One of the biggest humanitarian crises the world is dealing with today is sex trafficking. And many porn users may not know just how much sex trafficking and the porn industry are inseparably connected.
Porn fuels the demand for sex trafficking in various ways.
For example, in 2011, two Miami men were found guilty of luring women into a sex trafficking trap for over 5 years. They would advertise modeling roles and when women came to audition, they would drug them, kidnap them, rape them, videotape it, and sell it to pornography stores and businesses across the country.
This is only one case; just one case of millions. Sex traffickers know that porn is a great opportunity for them to make money from the victims they traffic, and they take advantage of every opportunity to profit from their abuse.
For an average porn user, there is no way to know where their pornography came from and if the actors are performing willingly.
No matter how good or “fun” something looks, they may not be there by choice. So by clicking pornography, viewers are supporting the demand for it in the sex trafficking industry. The two go hand in hand, and contribute to serious crimes against humans and society.
To shed light on these facts, an Irish ad agency came up with a relatable and illustrative campaign. They linked up with popular dating app, Tinder, to show the reality behind how you can never quite know what you’re clicking.
The campaign reached Tinder-users by placing seemingly normal women (the agency used models to pose as sex trafficking victims), and revealed that with each swipe right, the photos became increasingly more disturbing and “real.”
The user then ends on a message about sex trafficking and how they can get informed.
Check it out:
Photos courtesy of Eighty Twenty
Photos courtesy of Eighty Twenty
Photos courtesy of Eighty Twenty
As you can see, this powerful campaign shows the truth that when it comes to porn, the person on screen may very well be a person in chains.
And many times, there is no way for anyone to tell the difference. Clicking it is supporting it.
Porn often normalizes and perpetuates the abuse that victims experience.International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children. (2017). Online grooming of children for sexual purposes: Model legislation & global review. ( No. 1). Retrieved from https://www.icmec.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Online-Grooming-of-Children_FINAL_9-18-17.pdfCopy
These issues aren’t rare. Virtually every major porn site has reportedly hosted and profited from trafficking, child sexual exploitation, image-based abuse, and sexual violence.Kristof, N. (2021). Why do we let corporations profit from rape videos? New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/16/opinion/sunday/companies-online-rape-videos.htmlCopy Burgess, M. (2020). Deepfake porn is now mainstream. and major sites are cashing in. Retrieved from https://www.wired.co.uk/article/deepfake-porn-websites-videos-lawCopy Kristof, N. (2020). The children of Pornhub. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/04/opinion/sunday/pornhub-rape-trafficking.htmlCopy Meineck, S., & Alfering, Y. (2020). We went undercover in xHamster's unpaid content moderation team. Retrieved from https://www.vice.com/en/article/akdzdp/inside-xhamsters-unpaid-content-moderation-teamCopy
Sex trafficking shares a variety of symbiotic connections to porn. Often, they’re one and the same. But as long as there’s a demand for porn—especially porn that is extreme, abusive, or degrading—the porn industry will continue to exploit people to meet that demand.
Consider before consuming, and stop the demand for sex trafficking.
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