Science and research are showing that porn isn’t only harmful to those who watch it, it can also be harmful to those who create it.
And in too many cases, it’s harmful to people who want nothing to do with it, but are tricked, forced, or coerced into being a part of it.
Unfortunately, society doesn’t understand this yet, so we’re doing something about it. Watch the video below for a simple summary of this global issue.
A conversation worth starting
We can’t tell you how many people laugh when we tell them that one of the negative aspects of porn is how it fuels the demand for sexual exploitation and human sex trafficking. Many have the same perspective as one Instagram user who recently commented on our profile, asking us why we were against porn.
When we responded that one of the reasons we fight against porn was because of its inseparable link to sex trafficking, this was their reply:
Unfortunately, this isn’t an uncommon response we get.
There are many in our society that are blind to the link between porn and sex trafficking. They believe that the porn industry and sex trafficking industry are two completely separate issues, one being legitimate and the latter being illegal activity that only happens in developing countries. Not so.
The truth is, porn, sexual exploitation, and sex trafficking are more closely linked than the average consumer may realize.
First thing’s first: what is sex trafficking?
Sex trafficking is officially defined as a “modern-day form of slavery in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act is under the age of 18 years.” [1] That means any instance in which the individual on screen was forced, tricked, or pressured. By that definition, human trafficking is everywhere. [2] Including on porn sets, with professional porn performers who have been tricked, forced, or coerced into doing a sex act on their “no” list, or having sex with a performer on their “no” list. Here’s an article where we talk about how that happens regularly.
Related: By The Numbers: Is The Porn Industry Connected To Sex Trafficking?
We’re not claiming that all porn is nonconsensual. We’re just pointing out that some of it is and some of it isn’t, and there’s no legitimate way to know which is which. (See How Porn Fuels Sex Trafficking.)
But what does this have to do with average porn consumers?
You may be asking, how does this all tie back to the average consumer at home? If you log onto one of those mainstream sites, there’s no way you’re looking at trafficked men, women, boys or girls, right?
Not exactly. Truthfully, in this digital age, there is no way for a consumer to tell if what they are watching was made illegally or if all parties are of legal age, or there willingly without fraud, force, or coercion.
For example, recently on Pornhub, nearly 60 videos of a young-looking girl involved in sex acts with older men were found to be of an underage sex trafficking victim. These videos were uploaded to the massive tube site’s platform, and found by her mother and police. She’d been a missing person for over a year, but how were the porn consumers to know who watched the videos of her? They couldn’t and that’s the point.
This is just one of many stories about nonconsensual content that has recently been exposed about one of the world’s most popular porn platforms.
The takeaway from all of this? Consent can’t be confirmed.
Knowledge is power, and being aware of the facts is an important step in decreasing the demand for porn and helping to eliminate sex trafficking. Hear from survivors and experts as they explain how porn and trafficking are interconnected:
Porn fuels trafficking, and vice versa
Sometimes, pornographic images and videos are fringe “products” from victims being sold for sex. Sometimes, recruiters specifically use force, fraud, or coercion to ensnare vulnerable or unsuspecting people into performing sex acts on camera.
This is the reality of what the porn industry fuels: real people being sexually abused and exploited at the hands of family members, traffickers, and pimps. The collective billions of clicks to porn content directly fuels the demand for sex traffickers to make money by selling videos of their sex slaves to porn sites. But what about major porn studios and porn sites—aren’t they completely separate from the sex trafficking issue?
Related: Report: The US Is One Of The Biggest Consumers Of Sexual Exploitation In The World
Absolutely not.
Just read this Jezebel.com story, this story on Daily Beast, this story on Complex.com, this Rolling Stone story, this Daily Beast story, this Bustle.com story, this story on CNN, this NY Post story, this Gizmodo.com story, and this UK Independent story for further proof that the mainstream porn industry features nonconsensual videos, and videos of trafficked individuals.
We are not claiming that all porn is nonconsensual, but rather, raising awareness that there is often no way to tell if the porn a consumer views is completely consensual or produced with coercion.
Related: How Sex Trafficking And Exploitation Blend In With Today’s Mainstream Porn
So, would you buy from a company if you knew that some, but not all, of their products were made with child labor? Would you support a store that abused some, but not all, of their female employees?
How can it be okay to say that “porn is okay because participants give their consent,” when we know for a fact that some—probably much more than you think—do not?
As an anti-porn organization, this is exactly why we do what we do and why we’re fighting to stop the demand for sexual exploitation. By creating awareness, by educating others on why porn is tangibly harmful to our world, we are creating a movement of change around the world that surely puts a dent in the massive porn industry.
Knowledge is power, and being aware of the facts is an important step in decreasing the demand for porn and helping to eliminate sexual exploitation and sex trafficking.
