Decades of studies from respected academic institutions have demonstrated significant impacts of porn consumption for individuals, relationships, and society.
Fight the New Drug is a non-religious and non-legislative organization that exists to provide individuals the opportunity to make an informed decision regarding pornography by raising awareness on its harmful effects using only science, facts, and personal accounts.
What started in 2009 as a group of college friends with a shared passion for positively impacting the world has grown into a global movement.
Regardless of age, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, political persuasions, or any other diversifying factor—porn can impact anyone. Because of this, as an organization, we welcome everyone seeking information on the harmful effects of pornography to become a Fighter.
What it means to be a Fighter
When people agree to join this worldwide grassroots awareness campaign, they agree to embody the Fighter Attributes listed below.
Strong | I understand that pornography can be harmful for myself, my relationships, and society and I will stand strong when faced with adversity.
Open-minded | I commit to listening to others with an open mind.
Accepting | I accept and respect that individuals have the right to develop their own stance on the topic of pornography.
Loving | I strive for genuine love in all my relationships, and will engage others on this topic lovingly.
Bold | I use my voice boldly to raise awareness about the effects of pornography.
Encouraging | I will encourage others to find and keep love in their lives, and show support for those who seek it.
Rebellious | I will challenge the status quo when porn is normalized, regardless of what is popular.
Real | I will speak honestly and authentically about the realities of porn’s harms.
Understanding| I understand that many have been impacted by pornography in a variety of ways, and will show patience, empathy, and compassion.
We are so proud to say that millions of people now recognize the harmful effects of pornography and reject its influence in their lives. We are the organization we are today because of those who have fought for this cause in love and supported our mission to raise awareness that people deserve better than what porn can offer.
Here’s a video that explains more about our backstory:
We’re continually growing, and it is because of our Fighters that our resources have been able to educate and raise awareness on this issue across the globe. Through our growth, we have seen the ways the conversation around porn has changed in our culture and in this movement.
Even though we are a movement for love, we acknowledge that the subject matter of pornography is sensitive, personal, and controversial in our culture. Sometimes, even the most well-meaning messages that aim to raise awareness of porn’s harms can be delivered in harmful ways.
Love is the core of who we are
Throughout the years, we have continually focused on love as the centerpiece of this global movement. At the heart of it all, love is the reason why we exist as an organization, and love is what propels us to educate on porn’s harms.
But even though the core of our message is supported by facts, how that message is delivered sometimes matters more.
Porn is an emotionally-charged, sometimes controversial, and always personal issue. If we’re not careful, the way we talk about porn’s harms can close people off to having an open discussion about it, preventing them from truly listening to important facts that can contribute to their health and happiness.
Here are a few tactics Fight the New Drug intentionally does not use as we educate about the harmful effects of porn.
In avoiding these tactics with our awareness-raising, we are less likely to unintentionally drive people away from our educational resources and, rather, we can invite them to consider before consuming and spark constructive dialogue and positive change.
Why we don’t use shame
Millions of people across the world consume porn every day—we don’t think that inherently makes them “bad” people.
In fact, many people who consume porn haven’t been made aware of its harmful effects, which is why we’re hoping to educate them so they can make an informed decision. Science and research are continually illustrating the harms of viewing pornography, so we focus our efforts on the porn itself and its impacts, rather than promoting shame of those who consume porn.
Research has shown that feeling shame and shaming other people is unhelpful and unhealthy, and it’s not an approach we take. We are an anti-shame movement as much as we are an anti-porn movement—and we encourage all of our supporters to join us in these efforts.
We take great care in our presentations, online content, and overall influence to be a voice of positivity and hope.
Ultimately, it would be self-defeating for us to intentionally employ shame in our education and awareness-raising tactics. After all, research shows that feelings of shame fuel hypersexual behavior, including increased porn consumption, while guilt fuels change. This is one of the many reasons why we’re anti-shame.
We understand that “Porn Kills Love” can come across as shaming in certain contexts, and—no matter how well-intended—this is not healthy or helpful, nor is it what our organization promotes. We’re an anti-shame organization, and for those who understand its meaning the way it’s intended, “Porn Kills Love” can be educational, empowering, and effective.
We firmly advocate for the fact that everyone is deserving of love, everyone has the capacity to make a positive change in their lives, and everyone deserves more than porn can offer. Shame does not help us reach people in the way they deserve to be reached, which is why we do not use it.
