There are over 7 billion people in the world.
According to the most recent stats, the world’s largest hardcore porn site received over 28.5 billion visits in 2017 alone. That’s enough site visits for every man, woman, and child on planet earth to log on at least 4 times.
If pornography is a global, $97 billion industry, what can a single person—1 of 7 billion people—do to fight this?
The reality is, a lot. Think of how one little drop in a pond can send out far-reaching ripples. And luckily, none of us are alone. We have over 2 million Fighters repping the movement all over the world, and we believe in rocking the boat. If one drop can break the surface tension and create a ripple effect, a lot of drops can make some serious waves.
Celebrities who are stepping up
You’ve seen us spotlight a few celebrities talking speaking out against pornography, among others, and undoubtedly there are more. But here are just a few to give you some perspective on how much awareness is being raised by the Hollywood elite:
Terry Crews has been a very vocal advocate for Fight the New Drug, even repping one of our tees on social media. He has created videos and done interviews about his fight against pornography in order to save his marriage.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt directed, wrote, and starred in the movie Don Jon, released in 2013, which was explored the negative effects that pornography and media have on love and relationships.
Emma Thompson stated in an interview with UK’s Daily Mail that she was waging a war on “internet slime.” She teaches her daughter about the dangers of pornography and worked on a documentary about online sex abuse.
Russell Brand interview on YouTube channel went viral, accumulating over 2.2 million views. He got so much of a response to it, that he even posted a follow-up video to answer comments and questions from the previous video.
Josh Radnor gave an exclusive interview with Fight the New Drug where he spoke up against pornography for the first time. His interview has gained pretty serious traction on Twitter and opened up the conversation about the dangers of porn consumption.
Blake Lively made a speech after receiving an award at a Vanity Fair event about the seriousness of child exploitation. She gave a huge shout out to the Child Rescue Coalition and detailed the work that has been done and the work that needs to be done to end child porn.
And Elizabeth Smart has traveled the globe speaking out about her experiences being abducted and raped at age 14. In an exclusive interview with Fight the New Drug, she stated that she can’t blame pornography for the kidnapping, but that it did make her living hell worse.
These people have had some serious ripple effects, educating countless numbers of people all over the globe that pornography usage is damaging to physical, emotional, and social health. They have been able to use their platforms as well-known celebrities to show that important people that are well-loved and respected worldwide can take a stand against pornography and fight for what they believe.
But the average person does not have thousands of Twitter followers. Normal people don’t have the built-in reputation, reach, and power that a celebrity endorsement does. So how far can a person like you reach, anyway? Can you really make a difference?
Every person can be a part of change
Your voice is just as important, just as necessary to this movement. You can take action and make a massive difference in the world around you. Don’t believe it? Here’s the story of just one “normal” girl who chose to take a stand against pornography.
Malissa Richardson was 18 when she first got involved with fighting for real love. She had personally seen porn damage the lives of her loved ones, so she decided to spread the word to educate the people in her community on how to fight against it.
In high school, Malissa found that speaking out about the harms of porn was a difficult thing to talk about. “It was a taboo topic,” she told us. “It was unheard of to address it publicly as an issue, and there were hardly any resources available to combat it.”
But she decided that a cultural taboo wasn’t about to stop her from standing up for what she believed in. Richardson entered a local pageant and chose “Educating on the Harms of Pornography” as her service platform—and she won.
Fight the New Drug was in its beginning stages and had just started doing assemblies at schools. Malissa used her platform to make a presentation at a district PTA meeting to inform them about these assemblies. Because of her presentation, several schools decided to contact FTND to set up assemblies. Malissa helped coordinate the assembly at her own high school and it ended up being covered by ABC’s Nightline and was featured on national television. Cool, right?
Two years later, as president of her university’s anti-porn club, Malissa decided to compete in another local pageant used her pageant title to make a presentation to the city council and the school board about the need to educate people about the dangers of pornography. She asked them for their support.
Because of her initiative, Fight the New Drug was able to present at every middle school and high school in the city, fully supported by local leaders. The city council unanimously passed a resolution commending all individuals and institution promoting education on the harms of pornography.
One year later, Malissa became frustrated with the sexually explicit featured stories on Snapchat. Once again, she spoke up and created the #NoThanksSnapchat campaign that asked Snapchat to allow its millions of users to opt out of seeing these stories. Her resolution spread fast. In 24 hours, the petition had almost doubled its original goal of 10,000 signatures. It eventually gathered over 26,000 signatures from individuals in over 41 countries. And Snapchat listened.
On January 23, Snapchat announced that it would be updating its policies to clean up the suggestive content on the featured stories and prevent users from under age 18 from seeing certain content.
In a recent interview with FTND, she told us, “Even if one person speaks out, it makes a difference. In the end, there will always be someone fighting alongside you. Thanks to the efforts of organizations and individuals dedicated to this fight, there are resources around every corner.
“There is still much more to be done, but it has been amazing to see it catch on like wildfire and witness our world unite in the fight against pornography.”
Now, it’s your turn
These are just a few stories out of over 2 million Fighters who have said “yes” to taking up the challenge of spreading the word and doing their part to amplify this ripple effect of change. Look for opportunities around you to take a stand and raise your voice, even if it’s just wearing your tee to the supermarket or hosting an FTND presentation.
In the end, the little steps make big changes, and it’s all part of our global initiative to change the conversation around porn, forever. And the good news is, we already have. Are you in?
