundation have organised the march -- which they say is not a protest -- and have been granted a joint Auckland City Council permit to do so.
Stop Demand founder Denise Ritchie said both groups would direct their message to the thousands of porn users that would be downtown and to the wider public, that pornography fuels sexual violence against women and children.
A legal bid to stop the Boobs on Bike parade organised by porn distributor Steve Crow to promote his Erotica festival, failed in the High Court in Auckland yesterday.
The parade will start after midday with topless females taking to the streets on the back of bikes, with the spectacle expected to attract tens of thousands of people.
Ms Ritchie said sexual violence was estimated to cost the New Zealand economy $1.2 billion, $827 million being the loss of quality of life for victims, across an estimated 16,500 sex offences.
New Zealand's chief censor, pornography investigators and global research were unanimous in reporting hard core pornography, which made up the bulk of Mr Crow's commercial interests and profits, was increasingly cruel, misogynistic and degrading of women, she said.
"Female porn stars are paid big money to simulate scenes of rape, sexual violation and degradation for the purposes of male sexual arousal and gratification." The group's main message is that sexual violence does not take place in a vacuum, she said.
"It is underpinned by attitudes and messages, many of which are fuelled and normalised by the hard core porn industry.
"In New Zealand, that fueller is self-proclaimed porn king Steve Crow."
The Pornography and Sexual Violence demonstration will march a short distance ahead of Mr Crow's parade and police will be in attendance.