Why we don’t use fear-mongering
The potentially harmful effects of porn can be fear-inducing for some people, but using fear as an education and awareness-raising tactic ultimately does not allow us to accomplish our goal.
As an organization, we aim to give visibility to the existing research that illustrates porn’s harmful effects so that individuals can decide for themselves whether or not they want to consume it. Through knowledge, people have the opportunity to become better equipped and empowered to make an informed decision that could benefit their own lives and relationships, but fear can short-circuit that process.
Since when have people been able to make the best and healthiest educated decisions for themselves when they’re primarily motivated by fear?
Instilling a fear of porn and the industry in someone may work for a short while in helping them avoid it, but it’s ultimately not a healthy nor sustainable way to help someone think critically and independently about how porn can impact their life, relationships, and our world.
Fear is not a sustainable, constructive, or productive method to help someone make healthy choices. Instead of fear-mongering, we choose to educate with an attitude of openness, empowerment, and freedom of choice.
Why we don’t use violence
Violence or violent tactics against those who consume porn, those who produce porn, those who perform in porn, or those who own porn sites or are involved with porn in any way is completely unacceptable. There are no exceptions.
As an organization, we firmly reject tactics that utilize violence in any way to spread awareness on the harmful effects of porn. Full stop.
Why we don’t use extremism
Our organization takes a very nuanced approach to the issue of porn. We are non-religious, non-legislative, and we respect the right of every consenting adult to make their own decision about porn regardless of whether that decision aligns with our organization’s views on porn.
We do not seek to exaggerate porn’s harms, use extreme language or participate in extremism as it relates to the porn industry. We are not here to judge or shame anyone’s personal sexual choices, whether they are in the industry or a porn consumer.
We recognize the immeasurable harm that porn has caused in the lives of many consumers, partners, survivors, and children, and we also recognize that extreme language of any kind does not open up constructive and productive conversations about porn.
Along with avoiding extreme language, we also avoid taking extreme actions against the porn industry.
Though it would indicate a massive shift in cultural attitudes around porn if the porn industry collapsed because of lack of demand for its product, that is not our ultimate goal. As an organization, our aim is to stop the demand for sexual exploitation through education and awareness.
Our aim as an organization is to reach individuals and give them the chance to make educated decisions regarding pornography. So far, we have reached hundreds of thousands of people with our live, in-person presentations, thousands more with our free three-part documentary series, and millions more through our online resources.
Our ultimate hope is that people will understand what the research is saying about how porn can negatively impact individuals, relationships, and our world.
We are far more interested in calling people into a conversation and productive dialogue about the harmful effects of porn than we are calling them out with extreme language.
Why we don’t bully
Recognizing porn’s harms can inspire a perspective shift that makes porn less appealing, and makes life happier, healthier, and better connected without it—both for individuals and their relationships, and those who are harmed in the production of porn.
Even so, we are patently uninterested in forcing anyone to acknowledge the harmful effects of porn. Instead, we’d like for people to arrive at their own conclusions in a way that is unique to them and how they learn.
We don’t need to tear other humans down to give visibility to the proven harmful effects of pornography.
We give visibility to the information about porn’s harmful effects, and they can make a choice for themselves about it. Intimidating, shaming, bullying, or scaring people into recognizing the negative impacts of porn is not a sustainable nor effective way to ultimately encourage people to make healthy choices for themselves and their loved ones.
For us, helping people recognize that porn is harmful isn’t about bullying them, it’s about inviting them to truly consider how porn impacts their life and why they deserve better.
It all comes down to love
We know porn can be difficult to talk about, and that’s something we’re trying to change as an organization.
If you’re looking for a resource that can help you exercise empathy while you educate, look no further than our conversation-aiding resource site, Let’s Talk About Porn. Here, you’ll be able to find all of the tips you need to successfully navigate a meaningful conversation about porn with your partner, child, sibling, parent, friend, or your neighborhood mail person (aka a stranger) with love and kindness.
Fight the New Drug is the movement, real love is the message. We reject using shaming, fear-mongering, violence, extremism, and bullying in our educational resources because we are in pursuit of meaningful, productive conversations with people about the harmful effects of porn.
If you’re part of this movement, will you join us in avoiding these tactics to spread awareness on porn’s harms?
Let’s get talking about porn! Click here to start your conversation adventure.
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